Annual workplace policy review checklist (AU)
Policies are only effective if they are current, consistent with legislation, and actually trained. This annual review checklist covers the 12 most important policy families and the governance steps to confirm they are fit for purpose.
This is a 12-step annual review checklist for Australian workplace policies. It covers the mandatory policies (WHS, sexual harassment, bullying, whistleblowing, privacy) and the drafting, training, and monitoring steps that make policies legally effective. Use it in the first quarter of each year.
The checklist
WHS policy
Confirm the WHS policy reflects the current primary duty of care and the organisation's risk profile.
Sexual harassment and positive duty
Confirm the sexual harassment policy addresses the positive duty to eliminate sexual harassment and related conduct.
Bullying and discrimination policy
Confirm the bullying policy is aligned with Fair Work anti-bullying jurisdiction and state-based discrimination law.
Whistleblower policy
For public companies and large proprietary companies, confirm the whistleblower policy meets the s 1317AI requirements.
Privacy and employee records policy
Confirm the privacy policy reflects the Privacy Act 1988 and the employee records exemption position.
Code of conduct
Review the code of conduct for consistency with current values, conflict of interest standards, and outside activities rules.
IT and acceptable use
Confirm the IT policy addresses monitoring, BYOD, AI tools, and data security expectations.
Flexible work, parental leave, and domestic violence leave
Reflect recent NES amendments — paid family and domestic violence leave and expanded flexible work rights.
Drug, alcohol, and medicinal cannabis
Confirm DAMP is current for safety-sensitive roles and addresses medicinal cannabis where relevant.
Social media and external communications
Reflect current case law on out-of-hours conduct and social media speech.
Policy training and sign-off register
Confirm every employee has completed training on core policies and signed off. No policy is effective without training.
Policy incident and metrics review
Review reports, investigations, and outcomes. Identify themes that should drive next year's policy revisions.
When this checklist applies
Use this checklist as an annual governance review — typically in Q1 after the previous year's incident data is available. Rotate the detailed redraft of each policy on a 3-year cycle.
Common pitfalls
- Policies are out of date on positive duty for sexual harassment — post-Jenkins review
- Whistleblower policy not meeting the s 1317AI specific requirements
- No training register — policies exist but are never rolled out
- Inconsistencies between the contract, policies, and enterprise agreement
- Incident metrics not fed back into policy revision
Run this checklist on a real matter
Quillio benchmarks workplace policies against current AU legislation, drafts updates, and generates a training sign-off register. See /practice-areas/employment-lawyers or start a free trial.
This review checklist is a general governance tool. Specific industries (finance, healthcare, mining) may have additional regulatory policy requirements.
Use this checklist on your matter.
Quillio can run this checklist on a specific NSW conveyancing matter — confirm each item, calculate adjustments, and generate the supporting documents. The free trial requires no credit card.
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