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.
Hello 👋 I’m Joel the founder of Foremind.
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Answers to the frequently asked questions.
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