HR Audit Checklist
A practical checklist covering the core areas every Australian business should be reviewing regularly.
What's Included in This HR Audit Checklist
This checklist covers the seven core areas every Australian business should be reviewing regularly - from employment contracts and pay compliance through to psychosocial risk management and employee wellbeing.
Inside, you'll find audit-ready items across:
- Employment foundations, contracts, classification, right to work
- Policies and procedures, WHS, conduct, privacy
- Pay and entitlements, award rates, super, leave
- Recruitment and onboarding, position descriptions, pre-employment checks
- Performance and development, reviews, goals, underperformance
- Termination and offboarding, notice, final pay, dismissal risk
- WHS and safety, risk registers, incident reporting, psychosocial obligations
- Records and documentation, file retention, version control
- Employee wellbeing, EAP, engagement, flexible work
Over 60 practical checklist items.
How to Use This Checklist
Go section by section, ticking off what's genuinely in place. If you're unsure whether something meets current requirements, treat it as a gap. Every unticked item should become an action - with a named owner and a deadline.
Repeat the process annually. Laws change, workforces grow, and what was compliant last year may not be today. If you find significant gaps or aren't sure how to address them, that's where Foremind can help.
Why HR Audits Are Important
Psychological injury claims have risen 36.9% since 2017-18. The median compensation payout sits at $45,900 - five times higher than physical injury claims. And that's before you factor in lost productivity, turnover, legal costs, and reputational damage.
Most HR compliance failures aren't deliberate. They happen because businesses grow, legislation changes, and no one has stopped to check whether the foundations are still solid. An underpayment issue that could have been caught in an annual review becomes a Fair Work claim. A missing psychosocial policy becomes a regulator finding.
Australia's workplace laws have changed significantly in recent years. The Fair Work Act, WHS regulations, and - from December 2025 - Victoria's Psychological Health Regulations all place active obligations on employers. Compliance isn't optional, and "we didn't know" is not a defence.
An annual HR audit is the simplest way to stay ahead of risk, demonstrate due diligence, and build the kind of workplace that retains good people. It's not about perfection - it's about knowing where the gaps are before someone else finds them for you.
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Answers to the frequently asked questions.
Our last EAP was barely touched. Why would this be different?+
Most EAPs go unused because of how they're accessed, not because staff don't need them. Phoning a stranger, explaining yourself, then waiting weeks is enough to stop most people before they start. Foremind removes all three steps: staff see real counsellor profiles, pick someone themselves, and book the same day.
If you already have a provider, the question worth asking is what your current utilisation is. Most traditional EAPs sit in low single digits, which means you're paying for cover your people aren't reaching. If yours is being used, staff can get seen quickly, and it covers your psychosocial obligations, there's no reason to move. If not, it's worth knowing what you're getting for the spend.
Do you offer 24/7 support?+
Yes. A 24/7 after-hours crisis line means staff can reach someone immediately at any hour, including nights and weekends.
Counselling appointments are also available outside standard business hours, so shift-based and on-call teams aren't limited to a nine-to-five window. Those are two different things, and it's worth checking any provider offers both rather than just the crisis line.
Are your EAP counsellors based in Australia?+
Yes. Every practitioner on the platform holds current membership with an Australian professional body and practises under Australian standards, codes of ethics and disciplinary frameworks. There are no offshore call centres.
Practitioners hold membership with the Australian Counselling Association, the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia, or the Australian Association of Social Workers, along with a current Working with Children or Vulnerable People Check.
How much does an EAP cost?+
Pricing is usually per employee per month, based on total headcount rather than how many people use the service. Costs vary widely depending on whether sessions are bundled in and whether compliance tooling is included.
A more useful comparison is cost per employee who actually uses it. An EAP with 2% utilisation can work out several times more expensive per person helped than one that gets used. Foremind offers pay-as-you-go, inclusive session plans and compliance-inclusive plans, with discounted pricing for not-for-profits and charities.
For full breakdown of our plans, see our EAP pricing page or request a quote for a tailored proposal.
What information does an employer receive about EAP usage?+
Nothing that could identify anyone. All counselling is completely confidential and all reporting is anonymous - you'll never see who booked, when, or what was discussed.
What you do see is the aggregated picture: how many people are using it, what psychosocial risks are prevalent in the business, and which teams are under pressure. Enough to know the investment is working and where to act, never enough to identify a person. Reporting thresholds mean small teams can't be reverse-engineered from the data.
Does having an EAP meet an employer's psychosocial duty of care?+
No. An EAP is a control measure, and a valuable one, but it only addresses harm after it has occurred. It doesn't identify hazards, assess risk, or evidence that controls are working.
Australian WHS law requires you to identify psychosocial hazards, assess the risk, control it so far as is reasonably practicable, and review whether those controls are working — with documented evidence at each step. Offering counselling on its own leaves three of those four steps undocumented.
Foremind covers both in one platform. See how the compliance side works in our product tour.