Back to Business: 7 HR Checks to Make Before September

The end of August often feels like a natural reset. Summer holidays are coming to an end, teams are returning to work and organisations start looking ahead to a busy autumn.

For HR teams, it’s a useful opportunity to take stock.

A few simple HR checks before September can highlight outstanding actions, emerging people issues and areas that need attention before the pace picks up again.

Here are seven worth putting on your list.

1. Review Your Absence Data

Start by looking at what has happened over the summer.

Have sickness absence levels changed? Are particular departments experiencing more absence? Are there employees with recurring short-term absence or emerging patterns?

Don’t just look at the total number of days lost.

Frequency, timing and patterns can tell you much more.

Identifying these trends gives managers an opportunity to have the right conversations and provide support before issues escalate.

2. Check Outstanding Annual Leave

September can arrive surprisingly quickly, leaving some employees with a significant amount of annual leave still to take.

Review remaining holiday entitlements now.

Encouraging employees to plan their remaining leave can help you avoid a rush of requests towards the end of the holiday year and reduce the operational problems caused by too many people wanting the same dates.

Annual leave also matters for wellbeing. Taking regular breaks should be encouraged, not simply treated as an administrative requirement.

3. Make Sure Your Employee Records Are Current

How much has changed since the beginning of the year?

New starters, leavers, promotions, changes of address, new contracts and changes to working arrangements can all affect employee records.

Now is a good time to check that information is accurate and documents are stored in the right place.

Accurate employee data makes everyday HR administration easier and gives you greater confidence when producing reports or making decisions.

4. Review Policies and Acknowledgements

HR policies shouldn’t be documents that are written once and forgotten.

Consider whether anything has changed within your organisation or the wider employment landscape that means a policy needs reviewing.

And don’t stop at updating the document.

Make sure employees can access the latest version and, where required, that you can see who has read and acknowledged it.

Good policy management is as much about communication as documentation.

5. Check Training and Expiry Dates

Mandatory training, professional qualifications and certifications can easily slip through the net when they’re tracked manually.

Review what’s due to expire over the coming months.

This could include:

• Health and safety training
• Professional qualifications
• First aid certificates
• Role-specific training
• Compliance requirements

Getting ahead of expiry dates means fewer last-minute problems and helps keep your workforce compliant.

6. Check Performance Conversations Are Happening

Performance management shouldn’t be something saved for an annual appraisal.

By late August, managers should have a good picture of how their teams are progressing against objectives set earlier in the year.

Are regular conversations happening?

Are achievements being recognised?

Does anyone need additional support or development?

Are objectives still relevant?

A short check-in now gives employees and managers time to make meaningful progress before the end of the year.

7. Get September New Starters Ready

If employees are joining your organisation in September, their onboarding experience has already started.

Contracts should be issued. Documents should be ready. Managers should know who’s arriving and when. Induction plans, equipment and access requirements should be organised.

The aim should be simple: when a new employee arrives on their first morning, you want them to feel expected.

A smooth start creates a much better first impression than spending day one chasing paperwork and logins.

Use September as a Reset

None of these individual tasks is particularly complicated.

The challenge comes when information sits across spreadsheets, emails, shared folders and different systems.

That’s when straightforward HR administration starts taking more time than it should.

Taking an hour to review your key people processes before September can give you a much clearer picture of where things stand and what needs attention.

More importantly, it can help HR and managers move from reacting to problems to dealing with them earlier.

How Activ People HR Can Help

Activ People HR brings your core people processes together in one place.

From absence management and annual leave to employee documents, policies, performance and training records, you can give HR and managers better visibility while reducing administration.

And because the platform is modular, you can start with the areas your organisation needs most and add functionality as your requirements grow.

Before September gets busy, take a moment to check your HR foundations are ready for what comes next.

Discover how Activ People HR can help you simplify your people management.