Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 17 Zoomed out, people are getting tired, frustrated, and then you've got the health and wellness piece of it. Because staring at a screen all day, if you don't have the proper desk, the proper chair, it becomes an issue." Plus, it's about understanding the law when it comes to issues such as people being reluctant to return to work amid the pandemic, says Ariganello. "We've had a lot of legal webinars and symposiums on this subject… Members want to hear about it, because they want to understand their obligations as employers. And how do they protect the employees? [Plus, it's] how to continue to engage and motivate and ensure that you have a workforce that is stable and happy and content and safe at the same time," he says. "There's this whole conversation around that. It just hasn't been something that's been easy to grapple with." Also a challenge? The B.C. economy during the lockdown. "It's recuperated a bit, but it's not doing great," says Ariganello, citing the province's heavy reliance on travel and tourism, which has basically ceased. "We're trying to get the government to let things in a little bit or loosen up, but they're not, so that's a big problem... It's definitely tough." Shortly after the pandemic lockdown hit in 2020, Chartered Professionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Alberta pivoted from in-person learning events to a webinar series that drew more than 8,000 visitors from around the world, says Rod Miller, president and CEO. "It was incredible to see the engagement. We exist for members [who] live across the jurisdiction of Alberta, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. If we're not connecting with members in those rural places where they may not be able to come to an event or they may not be able to come to the conference face to face, we have to come to them." The association also held its first virtual conference and that included more than 500 attendees and a trade show that was oversold by 100 per cent, says Miller. "Whether or not this will continue into 2021, we're not sure, but we certainly have seen an uptick in our HR membership. Our members overall are really engaging with the association, which is something that is important for us." The association saw membership grow by 300 this year to total 5,600, he says. And work on the competency frame- work with CPHR Canada is progressing nicely, say Miller, who chairs the committee. "We've gotten their feedback, we've had a small working group that has come together to help guide us into what that competency framework can look like, and we hope to be in a position later this year to launch the basis of the new framework that includes both general competencies as well as HR competencies for the profession," says Miller. It aims to reflect the ever-changing reality of the profession of HR, he says, and it won't be a rigid document. "We're going to be launching a framework that really achie ved the fluidity of the profession, that allows individuals to define their own professional development and to incorporate that into a dynamic frame work that 's based off of fundamental, general competencies and competencies that we see are the future of the profession, like innovation and creativity, data analytics and machine-based learning. Those are now going to be incorporated into the HR competency framework." The effort also brought Quebec's HR association into the fold, on the committee level as an advisor. "It really is about supporting our members who are now the rallying point around this pandemic." Anthony Ariganello, CPHR Canada ALBERTA FOCUSES ON RISING MEMBERSHIP, COMPETENCY FRAMEWORK

• Cover