4th Quarter HR Audit

It's fourth quarter—so what should you be doing in HR? The 4th Quarter HR Audit is Pandy's answer. In this episode, Pandy will review a number of items and functions that you can and should review to assure they are updated and compliant for 2026. From beneficiaries to contract agreements, Pandy gives you a list of functions and procedures that can create unnecessary expense and chaos if left unchecked.

Transcript

Speaker: 0:20

Oh, welcome back. You're listening to the Human Resource. My name is Pandy Pridemore, and I want to thank you for joining us. Today we're going to talk about fourth quarter. And, you know, this is a show that the topic at least is one that I covered quite a while ago. In fact, I'm thinking we probably haven't talked about this for a couple of years. It is important because whether you're an actual bona fide HR person or whether you're fulfilling the HR role, there are a number of things that we can go over in fourth quarter to make sure that we're starting the year out the way we . I created this fourth quarter audit, gosh, probably 15 years ago. And it has updated and evolved and changed. And I really think it's very comprehensive, but it certainly gives you an opportunity to look at things that may be pertinent to your company and communicate to other departments. It covers everything from updating tax forms, offering individuals to change their exemptions, to how about verifying beneficiaries? And think about how important that is. Of course, at open enrollment, when individuals are filling out their paperwork, you know, for their benefits, that's always a question that comes up. If you're offering any kind of life insurance, beneficiaries come up. But what about the HSA accounts? I hate to tell you this story, but years and years ago I had a pharmaceutical company and a young gentleman in his 30s passed away. His wife and his four-year-old child came to Cincinnati because they lived in North Carolina, and they came to get all of his personal things out of the office and go through any last-minute paperwork. when we pulled out his HSA paperwork that he had agreed upon with the bank, the beneficiary for the HSA account was blank. And those funds that he had been putting in, we had been deducting from payroll for all that time would now then go into the courts. We had no control, we had no power to give her access to those funds. that's not what a young mother wants to hear when she's just lost her husband. So beneficiaries are more than just life insurance. Go through your documents and find out. Get those old girlfriends off of there, get those ex-wives off of there, make sure that beneficiaries have been updated. the fourth quarter is a great time to be doing that, actually. but then go ahead and confirm their address. We want to make sure the W-2s get mailed to the right address or location. Make sure that we've got correct emails, phone numbers just in case a cell phone number has changed. You see, fourth quarter audits go beyond just updating the holiday calendar. I even have on here this is a perfect, time to make sure that all your annual notifications have been distributed. Remember, there are if you're offering benefits, medical benefits to your employees, there are federal programs that must be communicated to your employees. if your broker's not doing that, then that's your responsibility to make sure you're compliant. If you need help with that, please just let me know and I'll give you that list. I'll give you those notifications and you can make sure it gets done. But fourth quarter is a great time to do that if your broker's not doing it with open enrollment. Of course, I'm going to tell you to update your documents with such things as background checks? Maybe the drug test release forms have been updated, but verify all that. Talk to your TPA and find out am I using the correct documents? And are there any changes that will occur here in 2026 or have occurred in 25 that I'm not aware of? What just making sure, just do a real quick audit and make sure you've got all the terminated employees off of your insurance company plans, any of your plans. Even your auto insurance. If you've got somebody on there that you're insuring to drive a company vehicle and they've been gone for a while, get them off of there. Especially if we aren't real sure what those individuals have been doing and they may be acquiring arrests or DUIs or something in between now that they're not with you, why carry that risk? So go through and audit. Make sure you're not paying for individuals who aren't there anymore. that goes with the 1099 contractors as well. When was the last time you went back through the agreements that you have with your 1099s? Are they up to date? Has anything changed? You want to make sure that those agreements are rock solid and that you might even ask them, ask your 1099s to verify that they're carrying their workers' comp, that their general liability insurance is paid. You have every right to do that. Every right to do that. And again, fourth quarter is a great time to be doing that. How about the emergency contact information? If you're not collecting emergency contact information on your employees, you should be doing that. And it's very simple. Who do we call if there's an emergency? Who's the really what's the relationship? What's their cell phone number? What's their email address? You know, I do this every year. I do this every year. Again, get the girlfriends off, get the old, the ex-wives off if they're still on as emergency contacts. You don't want an awkward situation when things are tense already. Emergency contacts. And then obviously, I'm going to beg you, beg you. I just sat with a group yesterday, drove over and sat down and said, okay, it's fourth quarter, let's talk about your handbook. What needs to change? What's working and what's not working? And they all looked at each other like no one had ever asked them that question before. that kind of scared me in itself because I thought, okay, you guys should be doing this on an ongo basis. But what needs to be tweaked? And what aren't you able to follow? And fourth quarter is a wonderful time to sit back and go, what worked and what didn't. asking employees is just being open and honest with them. This gives you an opportunity to make those changes or determine what those changes might be. And then at the first of the year, put that handbook out to everybody again and make sure everybody understands. Okay, here's where we've edited the handbook that you may have last seen, but I want you to go over it again. I want you to be absolutely confident that you are good with these policies and you understand how we're going to hold you accountable. Some of you have individuals sign the handbook every time they look at it, some of you don't. You have in there that they the employee themselves have to stay up to date with any changes. But either way, fourth quarter is a wonderful time to be reviewing the handbook. there's a number of other things on this audit. I mean, updating the list of key holders and who or where keys have been distributed and to what. update the list of company inventory and equipment distributed to employees. Have you handed out any additional printers? Have you handed out any additional iPads? how about your cell phones? Do you know where they all are? You don't have to have an inventory sticker on it to hold somebody accountable for it. You can go serial numbers. But this is a wonderful time to do those things that, you know, once a year is enough. If you're not doing it on an ongoing basis, at least catch yourself up because that is company property. But either way, this is a great list. I will be more than happy to provide it to you if you want to send me a message. just say, hey, I heard the podcast and I'd like a copy of the fourth quarter audit. I will be more than happy to send it to you. remember too, fourth quarter, many of you are scheduling speakers, you're scheduling events, and we are working on our calendar here to try to attend some of those if you would like us. So please, if you would like us to come in and speak on any of the programs or any of the topics within the regulatory and compliance aspect of human resources, just send me a message through LinkedIn or you can reach me at the Human Resource USA. But we would love to come and support what you're doing within your groups. And again, these shows are all about you, they are all about what you want to hear and what you need to get answers from. we couldn't have this show if it weren't for you. So keep sending in your comments, keep sending in your suggestions. Let me know what you want for 2026. After all, that's what we're here for at the human resource.