A new National Human Resource Professional Certification Framework will be piloted on October 24 to recognise competencies of HR professionals in key areas beyond HR and administration. Citing recent findings on HR professionals that indicate lack of certain new age skills, Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say urged companies to “value people as human capital and not as human resources.”
Speaking at the Asian Human Capital and Leadership Symposium at Resorts World Sentosa, Lim said, HR professionals have an important role to play to “help nurture every worker into a better worker as we transform our industries to make every job a better job,” Channel News Asia reports.
The framework which is run by government agency Workforce Singapore is meant to assess HR professionals for skills that go beyond basic HR functions. Straits Times notes, “For instance, to get certified, an HR professional should be able not just to do administrative and payroll tasks, but also demonstrate financial acumen, a knowledge of labour law and even a good grasp of data analytics.”
This new National Human Resource Professional Certification Framework will assess HR professionals based on three key components – foundational, functional, mindsets and behaviours. Piloting the assessment framework on October 24, it will provide three levels of certification – certified HR professional, certified senior HR professional and certified master HR professional, which is applicable for all C-suite level executives.
The initiative spearheaded by the National Human Resources Certification Taskforce comprising of private sector, government and academic leaders is targeting 100 professionals for the pilot assessment from Oct 24 to 31.
While the certification is not mandatory for all HR professionals, the taskforce expects to certify all 43,000 HR professionals in Singapore in time, starting with a target to reach 5,000 professionals in the next five years.
To be eligible for the lowest level of assessment, an HR professional should have first undergone 150 hours of structured HR-related education or training, and possess at least two years’ HR experience. The cost of the assessment has yet to be revealed and the certificate will be valid for three years.
In his speech, Lim said, “This national framework will serve as a benchmark to qualify individual HR capabilities through a holistic assessment, and lay out the necessary levels of competencies for HR professionals at different levels from junior HR professionals to chief HR officers.”
This new framework will help HR professionals move “from the backroom into the boardroom”, helping their bosses chart business directions. The framework was developed by a 17-member taskforce with representatives from the industry, academia and the Government, who were appointed in July last year. More than 500 HR and business leaders were consulted before drawing up the framework.
On successful completion of the pilot, the framework is expected to be fully launched in the middle of next-year. This is one of the first attempts by MOM to set out a nationwide standard for the amorphous HR profession.
