At its core, internal audit recognizes risks before they turn into real problems. As has always been the case, the source of risk continues to evolve and today that shift is increasingly driven by changes in the workforce. Beyond systems, processes, and regulations, demographic shifts are quietly altering the organizational risk profile. Age, gender, and multi-generational dynamics which were viewed mainly as HR considerations, are now shaping how organizations manage risk, make decisions, and remain future ready. For the internal audit profession, this marks a shift from focusing on employee lifespan to understanding risk span.
As workforces age, organizations find that core knowledge often sits within a limited group of experienced professionals. Experience, working methods, and informal process controls are embedded in people rather than in systems. When retirements or unexpected attrition occur, the risk is not just talent loss but also erosion of deep knowledge built over years. The internal audit function increasingly finds that the concept of succession exists, but the transfer of know-how is mostly informal and/or insufficient.
On the other side of the spectrum, the next generation of workers, Gen Z and Gen Alpha, are entering the workplace with expectations that are different from the previous generations. Tech-savvy and much more likely to challenge hierarchy, younger workers are reshaping how work gets done. For internal audit, this introduces new considerations such as frequent job changes, limited experience, and reliance on informal channels of communication.
Gender dynamics also add another layer of consideration. While organizations continue to emphasize an inclusive and equitable workplaces, pay disparities, promotion gaps, or access to high-impact roles are becoming hard to ignore. A concern for equality can easily shift from an issue of fairness into a regulatory or brand risk issue very quickly, and internal auditors are finding themselves caught up in internal discussions about compensation, performance, and organizational culture.
As Gen Z grows into leadership, Gen Alpha enters the workforce, number of women in the workforce increases, and multi-generational teams being more prevalent, it becomes more imperative for the internal audit function to regularly challenge its understanding of how people-risk related risks come into existence, develop, and ultimately affect an organization. These trends are also being driven by technological adoption and remote/hybrid working options.
This is where the concept of risk span comes into play. While lifespan focuses on the term of an employee’s service; risk span views the related risks that affect people and which appear over time and exist for a period before finally impacting business. Internal audit’s value lies in interpreting what these trends mean for business continuity, controls effectiveness, and long-term resilience. Thus, a shift from lifespan to risk span means that internal auditors must expand their horizons from policies and people, and from static and dynamic risks.
This shift raises an important question for the profession: as internal auditors, are our risk assessments keeping pace with a changing workforce, or are we still auditing risks shaped by yesterday’s organization?
About the Author:
Vatika Arora is a Chartered Accountant with over fifteen years of experience in internal audit, governance, and risk advisory. She has worked closely with leadership teams across complex organisations, focusing on strengthening audit effectiveness, control environments, and risk-informed decision-making.