Retention
When a founder asks me what a people audit actually involves, this is the answer.
Why do a people audit
When turnover climbs or hiring starts to feel harder, the cause is often spread across several places. A people audit looks at the whole picture, so you fix the real problem and stop guessing.
The 5 areas I look at
- Hiring. How long it takes, who decides, and what happens between the offer and day 1. Slow or unclear hiring loses good candidates to faster companies.
- Onboarding. What a new person gets in week 1, and who owns them in month 3. The first months shape whether someone settles in or starts looking again.
- Performance. Whether managers are having the hard conversations, and what happens when someone is below the bar. Avoided conversations cost you the respect of your strongest people.
- Retention. Who left in the last 18 months, and what they actually said on the way out. Exit reasons show you where to act first.
- Pay. Whether 2 people doing the same job are paid the same, and whether you can explain the difference. Unexplained gaps create risk and damage trust.
I look at how these run in practice. What the policy document says is a separate question, and usually a different answer.
What you get
You end up with a short list: what is costing you money, and what to fix first. Your next people decision is then based on what is really happening in your company.
Signs it is time for a people audit
- Turnover is climbing and nobody can tell you exactly why
- Managers handle the same people issue in different ways
- The team grew fast and your processes stayed the same
3 questions to ask yourself today
- Could I explain why the last 3 people who resigned left?
- Does every new hire get the same first week, whoever their manager is?
- If an employee asked how their pay was set, could I answer clearly?
If any of these was hard to answer, that is where an audit starts.
If turnover is climbing and nobody can tell you exactly why, book a call.
Samira Diallo
Bilingual (French/English) people strategy advisor, facilitator and speaker based in Toronto. 15+ years in global tech consulting at Capgemini and Oracle, on the tech project side and the people side.