Canadian HR Reporter

CANADIAN HR REPORTER May 15, 2017 12 FEATURES Alberta introduces 5-year action plan with new CEO S ince becoming CEO of the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA) — now CPHR Alberta — in January, Pe- ter Dugandzic has been particu- larly busy rolling out a fi ve-year action plan for the association. "We've had strategic plans before but they weren't action-oriented plans. So… we developed what I would call a private sector-type of business plan that was future- focused, that took into account where our past defi ciencies were, and therefore what objectives and actionable deliverables would be to transform and deliver change." e plan focuses on a number of key objectives, according to Dugandzic. "( ese include) increasing the value of the designation through the products and services that we off er, through ensuring that we have adequate professional de- velopment by increasing the pro- fi le of HRIA with its stakeholders, enhancing the recognition of the brand within the business com- munity, and then growing our membership base," he says. "We're focusing on the value position that we off er to mem- bers, so members need to see value in terms of what they're paying for the membership, and that will come from the recogni- tion of the CPHR designation and brand within broader stakeholder groups. But, more specifically, we're focusing on the business community so they understand what's behind the credentials and how it adds value to their business." e association plans to have a very transparent focus with mem- bers moving forward, says Dugan- dzic, "so not only do they want to see results but we're committing to regular, quarterly updates in terms of where we are with ex- ecution of the plan, what we've done and what we're continuing to focus on for the remainder of the year." e latest membership survey showed a decline in satisfaction year-over-year, says Dugandzic. "While it's negative news, it's positive from the point of view that we have detailed informa- tion in terms of where we need to focus, so using the survey results in conjunction with the consultation process that we have, we believe we have fi rm in- formation upon which we built the business plan and which we want to now execute and deliver the results to members." Membership at the Alberta association sits at about 5,800, and the objective is to grow that to about 7,500 by the end of the five-year business plan, says Dugandzic. Rebranding reshapes Manitoba HR association A rebrand and designation name change have been the defi ning factors of the past year for the Chartered Pro- fessionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Manitoba, according to CEO Ron Gauthier. Previously known as the Human Resource Management Associa- tion of Manitoba (HRMAM), the Winnipeg-based group changed its title to refl ect membership un- der CPHR Canada. " e national body is doing a brand campaign, so in Manitoba we're leveraging that right now," he says. "It's been a big year of change." e association has advertised its new name and look heavily in the Manitoba capital, including a sponsorship with the Winni- peg Jets and mainstream media publications. e journey to self-regulation was highlighted alongside the rebrand, including updated path- ways to obtain the CPHR designa- tion — both post-secondary and non-degree routes, says Gauthier. "We also introduced a new code of conduct and professional rules of regulation, which are much more robust," he says. "It's all positioning us to in- crease the credibility of the desig- nation, but also helps us with our journey to self-regulation." And the foundational work completed in 2016 has set the or- ganization up for success in those endeavours, he says. "Our goal is to be making an of- fi cial submission to the province of Manitoba to self-regulate the designation and be legislated by the province to do that." e three-year recertifi cation process has also been altered to an annual continued professional development requirement. " ose were all connected to the designation and the rebrand, positioning us for self-regulation," says Gauthier. e association has also invest- ed in research projects, includ- ing participation in the Western Canada HR Trends Report. "It's great for us to position the association as a thought leader in the province," he says. Participation in a national sal- ary survey revealed the average CPHR practitioner in Manitoba makes $87,000 annually, with 20 per cent of members earning up- wards of $100,000 per year. Non-certifi ed human resources professionals earn $68,000, on av- erage, says Gauthier. " ere was defi nitely a salary discrepancy between a designated and non-designated member." CPHR Manitoba's total mem- bership has climbed to 1,405, he says. Saskatchewan changes name, focuses on self-regulation L ike several other HR as- sociations across Canada, Saskatchewan is celebrat- ing a new name. In late April, members of the Regina-based group voted yes to change from the Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Profession- als (SAHRP) to Chartered Pro- fessionals in Human Resources (CPHR) Saskatchewan. e change followed the move by the national body and its provincial members to align un- der the name and designation CPHR — Chartered Profession- als in Human Resources. "This wasn't something that was done overnight — there was a lot of deliberation on the idea of changing the name, to protect the public, to avoid public confusion in the marketplace, and there's a lot of positive with adopting an association name that's refl ective of the designation name, so that was a really big move," says Nicole Norton Scott, executive director and registrar of the Saskatchewan association. It's also good timing as CPHR Saskatchewan's strategic focus in- cludes self-regulation. "Having a new designation name, a new association name, building all of the awareness and the branding and the marketing around that, it's going along well in terms of educating the govern- ment and our stakeholders on what this brings, what the asso- ciation does, what the profession does, what a member of the asso- ciation with the designation does, so the competence of that person with the designation — it's fi tting well," says Norton Scott. The Saskatchewan associa- tion also had a successful confer- ence in October in Regina, and introduced a Rising Star award, "moving along the whole idea of recognition, professionalism and competence in the fi eld," she says. For the 2017 conference in Oc- tober in Saskatoon, there will also be an HR Team of the Year award. The association, which has more than 1,400 members, has also been busy delivering HR Trends Reports that provide members with labour market information. "We're having trending infor- mation in Saskatchewan for our members because we can com- pare from last year this time where things were at," says Norton Scott. And, going forward, CPHR Saskatchewan will continue to be involved with CPHR Canada as a member of the advisory commit- tee, she says. HRPA focuses on 4 building blocks, senior members, competencies T he Human Resources Professionals Associa- tion (HRPA) continues to focus on the four building blocks that are at the core of its strategy, says Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Toronto-based group. These include: protecting the public as a regulator of the pro- fession; enhancing the credibility of HR professionals by communi- cating and promoting their value; ensuring the association is seen as a leader in how associations are run; and making sure the HRPA's three designations (the entry level CHRP, professional level CHRL and executive level CHRE) are seen as validating the capabilities of HR professionals. "We want to make sure we con- tinue to promote the profession and the value HR professionals bring, and continue to work on factual, tangible, evidence-based data that show how HR profes- sionals can impact an organiza- tion, and particularly how des- ignated professionals can really help organizations be successful," he says. On that note, the Ontario group released results from a survey of 250 executives showing eight in 10 executives believe HR profession- als contribute positively to busi- ness success. And six in 10 would place more value on an HR pro- fessional who had any of HRPA's three HR designations. And more than 1,000 members completed the CPD (Continuing Professional Development) skills self-assessment in 2016, looking to identify and prioritize their CPD requirements. Looking to involve more senior HR members, the 24,300-mem- ber association has also been of- fering different programs such exclusive events. "We keep them at the CHRO senior-executive level, so they're tuned to their particular needs," says Greenhalgh. HRPA also presented a com- prehensive core competency framework to a technical commit- tee (TC260) of the International Standards Organization (ISO) in September, with a recommenda- tion that ISO should mandate a multinational working group to develop global standards in HR integrating competency frame- works from various countries into a single global framework. e committee approved HR- PA's proposal unanimously, and created a working group to devel- op that harmonized framework, with Greenhalgh named chair. "This is a long program, it's been underway for about eight months, it'll probably take about three years. But this is about en- hancing the profession and creat- ing this harmonized framework around the world," he says. Peter Dugandzic, CEO, CPHR Alberta Nicole Norton Scott, executive director, CPHR Saskatchewan Ron Gauthier, CEO, CPHR Manitoba Bill Greenhalgh, CEO, HRPA

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