Canadian HR Reporter

PM40065782 RO9496 September 22, 2014 INSIDE BRITISH COLUMBIA SHEDS BC BC HRMA unveils new logo (right), rebrands as Human Resources Management Association Retirees rewarded GM's 2008 benefit cutbacks are restored in settlement deal page 5 Positive thinking Does traditional change management work? page 8 Factory safety Bangladesh accord outlines best practices page 13 page 2 Does alma really matter? Many employees, employers feel focus should be on experience – not where worker got degree By Liz Bernier It's a questIon applicants agonize over: Which college or university provides the best shot at a good job after graduation? But the reputation or prestige of a post-secondary institution often has little to do with hiring decisions. Two recent surveys sug- gest employers — and employees — may be focusing more on real- world skills and experience as op- posed to a big-name university. Most Canadians (84 per cent) believe experience is more impor- tant than education when it comes to landing a job, according to a 2013 Randstad Global Workmon- itor survey across 32 countries, interviewing at least 400 respon- dents per country. Globally, most employees val- ued experience over education as well, but particularly employees in China (92 per cent), the United Students chat on the campus of Ryerson University in Toronto. Credit: Mark Blinch (Reuters) ALMA > pg. 3 Revised CHRP competencies reflect HR's evolution Strategy, metrics added to equation By Sarah DoBSon after an extensIve re- view, the competencies for the Certified Human Resources Pro- fessional (CHRP) have been re- vised. And while not a dramatic change, it's exciting, according to Cheryl Newcombe, chair of the Canadian Council of Human Re- sources Associations (CCHRA) in Toronto. "e Competency Framework is really a very living document — it changes every time we have a look and see that there are changes in the profession." For those who aren't well-versed in HR, this is an important element to help them understand the com- plexity of the profession, according to Christian Codrington, senior manager of professional practice at the Human Resources Man- agement Association (HRMA) in Vancouver. "It's important for any profes- sion to continuously examine the relevance of the basis of their designation." Leslie Henkel is hopeful the framework will become a means for members to differentiate their value-add in the workplace and open up more opportunities for strategic talent management responsibilities. "Now an employer can be reas- sured that when (hiring) a CHRP, they are hiring a true professional with a rigorous number of skills and competencies as well as an ethical commitment to the highest standards," said the board chair at the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA) in Calgary. For Alberta, these changes make sense particularly because of the structured framework, she said. "As we make a bid for self-reg- ulation, this framework provides business leaders, the government and the public with a yardstick against which they can measure HR professionals in Alberta and those who are arriving in our prov- ince every day." e CHRP Competency Frame- work outlines 44 discipline-specif- ic professional competencies that candidates must demonstrate to be certified. It was based on the results of an evidence-based process undertak- en in a 2013 Professional Practice Analysis (PPA), which surveyed more than 1,000 HR experts and professionals from across the country about their workplace tasks. It describes the body of knowl- edge HR professionals are actually using to accomplish their work. One of the biggest alterations Low inflation factors into salary forecasts By Sarah DoBSon Lower InfLatIon is a sig- nificant factor when it comes to salary forecasts for Canada in 2015, according to recent surveys predicting hikes ranging from 2.6 per cent to three per cent. e numbers are the same as last year in absolute percentage terms. Employers followed through with their forecasts last year, which sug- gests they'll do the same again, said Karl Aboud, director of the Cana- dian reward practice at Hay Group in Toronto, which is predicting an average gain of 2.6 per cent. "But in an era of even reduced inflation and reduced interest rates from where we were a year ago... you can't argue for much more than our 2.6 per cent," he said. "Or- ganizations have to consider the affordability of the increases and increased costs of goods, inflation and Canada's overall macro-pro- ductivity metric, which is always lower than the U.S." Productivity metrics in the United States are always higher, said Aboud. "Unless we boost the GNP (gross national product) without boosting our total country pay- roll, or reduce our payroll if we're not going to boost our GNP... how are (Canadian employers) going to give more than the Americans are giving if our productivity stan- dards are less, or inflation is low? It's all tied in, so 2.6 per cent in 2015 is probably as positive as 3.6 per cent was in 2007, before the economic downturn, when infla- tion was much higher. So I think it's a number that people can't complain about." e 2.6 per cent projected in- crease is lower than the 2.9 per cent projection for 2013, found the survey of more than 400 Ca- nadian public and private sector employers in June and July. But 83 per cent of employers will provide CHRP > pg. 2 HIGH > pg. 6

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