Case Study: HR audit: Where It All Begins

How does cooperation with a company start?

With a request. A company comes to us with a problem - an issue that hinders its progress and creates inefficiencies.

But is a request enough?

No, a request alone is never sufficient. A request is just a symptom. It’s what we see on the surface, like a headache, but that headache could be a symptom of a hundred different conditions.

The real work with any company - whether it’s about building HR processes, developing an employer brand, or creating a People Operations strategy and action plan—begins with an HR audit.

What is an HR audit?

An audit is, first and foremost, about getting to know the company and understanding how it operates. You can’t simply walk into an organization and dictate how things should be done without first understanding its inner workings.

Every company has its own history, processes (whether formalized or not), goals, values, communication systems, and corporate culture. These elements may seem efficient or inefficient, but they exist for a reason and have been accepted by the people within the organization. And if the company continues to function and generate revenue, that means its current system works—maybe not optimally, but it works nonetheless.

Sweeping changes don’t happen overnight. They need to be gradual and built upon what already exists within the company - leveraging its strengths rather than dismantling everything and starting from scratch. That’s the true purpose of an HR audit.

What do we analyze during an HR audit?

1. Business Strategy

What does the company stand for? What are its long-term goals? How aligned are its actions with its strategic vision?

2. Development Plan

Does the company have a structured growth plan? Is it aligned with the overall business strategy and the goals of individual departments?

3. Leadership Team

Even with a great strategy and a well-designed plan, execution ultimately depends on the people leading the organization. In our experience conducting HR audits, we’ve encountered various leadership structures:

Centralized decision-making

Some companies, even large ones, rely entirely on the CEO/founder to make all decisions, leading to bottlenecks and inefficiencies. One person cannot have deep expertise in every aspect of the business.

Lack of team cohesion

Some organizations have leaders who operate independently, pursuing their own interests rather than working toward a unified goal, creating internal competition and reducing overall efficiency.

Misaligned vision

Even when leadership teams strive for a better future, they sometimes have conflicting ideas of what that future should look like, leading to disjointed actions.

Strong leadership but lacking expertise

Some teams are well-aligned and coordinated but lack the necessary managerial skills to execute their vision effectively.

Strong, aligned, and competent teams

Yes, we’ve seen them! But unfortunately, not as often as we’d like.

4. Company Structure

How is the organization structured? Does its current setup support efficient operations?

5. Corporate Culture & Communication

Every company has a culture, whether it’s actively shaped or develops on its own. The key question is: Are you managing this culture, or is it managing you?

6. Strengths and Weaknesses

Identifying what works well and where improvements are needed.

7. HR Strategy & Its Alignment with Business Goals

Does the company have an HR strategy? Is it integrated with the overall business strategy?

8. HR Processes & Their Effectiveness

Evaluating existing HR processes to determine their impact on business efficiency.

9. HR Team Expertise & Capacity

Assessing whether the current HR team has the skills and resources to support business needs.

...and much more.

What’s next? Only after completing this deep-dive analysis can we move forward with a tailored action plan. The goal is not just to implement changes, but to introduce them gradually and strategically, ensuring that they enhance efficiency without disrupting business operations.