Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER February 22, 2016 18 FEATURES Payroll association keeps pushing for change O ne of the Canadian Pay- roll Association (CPA)'s big accomplishments in 2015 was the implementation of the work experience require- ment for the Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) certifi cation. "In the past, most of our students completing certification were taking it at night and had payroll jobs during the day, but when they moved to the college and univer- sity model with students taking courses during the day, then they didn't have the same level of work experience, so... we needed to en- sure that graduates were able to apply the compliance knowledge that we taught them," says Patrick Culhane, CEO and president. e 20,000-member CPA has also been vocal when it comes to proposed changes concerning the Canada Pension Plan and Ontar- io's pension plan. "Our preference is that there's a modest increase in the Canada Pension Plan rather than the ORPP because the CPP is already in place, employers already have a process for administering it and it's just more effi cient," he says. e CPA also saw success with Service Canada when it came to electronic ROEs, says Culhane. "We worked very hard with Service Canada to enable people outside of Canada to sign up for electronic ROEs. So if you're an HR professional, a payroll pro- fessional or an accounting pro- fessional or lawyer in the United States or other places in the world, you can then authorize that a company representative is legiti- mate so they can make use of Ser- vice Canada's electronic services outside of Canada." And for the annual confer- ence in June in Calgary, good at- tendance is expected despite the challenges, he says. " e reality is in most cases, payroll jobs are pretty secure because if you downsize or even adjust, the fact of the matter is somebody has to pay people." Providing knowledge, examples, networking at SCN T his year, the Strategic Ca- pability Network has a fairly simple focus, says president Ian Hendry: "Staying on the cusp of research that's coming out, new developments that we see, organizational change that we see — it's really staying on the cusp of evolution." Having the right people doing the right jobs with the right skill sets will continue to be critical as orga- nizations zero in on their strategic objectives, he says. "So the more you can align to those strategic objectives and keep people engaged in doing the right things and developing at the same time, I think that's where the game is." A lot of the 550-member net- work's programming focuses on experts from diverse disciplines, who in turn apply their learnings to HR. " e needs are diff erent in dif- ferent organizations, they're all in diff erent places on the learn- ing curve, they're all in diff erent places with respect to competi- tion — if you're a global organiza- tion, it's obviously very diff erent than if you're local. So all of those are nuances, but there are diff er- ent elements that come to bear," says Hendry. "We try to have a sense of what's emerging and what those sourc- es are, and bring them into our events so that we can learn from there." It's about taking that informa- tion, taking that knowledge and interpreting it for your organiza- tion, he says. " at's where peer networks are becoming very useful," says Hendry. "You sort of take what other organizations have done, look at it in terms of 'What works for me and my organization?' and you tweak it and make it useful in your organization." SCN will also continue to build a strong digital presence this year, via blogging, its web platform and a Twitter presence, he says. Membership continues to grow at HRPNL F or the Human Resources Professionals of New- foundland & Labrador (HRPNL), one of the biggest suc- cesses of 2015 was the growth of members with their Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation. "We're the youngest association in the country," says president Neil Coombs, "but approximately half of our membership now holds the CHRP designation." It's an employer trend too. "I've seen an increase in the number of employers who are asking for the CHRP," he says. "When they're recruiting for an HR professional, they're asking for that certifi cation, so they're rec- ognizing that it's more than just education and experience they're looking for, but a certain level of professionalism." Over the course of 2015, the 215-member organization also worked to strengthen its network. "As a member of CCHRA (Ca- nadian Council of Human Re- sources Associations), we've been collaborating with other member associations to ensure our stan- dards are consistent with those of associations across the country," says Coombs. Looking ahead to 2016, the as- sociation hopes to increase some of the services it off ers to mem- bers, including more professional development opportunities and a broader range of digital resources through the website. "Economically, there are chal- lenges right now, but we are seeing a lot of companies in the province who are still recruiting, still look- ing for professionals and those in the skilled trades," says Coombs. "It's important for us to weather the storm and see where the op- portunities come from next." Neil Coombs, president, HRPNL CSTD now Institute for Performance and Learning T he Institute for Perfor- mance and Learning — formerly the Canadian Society for Training and Devel- opment (CSTD) — has plenty to be excited about this year. For starters, there's the new name and brand, along with a new web- site and digital presence, says CEO Rob Pearson. " e decision to rebrand was one of the primary callouts in our strategic plan." e essence of that plan was a belief that in representing perfor- mance and learning professionals, the institute should increase its visibility and infl uence. "We're at a time of great change in our society and in our country and in our economy, and work- place performance and learning professionals in so many ways are at the nexus of this change. e world of work is changing, the requirement to be lifelong learn- ers, just the pace of change. e things that we learned in school and university become obsolete so quickly," says Pearson. The 3,000-member associa- tion is also increasing its regional programming through "Learn Fests," says Pearson — with events planned for major cities, as well as an annual symposium in Vancou- ver in the spring and a national conference in late fall. e institute is also in the early stages of planning a Design ink- ing Summit, he says. "Our approach to design as a profession, I think, is changing very rapidly and we would like to bring some folks together to do some brainstorming and sharing around what the latest trends and tools are with respect to the de- sign of performance and learning solutions." e association is also putting a lot of eff ort into promoting the profession to potential entrants, says Pearson, visiting colleges, universities and high schools. Patrick Culhane, president and CEO, CPA Rob Pearson, president, Institute for Performance and Learning Ian Hendry president, SCNetwork SHRM to expand offerings around competency model T he Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) had an "outstand- ing" year with "epic" results, ac- cording to Henry G. (Hank) Jack- son, president and CEO. After the launch of competency- based SHRM certifi cation in Janu- ary, more than 87,000 individuals became either a SHRM Certi- fi ed Professional (SHRM-CP) or SHRM Senior Certifi ed Profes- sional (SHRM-SCP). "At the same time, employers began to embrace the concept ... they began asking for the SHRM- SCP and SHRM-CP on HR job postings," he says. e annual conference was also a success, being its largest ever. Held in Las Vegas, the event had 15,600 attendees from 85 coun- tries — including 209 from Cana- da — and more than 3,500 exhibi- tors. For 2016, the conference will move to Washington, D.C. L o o k i n g a h e a d , t h e 285,000-member society plans to expand its off erings around the SHRM Competency Model to en- sure HR professionals are prepared to lead their organizations, he says. " e competency model was developed three years ago and, since then, we have developed diagnostic tools that HR profes- sionals and their teams are using to assess their strengths and op- portunities. We are continuing to help HR professionals engage with the competency model as they de- velop their skills and careers with practical applications to close competency gaps via content, tools, networks and experiences." SHRM is also conducting a joint qualitative research project with the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA) and a Mexico associa- tion looking at the best cross-bor- der HR practices of practitioners and their companies operating under the North American Free Trade Agreement. It expects to have a report for release later this year, says Jackson. Henry Jackson, president and CEO, SHRM

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