HRPAO has undergone many changes in the past year and predicts its membership will double in five years
Canada’s largest professional HR association is facing one of its biggest challenges of the new millennium: appealing to its core membership of up-and-coming HR professionals while also attracting senior executives to its ranks.
The Human Resource Professionals Association of Ontario currently has a membership of 14,000 and Gerlinde Herrmann, president of the board, predicts that will double in the next five years.
“With the (CHRP) accreditation, HR has become more attractive to young graduates as a career direction,” said Herrmann.
“We do a really good job of appealing to the junior and middle level and the subject matter experts. What we’re differentiating now is that we are putting a huge focus on the HR executives who we know are either functioning at the C-suite level or are looking to get into that arena.”
The association’s new vision is to be the premier HR association in Canada, sought for its knowledge, innovation and leadership. To achieve that vision, Herrmann said HRPAO has to compete with other associations such as the United States-based Human Capital Institute and Canadian HR Planners, which are known for their appeal to high-level HR executives.
‘By invitation only’ seminars
“We’ve added a one-day module to our annual conference just for senior-level HR people,” said Herrmann. “So we’re getting the level of presenters that would attract that kind of person where there would be meaningful time spent. It will be by invitation only and a limited group of people. Going forward, we’re going to be doing more of that.”
She added that the association is also developing senior-level, strategic courses, but because HRPAO hasn’t formally announced the courses she isn’t able to provide details except to say an announcement will probably be made early next year.
As part of the HRPAO annual conference, the association is also hosting the World Federation of HR’s two-day board meeting, something that Herrmann hopes will appeal to senior HR people.
“We’re really ramping up our profile and what we’re trying to bring out to the members and that will trickle down to all levels,” she said.
Besides a new vision statement, the HRPAO has gone through other major changes in the past year. It overhauled its governance structure and said goodbye to Dan Stapleton, the association’s chief executive officer of nearly five years.
“Dan (Stapleton) did a wonderful job,” said Paul Juniper, the association’s interim CEO. “In the time he was here, the HRPAO grew dramatically and I think we’re poised to continue to grow.”
Governance structure redesigned
Before Stapleton resigned in June, he worked with Herrmann and McMaster University professor Chris Bart (a governance guru according to Herrmann) to revamp the association’s governance structure to accomplish HRPAO’s new mission to be an advocate for the promotion and enhancement of the HR profession by setting standards, anticipating needs and exceeding stakeholder expectations.
The changes also follow the suggestions of the American Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation — measures that came about in the wake of Enron and WorldCom.
“It positions us as a pro-active mover in the sense of not following behind corporate Canada but in fact being a leader,” said Juniper. “That’s because most organizations in North America are spending more time and attention to governance now.”
The new governance model clearly defines the roles and responsibilities for the board of directors and for the executive staff.
“The board’s role is strategy and policy and our role is operations,” said Juniper. “I get to advise the board on strategy, they make decisions and we have to come back with operational plans to implement.”
The board will identify issues and potential problems. For example the board should be asking if the association is prepared if a health disaster such as SARS struck during HRPAO’s annual conference. The executive would then go about developing and implementing a contingency plan.
“The executive does the work and the board asks the questions,” said Herrmann.
The creation of new board committees and changes to existing committees give more monetary oversight to the board.
The new Human Resources and Compensation Committee will make recommendations to the board for the appointment and annual evaluation of the CEO and review and recommend compensation for senior staff.
The newly expanded mandate of the Audit and Finance Committee will give the committee approval over the association’s budget.
The changes to the role of the board of directors means the board will meet more often (six times a year up from four) and that individual directors will be taking on more responsibility.
This is in direct opposition to other associations, such as the British Columbia Human Resource Management Association, which are moving towards fewer meetings and a more hands-off approach for the board.
Directors of HRPAO will have to be aware and knowledgeable of what’s going on and prepare for the board meetings to get themselves up to speed. While some critics worry this will make it harder for the association to attract senior HR executives to the board, Herrmann dismisses these concerns.
“We have no shortage of people who run for the board,” said Herrmann. “The most successful board members are the ones who are busy in their day jobs and those are the ones we want.”
This is the third part of a three-part series on HR associations. The first installment looked at Saskatchewan’s new, single provincial association and the second installment looked at British Columbia’s HR association’s new role for its board and CEO.
The Human Resource Professionals Association of Ontario currently has a membership of 14,000 and Gerlinde Herrmann, president of the board, predicts that will double in the next five years.
“With the (CHRP) accreditation, HR has become more attractive to young graduates as a career direction,” said Herrmann.
“We do a really good job of appealing to the junior and middle level and the subject matter experts. What we’re differentiating now is that we are putting a huge focus on the HR executives who we know are either functioning at the C-suite level or are looking to get into that arena.”
The association’s new vision is to be the premier HR association in Canada, sought for its knowledge, innovation and leadership. To achieve that vision, Herrmann said HRPAO has to compete with other associations such as the United States-based Human Capital Institute and Canadian HR Planners, which are known for their appeal to high-level HR executives.
‘By invitation only’ seminars
“We’ve added a one-day module to our annual conference just for senior-level HR people,” said Herrmann. “So we’re getting the level of presenters that would attract that kind of person where there would be meaningful time spent. It will be by invitation only and a limited group of people. Going forward, we’re going to be doing more of that.”
She added that the association is also developing senior-level, strategic courses, but because HRPAO hasn’t formally announced the courses she isn’t able to provide details except to say an announcement will probably be made early next year.
As part of the HRPAO annual conference, the association is also hosting the World Federation of HR’s two-day board meeting, something that Herrmann hopes will appeal to senior HR people.
“We’re really ramping up our profile and what we’re trying to bring out to the members and that will trickle down to all levels,” she said.
Besides a new vision statement, the HRPAO has gone through other major changes in the past year. It overhauled its governance structure and said goodbye to Dan Stapleton, the association’s chief executive officer of nearly five years.
“Dan (Stapleton) did a wonderful job,” said Paul Juniper, the association’s interim CEO. “In the time he was here, the HRPAO grew dramatically and I think we’re poised to continue to grow.”
Governance structure redesigned
Before Stapleton resigned in June, he worked with Herrmann and McMaster University professor Chris Bart (a governance guru according to Herrmann) to revamp the association’s governance structure to accomplish HRPAO’s new mission to be an advocate for the promotion and enhancement of the HR profession by setting standards, anticipating needs and exceeding stakeholder expectations.
The changes also follow the suggestions of the American Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Canadian Comprehensive Auditing Foundation — measures that came about in the wake of Enron and WorldCom.
“It positions us as a pro-active mover in the sense of not following behind corporate Canada but in fact being a leader,” said Juniper. “That’s because most organizations in North America are spending more time and attention to governance now.”
The new governance model clearly defines the roles and responsibilities for the board of directors and for the executive staff.
“The board’s role is strategy and policy and our role is operations,” said Juniper. “I get to advise the board on strategy, they make decisions and we have to come back with operational plans to implement.”
The board will identify issues and potential problems. For example the board should be asking if the association is prepared if a health disaster such as SARS struck during HRPAO’s annual conference. The executive would then go about developing and implementing a contingency plan.
“The executive does the work and the board asks the questions,” said Herrmann.
The creation of new board committees and changes to existing committees give more monetary oversight to the board.
The new Human Resources and Compensation Committee will make recommendations to the board for the appointment and annual evaluation of the CEO and review and recommend compensation for senior staff.
The newly expanded mandate of the Audit and Finance Committee will give the committee approval over the association’s budget.
The changes to the role of the board of directors means the board will meet more often (six times a year up from four) and that individual directors will be taking on more responsibility.
This is in direct opposition to other associations, such as the British Columbia Human Resource Management Association, which are moving towards fewer meetings and a more hands-off approach for the board.
Directors of HRPAO will have to be aware and knowledgeable of what’s going on and prepare for the board meetings to get themselves up to speed. While some critics worry this will make it harder for the association to attract senior HR executives to the board, Herrmann dismisses these concerns.
“We have no shortage of people who run for the board,” said Herrmann. “The most successful board members are the ones who are busy in their day jobs and those are the ones we want.”
This is the third part of a three-part series on HR associations. The first installment looked at Saskatchewan’s new, single provincial association and the second installment looked at British Columbia’s HR association’s new role for its board and CEO.
