Canadian HR Reporter

Canadian HR RepoRteR February 23, 2015 14 FeAtures CSTD re-imagines its role in Canadian landscape t his will be an exciting year for the canadian society for training and develop- ment (cstd). Armed with a new strategic plan, the society will be rebranding and re-imagining its role in the canadian landscape. Last year, Rob Pearson came onboard as president of the 2,850-member association, and the board approved a fi ve-year strategic plan. "It's the fi rst time that CSTD has begun to push out the plan- ning horizon that long," says Pear- son. "So that gives staff and it also gives the board and indeed our chapter network and ultimately our members, I think, a crisper sense of where we want to go in the future and how we all have to be aligned to drive growth." 2015 will be about beginning to execute on some of the priorities of that plan, he says. "Probably the biggest thing that we're looking to do this year is to rebrand, and rebrand in a way that will make the CSTD tent a little bigger. And I think that's going to be very exciting for our members and I think very exciting for the broader stakeholder network." e rebranding is still in the planning stage right now but will be offi cially unveiled in 2015. "Along with that will be a much more dynamic digital presence for the association and I think that's really critical. If we're seri- ous about telling our story more powerfully, our digital presence has to be way more than just a place where members can go and do transactional stuff and fi nd out when the next event is. So we're going to be investing in more dy- namic content curation for the website, and we'll probably be looking to bring some expertise in-house to help us with that," says Pearson. " at's a pretty big and bold change agenda for this year — but it's pretty exciting." Rob Pearson, president, CSTD New Brunswick to launch mentorship program i n 2014, the human re- sources Association of New Brunswick (hrANB) titled its annual conference "riding the wave" — a metaphor about adapting to changing economic times in the province. e conference, held in Novem- ber, was the highlight of the year for the association, says Pierre Simoneau, president of the Monc- ton-based HRANB. Traditionally held over two days, organizers tightened the program to run just a day-and- a-half, to accommodate tighter travel budgets. Those reduced budgets are evident nearly everywhere, says Simoneau. " e economy in New Bruns- wick is diffi cult," he says. " ere have been a lot of closures." Many of those who lost their jobs have moved out of the re- gion, says Simoneau. e prov- ince also has an aging workforce, so recruiting qualifi ed people is an ongoing challenge. "Some employers are finding success in hiring retired people," he says, adding that many seniors are interested in taking on a less chal- lenging role or something part- time or with more fl exible hours. Down the road, ne wer trends may emerge as well, says Simoneau. " e slowdown in the national economy may be an opportunity for New Brunswick fi rms." Also coming this year, the as- sociation, which has just over 900 members, will launch a new province-wide mentorship program. HRANB also has plans for a membership survey this calendar year. "We're looking forward to get- ting some feedback from our members this year," he says. "It's important to make sure we're meeting their needs and heading in the right direction." Pierre Simoneau, president, HRANB Newfoundland and Labrador grows student membership t he human resources professionals of New- foundland and labra- dor (hrpNl) is the smallest of the nation's hr associations in terms of members. despite this, the association managed to grow its audience last year, develop new partnerships and further establish its infl uence, accord- ing to Neil coombs, president. "We partnered with Memorial University and off ered a schol- arship for HR students who are members," he says. " e goal was to increase stu- dent membership and get more young people involved with the association." e 200-member association also extended its reach and infl u- ence across the country. "We had more members of our board become involved at the national level on panels and com- mittees with the CCHRA," says Coombs. In 2014, St. John's-based HRANS held well-attended pro- fessional development events for members and took internal steps to streamline its procedures to en- sure smoother growth. e year also saw continuing shifts for the role of HR profes- sionals in the province. " e biggest trend that stands out to me is the opportunity in skilled trades," he says. "(We're) seeing more HR professionals and recruiters getting creative in how we attract people to the province." e year ahead off ers more of the same growth and progress, says Coombs. "I'm excited about the increased involvement with the CCHRA and working with the other At- lantic associations," he says. "We're focused on growing the association... One of our objec- tives is to raise the profi le of HR in the province and have it recog- nized by government and indus- try as a top-tier profession." Neil Coombs, president, HRPNL HR tech association to celebrate 10 years t he hrms professionals Association (hrmsp) will be celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2015. at tenure shows there is still a need in the market for an ex- change on technology in the hu- man resources fi eld, says Martine Castellani, president of the Toron- to-based association. In 2014, HRMSP received its Certifi cate of Continuance, issued under the Canada Not-for-profi t Corporations Acts, from Indus- try Canada. It also complied with Canada's anti-spam law (CASL) and more than three-quarters of its readers have given consent, meaning they wish to stay in con- tact and be informed, she says. HRMSP's membership remains stable at roughly 100 members, says Castellani. "Although membership is im- portant, we prefer to improve on the number of people we attract to sessions. To date, we reached out to over 4,450 people." Going forward, the association is redesigning its website to re- fl ect the association's mission to be "THE source for professionals on human resources management systems (HRMS)." It will be add- ing features to help profession- als in their business mandates, which will roll out this spring, says Castellani. HRMSP is also preparing road show sessions in eastern Canada. As for the HRMS community, self-service portals and mobil- ity remain popular topics, says Castellani. " ese technologies are ways to improve effi ciency and eff ective- ness to employees, managers and corporations in general — not for- getting that the cloud solution is a major trend on the market and for some, it is still a debate." Martine Castellani, president, HRMSP U.S. association launches new designation i t's been an exciting year for the society for human re s ou rce management (shrm), to put it lightly. Last summer, the Alexandria, Va.-based association announced it was launching its own HR desig- nation, the SHRM Certifi ed Pro- fessional (SHRM-CP) and SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP). Previously, the association had worked with the HR Certifi cation Institute (HRCI) in off ering vari- ous HR designations, including the Professional in Human Re- sources (PHR) and Senior Pro- fessional in Human Resources (SPHR). "We have been working on our competency model for a number of years and so identifying the SHRM certifi cation in May and planning for the launch in 2015 has really been exciting," says Deb Cohen, se- nior vice-president of knowledge development at SHRM. e response from HR profes- sionals has been very positive, she says. "Anything new, people are sort of, 'Tell me about this,' but once they hear about it, once they hear how we developed our compe- tency model and how we're applying the model to the new certification, people are very excited about it. ey think, as we do, that this is really going to take the HR profession to the next level." As part of that, the association is off ering holders of HR general- ist credentials in good standing — as of Jan. 31, 2015 — a "bridge" to the new designations up until the end of 2015. e core of the process is an online tutorial that provides an overview of the SHRM Com- petency Model and explores how it supports professional development. Deb Cohen, senior vice-president of knowledge development, SHRM New > pg. 16

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