This week, we will be discussing how to perform an internal audit on training, recruitment and induction within your organisation. Have you been asked to be the internal auditor of ISO 9001:2015 and are not sure where to start? Read along for some helpful tips.

Internal Auditing

Before we look in detail on how to audit training, recruitment and induction here is a brief introduction on Internal Auditing.

Internal Auditing is an internal check done to discover any issues within your organisation prior to them causing you problems or being found in your external assessment. Internal Auditing is also required to comply with clause 9.2 of the ISO 9001:2015 standard.

Being organised is vital when performing an Internal Audit. You need to ensure you have an Internal Audit Schedule and an Internal Audit report template in place prior to beginning your audit.

An Internal Audit Schedule is a timeline for when each audit is performed. However, an Internal Audit report is where you will collate your questions, findings and any evidence. An example template for an Internal Audit Schedule & Report can be found within our ISO 9001:2015 QMS Toolkit.  

How to effectively internally audit Training, Recruitment & Induction

So now we know why we audit and what documentation we need to make it effective. But how do we complete the audit? If you’re in a rush and need some quick tips check out our video below. If you’re after more detailed information keep reading.

Step 1 –  Get organised! Establish your team, a date to complete the audit and get your plan ready.

First, you will need to establish your internal auditing team. Ideally, this will be someone who is impartial to the process (e.g. not involved in recruitment, training or induction of employees). However, this can be tricky in smaller organisations.

Book in a date to complete the audit ensuring any relevant team members are on site and have time to discuss and share with you the relevant documentation.

Establish a plan – this may include a few questions you’d like to ask or some notes of documentation you would like to see. Keep reading to get an idea of what kind of questions you need to ask.

Step 2 –  Performing the audit: Choosing a sample.

Ask your auditee (the member of staff responsible for training, induction and recruitment) if there has been any new starters since the last internal audit. If there has – great! We can use this employee as part of our audit sample. If there has not been any new starters, don’t worry! The only thing that is important is to choose a sample of employees (usually around 3) with a variety of job roles, length of service and experience.

Step 3 – Performing the audit: Gathering the evidence.

Next you need to start gathering the evidence. Here you can ask the auditee questions you have prepared. Some examples could include:

• Is there a recruitment, training & induction process in place?
• How does the organisation meet the training needs of their staff?
• How does the organisation ensure all that all staff are aware of the Quality Management System?

You will then want to sample the evidence of your chosen employees from Step 2.

Some evidence you may wish to consider observing would be:

• Induction documentation
• Contracts of employment
• CVs/relevant qualifications or experience
• Job description
• Training records
• Performance appraisals
• Training matrix

It is good practise to note down document numbers, dates etc. to include within your audit report. You may also want to take photographs (with permission) of some of the documentation.

Step 4 – Performing the audit: Interview the employees.

The next step is to ensure the records from above are accurate of what is actually happening.

A good way to do this is by having an ‘interview’ (more of an informal chat!) with at least one of the chosen employees to confirm the findings from above. You may ask:

• Have you received your contract of employment?
• How long have you been with the company?
• Can you tell me about your previous training or experience?
• What are your roles and responsibilities here?

Step 5 – Writing up your internal audit and closing out any findings.  

Finally, record your findings with your Internal Audit Report making sure you highlight any issues. If there are issues, raise them as a finding. There are two types of findings are explained below:

NCR (non-conformance report) – If it is a major failing of your quality management system (e.g. no training records found for one of your samples) you can raise an NCR. This must be addressed before your external assessment.

OFI (opportunity for improvement) – If an issue has been found but is not a major failing (e.g. the training matrix was not updated after the last training session) you can raise it as an OFI. It is a good idea to address this before your external assessment but it is not mandatory.

Hopefully you now have a better idea of the steps you must take to undertake an internal audit of training against the standard ISO 9001:2015. If you need any further support or help get in touch or head over to our social media channels:

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