HR Risk Management Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends HR Managers, HR Business Partners and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 16 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HM-105

Before you join: Participants should have practical experience in HR operations, employee relations, HR policy, people management or a related assurance role.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Employment risks can emerge through policy gaps, inconsistent manager decisions, weak documentation, poorly controlled employee data, unsafe work practices and unplanned organisational change. The consequences may include tribunal claims, regulatory penalties, discrimination findings, employee relations disputes, payroll errors, reputational damage and disruption to critical operations. HR professionals need a repeatable method for identifying people risks, assessing their significance, assigning ownership and embedding practical controls in HR policy and day-to-day management.

This course teaches participants how to apply enterprise risk management principles to the HR function. Participants map the HR risk universe, define risk appetite and tolerance, assess inherent and residual risk, and use risk registers, control libraries and key risk indicators. The syllabus addresses recruitment, employment contracts, performance management, disciplinary action, grievance handling, equality, employee data, payroll, health and safety interfaces, third-party workers, workforce change and crisis response. It also examines how HR policy wording, approval controls, manager guidance and audit evidence reduce exposure.

Training combines concise instructor briefings with sector-based cases from banking, public services, manufacturing, NGOs and multinational employers. Participants assess realistic incidents, test controls against policy failures, conduct a risk and control self-assessment, and develop reporting for senior management. They leave with a tailored HR risk management pack: an HR risk register, risk assessment criteria, control checklist, policy review plan, key risk indicator set and 90-day implementation plan.

The course suits HR practitioners who already manage policies, employee relations, people operations or HR governance and now need to make risk management a disciplined part of their work. It is also relevant to compliance, internal audit and operational risk staff who review people-related controls.

What you will be able to do

  • Construct an HR risk universe covering people processes, policies and workforce events
  • Apply ISO 31000 risk criteria to score inherent and residual HR risks
  • Build an HR risk register with owners, controls, actions and review dates
  • Assess HR policy controls using risk and control self-assessment techniques
  • Design key risk indicators and escalation thresholds for workforce risks
  • Investigate HR incidents using root cause analysis and evidence trails
  • Integrate people risks into enterprise risk reporting and assurance plans
  • Produce a 90-day HR risk management implementation plan

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Make defensible HR decisions using documented risk criteria and controls
  • Identify policy weaknesses before they develop into employee disputes
  • Present workforce risks clearly to executives, risk committees and auditors
  • Strengthen investigation and case-management judgement through structured evidence review
  • Build a practical portfolio of HR governance templates for immediate use

For your organisation

  • Reduce exposure from inconsistent HR policy interpretation and manager decisions
  • Improve evidence of compliance with employment, equality and data obligations
  • Identify workforce control failures before they produce costly claims or disruption
  • Create clearer ownership and escalation for material people risks
  • Link HR assurance activity to enterprise risk reporting and board oversight

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can explain how HR risk management supports governance, policy and operational decision-making.

  • HR risk sources across the employee lifecycle and workforce operating model
  • ISO 31000 principles applied to people, policy and employment risks
  • Three Lines Model roles for HR, compliance, audit and management
  • Risk appetite, tolerance and capacity distinguished for workforce decisions
  • Materiality criteria for financial, legal, operational and reputational consequences
  • Risk taxonomy linking strategic, operational, conduct and compliance exposures

Participants can identify and structure HR risks using a defined risk universe.

  • Employee lifecycle mapping from workforce planning through exit management
  • Risk universe categories for talent, conduct, reward, data and safety
  • PESTLE prompts for labour-market, regulatory and societal people risks
  • Stakeholder interviews structured around events, causes, impacts and controls
  • Process walkthroughs used to identify handoffs, overrides and failure points
  • Scenario analysis for restructurings, industrial action and critical skill shortages

Participants can score HR risks consistently and prioritise treatment activity.

  • Inherent risk scoring before considering existing policies and controls
  • Likelihood scales calibrated with incident history, exposure and judgement
  • Impact criteria covering claims, fines, service failure and employee harm
  • Residual risk assessed after control design and operating effectiveness
  • Risk matrices tested for rating consistency and management decision usefulness
  • Heat maps, risk velocity and trend indicators used for prioritisation

Participants can design policy-based controls that address defined HR risk causes.

  • Preventive, detective and corrective controls matched to HR risk events
  • Control objectives translated into policy clauses, procedures and guidance
  • Segregation of duties for hiring, payroll changes and termination approvals
  • Delegated authority matrices for exceptions, settlements and employment decisions
  • Mandatory documentation standards for performance, grievance and disciplinary processes
  • Control library entries specifying owner, frequency, evidence and escalation
  • Policy review cycles triggered by incidents, legal changes and audit findings

Participants can assess controls for hiring, contracting, compensation and workforce classification.

  • Recruitment controls covering requisitions, selection evidence and conflict declarations
  • Right-to-work verification records and expiry monitoring responsibilities
  • Employment contract controls for terms, probation, confidentiality and amendments
  • Worker classification risks involving employees, contractors and agency personnel
  • Payroll change controls using maker-checker approvals and exception reports
  • Compensation governance for incentive plans, pay equity and approval limits

Participants can manage employee relations risks through fair procedures and evidence-based decisions.

  • Procedural fairness requirements for disciplinary, grievance and capability processes
  • Investigation plans defining allegations, evidence sources, roles and timeframes
  • Root cause analysis using five whys and cause-and-effect diagrams
  • Bias controls in performance ratings, promotion and disciplinary decisions
  • Speak-up channels, non-retaliation safeguards and case escalation protocols
  • Case file standards for chronology, evidence, rationale and retention

Participants can identify and control discrimination, harassment and employee data risks.

  • Equality risk assessments for recruitment, reward, progression and restructuring
  • Harassment prevention controls through reporting routes, training and investigations
  • Employee data inventories covering collection, access, retention and deletion
  • Data minimisation principles applied to HR forms and case files
  • Access-control matrices for personnel records, medical data and payroll
  • Data breach response roles, notification decisions and employee communications

Participants can connect HR controls with health, safety and workforce continuity risks.

  • Psychosocial risk factors assessed through workload, conflict and absence indicators
  • Return-to-work controls for capability, accommodation and medical confidentiality
  • Competence matrices for safety-critical roles, licences and refresher training
  • Absence trend analysis identifying operational dependency and wellbeing concerns
  • Succession risk assessments for critical roles and single-point dependencies
  • Business continuity workforce plans for disruption, relocation and remote work

Participants can monitor HR controls, investigate incidents and report assurance findings.

  • Key risk indicators for turnover, grievances, payroll errors and case ageing
  • Control testing methods using sampling, walkthroughs, inspection and reperformance
  • Management information packs linking indicators, incidents and action status
  • Bow-tie analysis connecting threats, preventive barriers and recovery controls
  • Incident triage criteria for legal, data, safety and conduct escalation
  • Assurance reporting using findings, ratings, owners, deadlines and validation

Participants can establish an HR risk management cycle with clear governance and implementation priorities.

  • HR risk register structure with causes, consequences, controls and actions
  • Risk ownership assigned through RACI roles and accountability statements
  • Committee terms of reference for HR, risk and governance oversight
  • Quarterly review cadence aligned with planning, audit and reporting cycles
  • Escalation thresholds for overdue actions, incidents and residual risk
  • Ninety-day implementation plan with priorities, milestones and evidence requirements

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. HR risk universe template
  2. HR risk register template
  3. Policy control assessment checklist
  4. Risk appetite and scoring matrix
  5. HR key risk indicator dashboard
  6. 90-day HR risk implementation plan

Who should attend

  • HR Managers — need consistent controls across employee lifecycle decisions
  • HR Business Partners — advise leaders on people risks and policy application
  • Employee Relations Managers — manage casework exposure, investigations and procedural fairness
  • People Operations Managers — control risks in recruitment, contracts, records and payroll processes
  • Compliance and Risk Managers — assess HR risks within enterprise risk frameworks
  • Internal Auditors — test HR controls, evidence and policy adherence

Skills and tools covered

HR risk assessmentPolicy control designRisk register managementWorkforce risk reportingIncident root-cause analysisHR governance assurance

Tools and standards

ISO 31000, COSO ERM Framework, Bow-tie analysis, RACI matrix

How the course runs

Training methodology

The instructor uses short briefings to introduce risk concepts, followed by case work based on recruitment failures, misconduct allegations, payroll errors, employee data incidents and restructuring decisions. Small-group exercises apply risk registers, Bow-tie analysis, control testing and root cause analysis to realistic HR scenarios. Participants compare policy wording with operating controls, test escalation decisions in simulations, and receive structured feedback. Guided application planning converts course methods into priorities, owners, milestones and reporting actions for their own HR function.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have practical experience in HR operations, employee relations, HR policy, people management or a related assurance role. They should understand the main stages of the employee lifecycle and be familiar with their organisation’s HR policies or procedures. Experience of risk registers, internal audit or formal compliance systems is useful but not required. The course explains the risk methods used from first principles before applying them to HR cases. No legal qualification, audit certification, statistical training or prior knowledge of ISO 31000 is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should understand core HR processes such as recruitment, employee records, performance management or employee relations. Prior work with risk registers, audit methods or ISO 31000 is helpful but not required.

Bring a current HR policy, process map or example risk concern if your organisation permits it. Participants can work with anonymised material, and no confidential case files should be shared.

It is designed for HR managers, HR business partners, employee relations specialists, people operations leaders and assurance professionals with HR responsibilities. It is most useful for professionals who influence policy, controls or management decisions.

Employment law courses focus on legal rules and case interpretation, while this course focuses on managing the risk created when policies and processes fail. It uses risk assessment, control design, assurance and reporting methods that support legal and policy compliance.

You can use the templates to assess one HR process, such as recruitment, grievance handling or payroll changes, immediately after the course. The 90-day plan helps convert findings into owned actions, evidence requirements and reporting milestones.

The course provides approximately 32.5 contact hours, delivered from 08:30 to 16:30 each day with scheduled breaks. Time is divided across ten taught modules, case analysis, group application, simulations and individual implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

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