Human Resources Audit – From Compliance to Strategic Transformation Engine

This paper investigates the strategic role of the audit of human resources management processes within healthcare organizations in Romania, highlighting its transition from an administrative control function to an essential mechanism for diagnosis and institutional development. In the current specialized literature, human resources audit is increasingly approached as a transformative tool, located at the intersection of governance and performance management, but in the national context, research applied to the healthcare sector remains fragmented and insufficiently adapted to the complexity of this field. The research methodology used is of a qualitative and comparative nature, based on structured interviews with specialists, focus groups, and documentary analysis applied in twelve public and private healthcare units. The research questions targeted the capacity of qualitative methods to identify organizational dysfunctions and the role of digitalization in making the audit process more efficient. The main results highlight that integrating audit into the business strategy enables early risk detection and improves staff retention through data-based interventions. The study’s implications suggest that the success of healthcare management depends on the alignment of human resources policies with the institution’s strategic objectives. The paper significantly contributes to the field by proposing an operational audit model adapted to the Romanian healthcare system and by developing a guide that includes practical performance and risk assessment tools, thus providing a valuable resource for healthcare managers.