Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 22, 2016 16 FEATURES Manitoba hones in on self-regulation, education L ike many of its peers, the Human Resource Manage- ment Association of Mani- toba (HRMAM) has one major goal in mind: Self-regulation. "We've had a lot of support from Saskatchewan and Alberta and B.C. in terms of some of their codes and standards that they've looked and their submissions," says Ron Gauthier, CEO and CHRP regis- trar at HRMAM. "We're just in the process of looking at doing all of that, and we're just starting to educate our members on what be- ing self-regulated means and why there are benefi ts to that." To that end, HRMAM is focus- ing on the education piece with its membership of 1,365, he says. "We're also very busy looking at the standards for the designation and the codes of conduct… the national body I think is going to be looking at this year some of the credentialing around the designa- tion and those types of things, so we're providing input." HRMAM is continuing to work actively with post-secondary in- stitutions, says Gauthier. "We've got now two programs that have aligned their courses with our new national competen- cy framework, and we've shared it with all the other institutions." And the association continues to expand its involvement in stu- dent activities, he says. "We sponsor a lot of the stu- dent events — building relation- ships, creating awareness about students that there is a career in HR and a designation." e association is also look- ing to get more involved with research, as it did while partici- pating in the western Canada HR trends report, says Gauthier. HRMAM has also been work- ing hard on its own awareness of the intricacies involved in a self- regulation bid, he says. "We've met with similar types of associations, and also we've met with associations that have just gotten regulated in Manitoba to learn some tips from them in terms of what some of the strate- gies were or what some of the key things that were involved were." Strong stakeholder buy-in is key, says Gauthier. "That's why we're educating our members — we're going to be having some special membership meetings coming up in the spring where we talk about self-regula- tion, what does it mean… and the big shift in thinking. You go from being a professional business as- sociation to a regulator." Saskatchewan association celebrates 10 years T he Saskatchewan Associ- ation of Human Resource Professionals (SAHRP) celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2015. But along with the celebrations, SAHRP's focus on self-regulation remained job number one. How- ever, the provincial election in the spring is a challenge. "It's fair to say we're about in the same position as we were last year," says Nicole Norton Scott, executive director and registrar at SAHRP. "Given the environ- ment in Saskatchewan, it's very dependent on where the govern- ment is at." But the association is more evolved in terms of its thinking around self-regulation, says Lindy Pelletier, president of SAHRP. "For instance, we're focused on ensuring HR-specifi c education is present... we're creating working relationships with post-secondary institutions around educational programming. So though our ap- plication remains perhaps where it was last year in terms of… the government processes, our think- ing has evolved over the last year in terms of the elements that need to be in place to enable self-regu- lation when it comes." The association also joined forces with the HR associations in British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba to produce a Western HR trends survey that's meant to track, measure and benchmark the human resources function. Results are expected in March. " is is very good information for our members," says Norton Scott. "It can be used as a tool when we meet with our stake- holders, whether it be members of the public, meaning business owners that may not understand HR; the same with the govern- ment… using this to talk about what HR professionals do." SAHRP also presented its fi rst annual professional development calendar in 2015, off ering a variety of opportunities that directly align with the HR functional knowl- edge areas of the certifi ed human resources professional (CHRP) designation. e 1,500-member association also now provides an accredi- tation program by recognizing quality HR-focused professional development programs, with four organizations signed on so far. e October conference in Sas- katoon was also very successful, with 330 delegates in attendance, and for 2016, the conference is to be held in Regina on Oct. 4 and 5. "We are looking at perhaps reinvigorating an HR rewards of excellence ceremony to help pro- mote the profession as well, so that's something that's going to be reinvigorated from the past," says Pelletier. "It's another tool to help pro- mote the profession so it makes good sense to bring it back." Ontario builds on strong foundation T he Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) accomplished a great deal around incorporating a lot of the new elements of being a self-regulated profession, such as bylaws and processes, says HRPA CEO Bill Greenhalgh. " e biggest thing, of course, was probably the designations that we launched right at the end of 2014 that came into eff ect in 2015. And the impact of those has been un- believable. Our membership is up by eight per cent year-over-year and our retention is up, and the reaction from our members, from companies and organizations, and from academia has been totally outstanding," he says. A main focus for the 22,500-member association in 2016 will the evolution of the designations, such as new exams. Part of these will be around as- sessing employment legislation knowledge, for instance. "It's a core part of the HR pro- fession… certainly the profes- sional level and the leadership level will have employment law exams to assess their capability there," says Greenhalgh. HRPA will also be making an intensive effort in terms of marketing the value of the new designations. "(It's about) really making sure that executives who are hiring HR professionals see the value that hiring someone with a designa- tion brings as opposed to some- one who's outside the profession, or even inside the profession without the designations," says Greenhalgh. It's a ramp-up of the whole ap- proach of presenting HR as a pro- fession, he says. "(We are) working on that pro- fessionalization, building that body of knowledge as a global body so that people can under- stand around the world that there is in fact a competency base around what HR people do." HRPA also just introduced a professional assessment tool where people can go online and assess themselves against the designations and HRPA's compe- tency model, says Greenhalgh. " ey can fi nd out their areas that are suggested for develop- ment — it actually gives them a specifi c report that compares against their peers (and) against the competency model." Eventually, the association will be able to use this to provide data to organizations with multiple HR professionals about which areas they are strong on and which ar- eas may have some development needs. "It gives organizations an indi- cation of where they should focus some of their development activi- ties," he says. HRPA also will be rolling out a brand new strategy in 2016. "HR as a profession is really vi- tal and important, and it's critical that organizations understand the value that HR professionals can bring," says Greenhalgh. Ron Gauthier, CEO and CHRP registrar, HRMAM Nicole Norton Scott, executive director and registrar, SAHRP Bill Greenhalgh, CEO, HRPA Quebec expects changes with new general manager S itting at 9,888 members, the Ordre des conseillers en ressources humaines agréés (CRHA) in Quebec is looking to hit the 10,000 mark in 2016, according to Réné Jolicoeur, then interim general manager of the organization. And changes are expected after the departure of long-time gen- eral manager Florent Francoeur in 2015, who was replaced by Manon Poirier in January. "(He) was here for 23 years and the movement went from 800 members to close to 10,000 members… so he did a fabulous job growing this," says Jolicoeur. So what's next on the agenda for the association? "What's Ordre 2.0? What now do we need to accomplish as we see more and more players jump- ing into the fray from accounting fi rms to training companies to business school? " ey're all off ering discussion groups, training programs, post- ing for new positions, so what used to be pretty much a cap- tive market for the Ordre is now pursued by several partners," says Jolicoeur. e organization has been busy working with schools, helping universities shape their programs so students are admissible right off the bat, he says. " at helps because we're en- tering a phase where you have more people leaving the work market than entering the work market so you have to be aggres- sive on that front." Part of CRHA's strategic plan has been to articulate the seven core competencies it uses and to structure training around that. at means structuring diplomas that lead to immediate certifi ca- tion, says Jolicoeur, which has to be approved by the Offi ce des Pro- fessions du Québec. "There are specialized uni- versity degrees in IR or human resources but now we're starting to look at business degrees with a strong HR orientation... to see if they have a suffi cient number of credits that are closely associated with the HR curriculum so that they can be recognized right off the bat." And when it comes to protec- tion of the public, CRHA wants to increase its eff orts when it comes to the inspection program, says Jolicoeur. Also new for the Quebec orga- nization is its decision to join the Canadian Council of Human Re- sources Associations (CCHRA) as an associate member. "Joining CCHRA as an associ- ate member is one of the ways for us to strengthen our collaboration with the rest of the country and to provide our members with an op- portunity to learn and share best practices and research," says Rich- ard Blain, chair of CRHA. Réné, Joliicoeur, former interim general manager, CRHA

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