Interviews with association heads show profession is on course for a great 2008
Associations play a pivotal role in HR. They help practitioners network through seminars and conferences. They elevate the profession, through certification and they lobby government and other regulatory bodies with HR’s best interests in mind. Canadian HR Reporter talked to the heads of the provincial associations, along with a few niche associations, to find out what’s going on in 2008. For a list of associations, including contact information, click here.
Lynn Palmer
Chief executive officer
Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations
It’s been a busy year at the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA).
The national association moved from Toronto to new offices in Ottawa; it finished a review of the required professional capabilities for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP); and developed a communication strategy to inform the HR community about the CHRP’s degree requirements, which come into effect in 2011.
To ensure all of these projects and more were successfully completed, the association also hired its first chief executive officer, Lynn Palmer.
Since its inception in 1996, and especially since the launch of the national CHRP exams in 2003 and 2004, the association has focused most of its efforts on the CHRP and acted as a professional standards association, with the most senior staff member, the executive director, functioning mainly as a registrar, says Palmer.
“As we get better at that, we are starting to position ourselves to contribute to other areas of the profession,” she says.
The association now wants to focus more on raising the profile and relevance of the profession and contribute more to public policy by working with the federal government, says Palmer.
The latter was one of the reasons the association relocated to Ottawa. The new location’s proximity to the federal government allows CCHRA to more easily build the relationships necessary to effectively lobby on behalf of the HR community.
Along with the CEO, the staff in Ottawa consists of a manager of professional standards, a marketing and communications specialist, an administrative co-ordinator and a board and committee secretary.
In the coming year, Palmer and her team will look at improving the exam process. Currently, about 2,400 people write the National Knowledge Exam (NKE) and the National Professional Practice Assessment (NPPA) each year in 60 testing sites across the country. All 4,800 exams are processed manually.
“If we move to electronic testing it would certainly make everyone’s life easier,” she says.
CCHRA will also look at bringing in a national process for the Fellow-CHRP, which recognizes designation holders who have gone above and beyond, have contributed to the profession by lobbying governments or being involved in the community, and “overall being a model for what an HR professional would be,” says Palmer.
CCHRA and the provincial associations will also take a “fresh look” at the designation, including whether there is a rationale for the different provincial requirements and whether there should be a senior-level designation for the HR professional, says Palmer.
“Our feeling is that the CHRP is a fairly robust designation but there may be an opportunity for a different level,” she says.
Simon Evans
Chief executive officer
British Columbia Human Resources Management Association
Not just anyone can be a keynote speaker at the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association’s (BCHRMA) annual conference. Speakers, presenters and experts are all vetted by the association, says Simon Evans, BCHRMA’s CEO.
“Nobody gets to speak at the conference unless one of the members of our committee has seen them give a talk,” says Evans. “We’re very, very critical about how we reference and how we review.”
This attention to quality has paid off. In 2006, 80 per cent of conference participants said they were satisfied, a number that rose to 89.9 per cent after last year’s conference. That’s considerably higher than the past, when satisfaction ratings were typically in the 60s and 70s.
“People are blown away by the conference now. We’ve sold out the last two years and we’ll be selling out this year,” says Evans.
The conference used to get about 500 attendees, but last year 1,500 people attended.
Overall, member satisfaction has also increased. Historically, about 60 per cent of members surveyed said they were “more than satisfied” with the association’s services. Last year that percentage jumped to 78.
BCHRMA has also increased the quality of workshops and events throughout the year and has begun offering a wider range of events for members — from book clubs to strategic roundtables on labour relations.
The association has also been reaching out to members across the province. It has started offering two-day symposiums on a regional basis so people don’t always have to travel to Vancouver. And the association hosts several receptions throughout the province to honour members who gain their CHRP and give them a chance to network with other business people.
Because the events and conference are of a higher quality and more relevant to members, attendance has increased and the association has been earning more money, without having to increase membership dues or workshop fees, says Evans.
This extra revenue has given BCHRMA the funds necessary to develop a research and thought-leader function. While the role is still new, the research will focus on areas of concern for professionals in B.C, such as the aging population, labour shortage, integrating foreign workers, retention strategies and the abolition of mandatory retirement, says Evans.
With these, and other member-focused initiatives, it’s not surprising the association, with 4,200 members, has seen 13-per-cent to 15-per-cent membership growth every year for the past few years, a trend Evans doesn’t expect to change much.
“We’ll be over 4,500 by December,” he says.
David Knudson
President
Human Resources Institute of Alberta
For the past several years, the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA) has been working to bring the province’s six regional associations together with the provincial association, while still maintaining their separate identities, says David Knudson, president of HRIA.
This will create a strong, unified voice around HR issues and strengthen and advance the CHRP’s profile in the business community, says Knudson, who is also an HR business partner at the City of Calgary.
“Our goal is to at one point have the CHRP so accepted and embraced that it’s recognized like a CMA (certified management accountant) or a P.Eng (professional engineer),” says Knudson. “Being fractured like we are right now doesn’t help us to advance those kinds of things.”
HRIA approved the collaborative proposal last year and four of the six local associations have signed on. The Human Resources Association of Calgary has declined and, at press time, the Lethbridge association had not made a decision.
The collaborative framework isn’t just about strengthening the profession’s provincial voice, it will also allow the association to better serve HR professionals. Under the new agreement, HR professionals would pay one fee, making them members of HRIA and giving them access to the local associations’ services.
HRIA has witnessed a membership boom with membership tripling from 1,000 three years ago to nearly 3,000 in 2007.
“Even though our membership is growing without a lot of solicitation, we want to put a plan in place to tap into different groups, for instance, students,” says Knudson.
Another area of success for the association is the annual provincial HR conference. In 2006, HRIA took the reins of the conference from the Calgary and Edmonton associations. Since then, the conference’s early-bird registration has sold out every year and capacity has increased from 450 participants to 1,000. Nearly 750 people have already signed up for this year’s conference, to be held in April, featuring Rick Mercer, of CBC’s The Rick Mercer Report, as the closing keynote speaker.
“We could hit 1,000 attendees this year, which would be an absolute milestone for us,” says Knudson.
Debra Godin
Executive director
Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals
As the Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals (SAHRP) enters its first full year with a paid staff member, its agenda is brimming — and so is its membership. Over the past year, SAHRP has grown to almost 1,000 members, a 22-per-cent increase from 2006.
“HR professionals are in high demand in the workforce,” says executive director Debra Godin. “Everything is booming in Saskatchewan and it’s having a direct impact on our membership.”
Part of that growth can be attributed to an aggressive marketing plan, targeted at schools and small and medium businesses. SAHRP has made it a priority to attend career fairs, trade shows and business expos.
In the coming year, SAHRP also plans to run advertisements in schools and the provincial chamber of commerce magazine. The association is also in discussions to set up co-op and mentorship programs with post-secondary schools.
Students, who receive a free membership, are a cornerstone of the SAHRP strategy, says Godin.
“The benefits for them are learning opportunities, networking and access to our job board,” she says. “Our student membership has had a 15-per-cent growth rate, so we can see by the numbers that our marketing is working.”
SAHRP reinvigorated its professional development by adding two half-day workshops at each chapter location, to keep up with demand from members. And this spring, the association will unveil a new bi-annual member magazine.
Godin says demand for the CHRP designation in Saskatchewan is so high that SAHRP is now offering NKE and NPPA pre-classes in both Saskatoon and Regina.
However, for all of the successes, she says geography remains a challenge. The HR population is scattered across the province, making it difficult to network in person. In the coming year, SAHRP hopes to establish a contact group, or person, in four other locations.
SAHRP will hold its second provincial conference this year, with an added tradeshow and bookstore.
“Last year was a year of fantastic growth for our association,” says Godin. “This year will have growth in areas where we never dared dream before.”
MaryAnn Kempe
President
Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba
New headquarters in downtown Winnipeg represent a rebranding of the Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba (HRMAM), says president MaryAnn Kempe, who is also the vice-president of HR at Manitoba Public Insurance.
As part of its new professional appearance, the association is beefing up the professional development program for its 1,300 members.
“We’re offering new networking opportunities for members and information sessions, such as workshops and lunch-and-learns on hot topics such as immigration, grey hair strategies and issues of recruitment and retention,” says Kempe.
Ironically, recruitment is not a burning issue for the association itself.
“We believe we’ve got most of the market,” she says.
But one area of focus for HRMAM is Aboriginals, because many employers are facing labour shortages and Aboriginals are the fastest growing population in the province.
In March 2006, HRMAM signed a partnership agreement with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs that enables it to educate and bring best practices in Aboriginal issues to members, while connecting Aboriginal candidates with employers in the province.
“We also work with them to help educate their people on the HR profession,” says Kempe.
Two specific goals for 2008 include building a workshop around the latest Aboriginal provincial census data and developing an employment tool kit to help employers and the Aboriginal community further connect with each other.
“Top of mind across the board is the issue of recruitment and retention and the whole demographic shift in the country,” she says. “For Manitobans, it’s about tapping into two resources — the Aboriginal community and new immigrants. We’re working hard on both those fronts.”
Another HRMAM priority is government relations. Last year, it became involved with changes to the province’s Employment Standards Code.
“Because of our work, the government had more stakeholders involved and is now calling on us for more input in general,” she says.
HRMAM is holding its biannual conference in Winnipeg on Oct. 28-29.
Bill Greenhalgh
Chief executive officer
Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario
In targeting various segments of the HR field — from students to general practitioners to senior-level associates — the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario (HRPAO) is providing a better balance to members, says Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Toronto-based group.
As a result, the association has grown by about 10 to 12 per cent per year to its current count of 16,500 members, he says.
“We’ve made it absolutely clear in our direction and strategies that we are a member association and if what we’re doing doesn’t benefit members then there’s not much point in doing it,” he says. “Our retention has gone up dramatically and I think a lot of organizations tend to forget that a little bit.”
For mid-level practitioners in the process of obtaining their designation or recertifying through the NPPA, the association has produced an online preparation course called HRwrx that features four exams, two in real-time, along with webinars, an online study group and a money-back guarantee.
HRPAO is also ramping up its webinar offerings overall, with about 30 or 40 online.
“We’re trying to load (HR practitioners) up with programs and materials at times that suit them,” says Greenhalgh. “You don’t have to come to Toronto or be in a certain place at a certain time.”
HRPAO is also introducing a customer relationship management system in the fall that will allow members to check an individual file online to track their certification logs.
“It’s a 21st century approach to membership services,” says Greenhalgh.
And the HRPAO has put greater concentration on senior practitioners whose interests lie in very specific topics, he says. They also appreciate meeting with peers, so HRPAO offers an invitation-only executive forum on timely topics such as executive compensation.
The association has also partnered with the Conference Board of Canada and the Directors’ College at McMaster University in Hamilton to launch a Human Resources and Compensation Committee certification program. Tailored to directors and senior corporate officers, the program shows how to apply the latest governance principles, practices and insights to HR and compensation committee procedures.
And HRPAO will continue to evolve along with the HR profession, focusing on the increasingly strategic and global role of HR.
“Look at Canada and what’s happened in the last five years in terms of the need for an international outlook. Look at the transfer of wealth that’s happening over the next 10 years from the developed countries into countries like China, India and Russia. It’s a huge transfer of wealth, that has implications in HR, quite dramatic, so one of the things we’ll be focusing on in 2008 is making sure our members really have a better understanding of Canada’s role in a global world, the importance of having an international perspective.”
Florent Francoeur
President and chief executive officer
Ordre des CHRA at CRIA du Québec
The number one priority for the Ordre des CHRA et CRIA, Quebec’s association for HR and industrial relations professionals, continues to be promoting the profile of the CHRP.
“We want to raise awareness about the difference between HR professionals who have a CHRP and those who do not,” says president and CEO Florent Francoeur.
The organization’s members — required to have CHRP designation or work toward it — make up about one-half of the estimated 15,000 HR professionals working in the province, he says. Communications efforts that target the public, employers and HR professionals include a television advertising campaign and a regular column in the magazine Les Affairs.
The association is also hard at work on other fronts. Recognizing Quebec is no different from the rest of Canada in facing a labour shortage, the Ordre is targeting schools to educate students about the profession and attract them to the field. A website dedicated to that task, with information promoting HR as a career, is being launched in April, says Francoeur.
The Ordre is also developing an “HR competency model.” Unlike the CHRP designation, which tests what HR professionals know, this model will set expectations for what kind of expertise HR professionals should have in various fields, such as labour relations, says Francoeur.
“It’s the same idea as CHRP. But it is not about questioning or testing how much you know, but defining what HR professionals should be able to deliver on. It’s more for employers.”
Among other regular workshops and training activities, the Ordre launched “HR Studio,” a 10-minute e-learning session members can download weekly to watch.
“You can use it to train groups of HR staff, it’s easy and free to members,” added Francoeur.
The Ordre will continue to work with the Quebec government on issues important to HR professionals.
“It is something we are very proud of. We are involved in everything related to the HR profession at the government level,” he says.
Rachelle Gagnon
President
Human Resources Association of New Brunswick
Human Resources Association of New Brunswick (HRANB) president Rachelle Gagnon has reason to boast about the dedication of the team behind the scenes. Among the 850 and counting members, there are more than 100 volunteer chapter committee members who, like Gagnon, are working hard to grow membership while managing full-time HR jobs.
“It’s wonderful to see such commitment and energy levels at each of our chapters. There’s a healthy collaboration going on,” says Gagnon, who is also director of HR at Assumption Life in Moncton, N.B.
Last year, HRANB added two new chapters in the northern, mainly French-speaking part of the province — Bathurst and Edmundston — to its list of existing chapters in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton. Staff are now spending a lot of energy ensuring the association is truly bilingual.
“Expanding to five chapters was a big deal for us. Now we are fully bilingual, one of the few HR organizations that is, as far as I know,” she says. “And a big challenge for us is making sure all our services, from meeting notices to our website, are in both English and French.”
With the addition of the two new chapters and other activities, membership increased by 20 percent over the past year. The 2008 goal is to exceed 1,000 members.
“We’re seeing more demand for our services, as much from business owners as HR professionals,” says Gagnon.
Last year HRANB offered a course to help members write the CHRP exam. This year, all efforts are being poured into preparing for the first-ever HR conference in the province, planned for October.
“It’s going to be a combination trade show, human resources conference and awards (Atlantic Canada HR Awards) show. It’s never been done before in New Brunswick. We’re hoping to have at least 300 people,” says Gagnon.
The association is also trying to position itself as an indispensable support for the profession of HR.
“It’s always been a concern for us that we are not just there for professionals on a occasional basis, but that we help our members, and really give them added value,” she says.
HRANB plans to do this by continuing to provide strategic training and networking opportunities, such as regular breakfast meetings and professional development sessions, promoting the CHRP and remaining a fiscally responsible association.
“Our member rates ($100 per year) are some of the lowest in the country,” says Gagnon.
Patrick Hartling
President
Human Resources Association of Nova Scotia
The Human Resources Association of Nova Scotia (HRANS) recently put out a call for volunteers to fill three vacant board positions. In the past, finding just one person would have been difficult. This time, 18 people put their names forward.
“We had a great response not only quantitatively but, when we looked at the talent, we had all excellent people respond,” says Patrick Hartling, president of HRANS.
There’s a renewed energy in HRANS, which represents 1,100 HR professionals in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, he says, and much of the credit for that can go to the recent hiring of an executive director, Sheila Olyer. The hiring has allowed HRANS to offer members more professional development — something that was “hit and miss” in the past — and focus on long-term projects.
HRANS is also focused on improving government relations, on issues such as immigration legislation and mandatory retirement. And it has set up a task group to look at how to design professional development that is more intentional.
“Our professional development activities shouldn’t just be what things have we traditionally done, but they should be based on a professional standard and some targeted areas,” says Hartling.
One of the challenges still facing HRANS is geography. Its membership is concentrated in Halifax, Cape Breton and Charlottetown, but it hopes to pull in others by forming partnerships with other organizations, such as chambers of commerce.
“We want to be innovative in our partnerships and see where we can add value,” he says. “Chambers of commerce often reach out to the small business community and work with them in a way we haven’t managed to do that well.”
HRANS is also continuing to promote the CHRP designation by providing members with preparation courses. There are more than 390 designated members in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
Hartling expects these goals will be easier to meet under the direction of Olyer, who has experience in banking and as executive director of other voluntary organizations.
“We felt we wanted to grow as an association,” he says. “She’s got that notion of running things as a business, as a service-oriented person which has helped us already, immeasurably, in our thinking.”
Sheldon Winsor
President
Human Resources Professionals of Newfoundland and Labrador
The Human Resources Professionals of Newfoundland and Labrador (HRPNL) hopes to celebrate its fourth anniversary this year with a gift to itself: A paid staff member.
“All of the work is being done by a volunteer board,” says president Sheldon Winsor. “The problem is the organization doesn’t get the focus it should.”
HRPNL hopes to access federal or provincial funds to hire a part-time administrator to handle everything from receipts and invoicing to co-ordinating personal development events.
“We desperately need someone to do that,” he says. “We’ve identified a whole bunch of things that need to be done as an organization to take it to the next level and grow the membership and be able to offer the members better benefits.”
HRPNL is at the mid-point of a three-year strategic plan aimed at becoming a more effective organization, adding value to its membership, growing the association and creating partnerships with other organizations.
Membership has grown from 10 members four years ago to almost 160. The association hopes to tap into a new market by recruiting students and meeting with the HR departments of some of the province’s largest employers.
“We are fairly new, there are probably lots of folks out there who still don’t know much about us,” he says.
The association hopes its lunch-and-learn workshops and professional development seminars will help retain the new recruits.
HRPNL is also continuing to promote the CHRP to professionals and employers. There are now almost 30 designation holders in the province, a substantial jump from four in the association’s first year.
Winsor says demand for the designation is increasing, evidenced by the number of job postings in the province that now list it as a requirement.
“There is some momentum, but (we want to) increase it and get it going even more,” he says.
To increase awareness of both the CHRP and HRPNL, the association has updated its website and included a discussion forum for members.
“For us, we’re just trying to look at how can we make the organization better, to benefit the current members and grow it,” he says.
Ian Hendry
President
Strategic Capability Network
When the Strategic Capability Network (SCNetwork) talks about sustainability, it does more than just talk. It is buying carbon-free electricity for every event it holds in 2008.“We’re actually paying money for carbon-free electricity on top of whatever overhead we have, just to send the message that we’re conscious of our environment as an association,” says president Ian Hendry.
Since 2005, SCNetwork (formerly known as Canadian Human Resource Planners) has moved away from being a solely HR organization to an association of leaders who manage people.
SCNetwork sees its role as a forum for leading-edge thinking, whether it be best practices in HR, strategic issues facing the profession or more global issues, such as sustainability.
The association is focused on three areas: strategic capability, organizational effectiveness and leadership in action.
“The things that we’re trying to focus on, which are far more strategic and less of a tactical nature, are the things that people who are trying to run operations will find equally as important as an HR practitioner,” he says.
The association has more than 500 members, with chapters in Toronto, Calgary and London, Ont., and a presence in other areas, such as Ottawa and Ontario’s Niagara region.
In the coming year, it’ll tackle several topics, including a discussion of how CEOs and HR professionals in some organization have led, and survived, radical change together.
“We’re trying not to get just HR people, but line and operational people to talk about some of the issues they’re dealing with and how they’ve gone about them,” says Hendry.
In addition to its monthly meetings, SCNetwork is now offering teleconferences at “hubs” around Toronto and London, followed by group discussions. Hendry says participants tend to come from a variety of organizations and roles.
SCNetwork has also established a group to help members between jobs. The association runs a small session every few weeks, where members help members in their job search.
In the coming year, SCNetwork will continue to build on its membership, bringing in people from more diverse backgrounds, says Hendry.
“We are trying to get more business leaders into the fray so that we get at that broader perspective of the things that really underpin the business,” he says.
Patrick Culhane
President
Canadian Payroll Association
The Toronto-based Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) is proud to say it is now a certification-based organization, not a seminar-based organization. Since the payroll certification program was revamped, starting in January 2006, there are now 4,500 members certified with the designations of Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) and Certified Payroll Manager (CPM).
“That speaks to the calibre of the professional requirements of payroll,” says Patrick Culhane, president of the 12,800-member CPA. “One-day seminars don’t have the academic rigour that a 13-week course does, with mid-terms, assignments and exams.”
But seminars are not forgotten, with several offered by CPA each year, along with an annual conference and trade show and National Payroll Week in September.
New for 2007 was CPA’s introduction of payroll guidelines on payroll continuity.
“Payroll is mission-critical. If people don’t get paid, they’re not going to be too happy,” says Culhane.
However, when CPA talked to businesses, it found many didn’t have a payroll component in business continuity plans.
“So what we did is prepare the guidelines to get people to document what the process would be under varying scenarios, such as electric outage or systems gone down.”
The guidelines are the start of a series, with the next batch looking at payroll statements. Some requirements are national in scope but most are driven by provincial legislation, says Culhane, so this document will not only provide one place with all the requirements but serve as a jumping-off point to try and influence government bodies to be more consistent with terminology, he says.
“From an advocacy perspective, our overall goal is to make payroll and employment standards-related legislation efficient and effective for all stakeholders, including employers, employees and government,” he says. “If you can reduce the regulatory burden for the employer community, it’s also going to reduce the burden for government.”
That fits well with the findings of a 2007 member survey that found legislation compliance was a top concern for payroll professionals, in terms of complexity, changes and inconsistency between provincial and federal governments.
In 2008, CPA will do a major survey on employment benefits since the Canada Revenue Agency has asked for input on how to administer taxable benefits. Some of the thresholds used haven’t been updated in 20 years so CPA will look at how to reduce the regulatory burden, “changing the process and administration so it’s more consistent and, frankly, up to date,” says Culhane.
Lynn Johnston
President
Canadian Society for Training and Development
One of the biggest developments at the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) in 2007 was “Investing in People,” a project to demonstrate the value of investing in training through evaluation tools, case studies and, ultimately, a set of best practices. The focus of the three-year initiative, sponsored by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), is largely on small- and medium-sized organizations, in the manufacturing, services and retail sectors.
“It’s funding to do 12 return-on-investment studies in 12 separate workplaces, to have a look at the impact and value of training that went on… with the same set of instruments,” says Lynn Johnston, president of Toronto-based CSTD. “We need the evidence to convince employers to invest more, to say it works, it makes an impact to your bottom line. As it becomes harder and harder to poach talent, (smaller companies) may have to do a little more investing.”
Three companies have started the project and training-evaluation templates are now available online at www.cstd.ca. Results from the case studies should be reported at CSTD’s annual conference in October, says Johnston.
Another big project in 2007 was an executive think-tank to study the question of the leadership gap. Done in partnership with the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, the initiative produced the white paper Invisible Fire: Responding to the Leadership Gap in Canada.
It offers several recommendations to address the “burning” need for increased leadership capacity, such as: making leadership capacity a national issue and a business issue “comparable in scale to the Y2K issue in the late 1990s”; setting up a Canadian Centre for Leadership as a repository of leading practices and ideas; holding CEOs and boards accountable for building leadership capacity and ensuring it is embedded within every organization’s business strategy; and aligning educational systems to grow a pipeline of future leaders.
CSTD’s Learn@Work Week initiative gained momentum in 2007, with about 14 municipalities adopting the mantra and more than 50 companies participating.
“It just allows companies to raise awareness of their own learning and development department internally,” says Johnston.
The 2,300-member, 18-chapter association has grown by 40 per cent since 2003 when it went national and certification is also seeing gains, with 16 per cent certified or in the process of certifying as a Certified Training and Development Professional.
“As the membership is outstripping our wildest expectations, it’s hard for that to keep up, but it is moving up,” says Johnston, who adds the CSTD is focusing on educating employers on the value of certification programs for employees or suppliers.
CSTD is also preparing to host the 2009 conference for the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations, a Geneva-based group of which CSTD is a member. The Toronto event will take place in October 2009.
Sue Meisinger
CEO and president
Society for Human Resource Management
The world’s largest HR association is gearing up to provide local professional development opportunities to its 700 Canadian members this year, says Sue Meisinger, CEO and president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), based in Alexandria, Va.
“And we will continue to partner where we can with provincial HR associations to do so,” she says.
SHRM is partnering with HRPAO to offer a prep course for the Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) certification, which designates HR practitioners as savvy in a stateless body of HR knowledge, something ideal for those working at international companies. SHRM is also in talks with other provincial associations to offer a similar course.
Sometime later this year, the association also plans to partner and provide business education on the topic of “creating a culture of innovation” with the Ordre des CHRA et CRIA in Quebec. And the results of SHRM’s collaboration with CCHRA on surveying talent issues will be presented at the council’s National Human Resources Forum on March 26 in Ottawa.
“The goal is to share knowledge and raise awareness about the talent and migration issues we are all dealing with,” says Meisinger.
Like any HR association, SHRM, with its 239,000 members in more than 120 countries, is focused on raising the bar for the profession. Providing connectivity between associations is key for members, especially in the current economy of globalization, says Meisinger.
“We are focused on creating good links with other associations because they are an excellent resource. So if our members have a question about HR in Quebec, we know who to hook them up with. And if a Canadian needs help with something in the U.S., we are a resource. Frequently, the type of questions people have are best answered peer-to-peer and in the trenches,” she says.
She also points out how, nationally, the professions can help each other set higher standards. The fact Canadian HR professionals will be required to have a post-secondary degree to obtain the CHRP by Jan. 1, 2011, is something the U.S. should mirror with its designations, says Meisinger.
“That’s an example of a professional best practice we can learn from.”
Richard Rousseau
President
HRMS Professionals Association
It’s been almost three years since the founding members of the HRMS Professionals Association (HRMSP) left the International Association for Human Resources Information Management to form a separate Canadian organization. Since then, membership has grown to 134 people in Quebec and Ontario.
“Even though we’ve done only a few activities in Ontario, we’re getting memberships,” says Richard Rousseau, president of HRMSP. “It shows there’s a need in the market for an exchange of technology in the human resources field.”
The decision to strike out on their own followed years of perceived American biases, says Rousseau.
“We were involved at a very high level on the international board, at the local and regional board, but everything was driven by the U.S.,” he says.
Not anymore. HRMSP brings together HR, payroll and information technology professionals to exchange ideas and education about information systems management and technology, as they pertain to Canadian organizations.
Rousseau says HRMSP has two objectives — to share experience and education among consultants, vendors and people who use these systems and to promote Canadian vendors.
HRMSP holds regular panel discussions in both provinces, where members hear about the challenges and impacts of new technologies and products, such as e-learning and self-service.
“For the last panel, we had three people who came to talk about their experience implementing different products,” he says. “What were the challenges? What was the reaction and the direct impact on the corporation?”
HRMSP considers itself a complement to existing HR organizations, not a replacement, according to Rousseau.
“Very often we see HR conferences where technology has a very low profile. In HR today, everyone is using technology,” he says. “I haven’t seen an organization today that doesn’t have a PC.”
HRMSP expects to eventually expand to the East and West, but first it plans to unveil a new website this spring that will be more interactive and offer information on white papers, technology and recommendations from consultants, says Rousseau.
While membership is not growing as rapidly as it is in some other organizations, he says HRMSP is more concerned with having the right structures in place first, to benefit and grow with members.
“You have to clean your house before you can open it,” he says.
Lynn Palmer
Chief executive officer
Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations
It’s been a busy year at the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA).
The national association moved from Toronto to new offices in Ottawa; it finished a review of the required professional capabilities for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP); and developed a communication strategy to inform the HR community about the CHRP’s degree requirements, which come into effect in 2011.
To ensure all of these projects and more were successfully completed, the association also hired its first chief executive officer, Lynn Palmer.
Since its inception in 1996, and especially since the launch of the national CHRP exams in 2003 and 2004, the association has focused most of its efforts on the CHRP and acted as a professional standards association, with the most senior staff member, the executive director, functioning mainly as a registrar, says Palmer.
“As we get better at that, we are starting to position ourselves to contribute to other areas of the profession,” she says.
The association now wants to focus more on raising the profile and relevance of the profession and contribute more to public policy by working with the federal government, says Palmer.
The latter was one of the reasons the association relocated to Ottawa. The new location’s proximity to the federal government allows CCHRA to more easily build the relationships necessary to effectively lobby on behalf of the HR community.
Along with the CEO, the staff in Ottawa consists of a manager of professional standards, a marketing and communications specialist, an administrative co-ordinator and a board and committee secretary.
In the coming year, Palmer and her team will look at improving the exam process. Currently, about 2,400 people write the National Knowledge Exam (NKE) and the National Professional Practice Assessment (NPPA) each year in 60 testing sites across the country. All 4,800 exams are processed manually.
“If we move to electronic testing it would certainly make everyone’s life easier,” she says.
CCHRA will also look at bringing in a national process for the Fellow-CHRP, which recognizes designation holders who have gone above and beyond, have contributed to the profession by lobbying governments or being involved in the community, and “overall being a model for what an HR professional would be,” says Palmer.
CCHRA and the provincial associations will also take a “fresh look” at the designation, including whether there is a rationale for the different provincial requirements and whether there should be a senior-level designation for the HR professional, says Palmer.
“Our feeling is that the CHRP is a fairly robust designation but there may be an opportunity for a different level,” she says.
Simon Evans
Chief executive officer
British Columbia Human Resources Management Association
Not just anyone can be a keynote speaker at the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association’s (BCHRMA) annual conference. Speakers, presenters and experts are all vetted by the association, says Simon Evans, BCHRMA’s CEO.
“Nobody gets to speak at the conference unless one of the members of our committee has seen them give a talk,” says Evans. “We’re very, very critical about how we reference and how we review.”
This attention to quality has paid off. In 2006, 80 per cent of conference participants said they were satisfied, a number that rose to 89.9 per cent after last year’s conference. That’s considerably higher than the past, when satisfaction ratings were typically in the 60s and 70s.
“People are blown away by the conference now. We’ve sold out the last two years and we’ll be selling out this year,” says Evans.
The conference used to get about 500 attendees, but last year 1,500 people attended.
Overall, member satisfaction has also increased. Historically, about 60 per cent of members surveyed said they were “more than satisfied” with the association’s services. Last year that percentage jumped to 78.
BCHRMA has also increased the quality of workshops and events throughout the year and has begun offering a wider range of events for members — from book clubs to strategic roundtables on labour relations.
The association has also been reaching out to members across the province. It has started offering two-day symposiums on a regional basis so people don’t always have to travel to Vancouver. And the association hosts several receptions throughout the province to honour members who gain their CHRP and give them a chance to network with other business people.
Because the events and conference are of a higher quality and more relevant to members, attendance has increased and the association has been earning more money, without having to increase membership dues or workshop fees, says Evans.
This extra revenue has given BCHRMA the funds necessary to develop a research and thought-leader function. While the role is still new, the research will focus on areas of concern for professionals in B.C, such as the aging population, labour shortage, integrating foreign workers, retention strategies and the abolition of mandatory retirement, says Evans.
With these, and other member-focused initiatives, it’s not surprising the association, with 4,200 members, has seen 13-per-cent to 15-per-cent membership growth every year for the past few years, a trend Evans doesn’t expect to change much.
“We’ll be over 4,500 by December,” he says.
David Knudson
President
Human Resources Institute of Alberta
For the past several years, the Human Resources Institute of Alberta (HRIA) has been working to bring the province’s six regional associations together with the provincial association, while still maintaining their separate identities, says David Knudson, president of HRIA.
This will create a strong, unified voice around HR issues and strengthen and advance the CHRP’s profile in the business community, says Knudson, who is also an HR business partner at the City of Calgary.
“Our goal is to at one point have the CHRP so accepted and embraced that it’s recognized like a CMA (certified management accountant) or a P.Eng (professional engineer),” says Knudson. “Being fractured like we are right now doesn’t help us to advance those kinds of things.”
HRIA approved the collaborative proposal last year and four of the six local associations have signed on. The Human Resources Association of Calgary has declined and, at press time, the Lethbridge association had not made a decision.
The collaborative framework isn’t just about strengthening the profession’s provincial voice, it will also allow the association to better serve HR professionals. Under the new agreement, HR professionals would pay one fee, making them members of HRIA and giving them access to the local associations’ services.
HRIA has witnessed a membership boom with membership tripling from 1,000 three years ago to nearly 3,000 in 2007.
“Even though our membership is growing without a lot of solicitation, we want to put a plan in place to tap into different groups, for instance, students,” says Knudson.
Another area of success for the association is the annual provincial HR conference. In 2006, HRIA took the reins of the conference from the Calgary and Edmonton associations. Since then, the conference’s early-bird registration has sold out every year and capacity has increased from 450 participants to 1,000. Nearly 750 people have already signed up for this year’s conference, to be held in April, featuring Rick Mercer, of CBC’s The Rick Mercer Report, as the closing keynote speaker.
“We could hit 1,000 attendees this year, which would be an absolute milestone for us,” says Knudson.
Debra Godin
Executive director
Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals
As the Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals (SAHRP) enters its first full year with a paid staff member, its agenda is brimming — and so is its membership. Over the past year, SAHRP has grown to almost 1,000 members, a 22-per-cent increase from 2006.
“HR professionals are in high demand in the workforce,” says executive director Debra Godin. “Everything is booming in Saskatchewan and it’s having a direct impact on our membership.”
Part of that growth can be attributed to an aggressive marketing plan, targeted at schools and small and medium businesses. SAHRP has made it a priority to attend career fairs, trade shows and business expos.
In the coming year, SAHRP also plans to run advertisements in schools and the provincial chamber of commerce magazine. The association is also in discussions to set up co-op and mentorship programs with post-secondary schools.
Students, who receive a free membership, are a cornerstone of the SAHRP strategy, says Godin.
“The benefits for them are learning opportunities, networking and access to our job board,” she says. “Our student membership has had a 15-per-cent growth rate, so we can see by the numbers that our marketing is working.”
SAHRP reinvigorated its professional development by adding two half-day workshops at each chapter location, to keep up with demand from members. And this spring, the association will unveil a new bi-annual member magazine.
Godin says demand for the CHRP designation in Saskatchewan is so high that SAHRP is now offering NKE and NPPA pre-classes in both Saskatoon and Regina.
However, for all of the successes, she says geography remains a challenge. The HR population is scattered across the province, making it difficult to network in person. In the coming year, SAHRP hopes to establish a contact group, or person, in four other locations.
SAHRP will hold its second provincial conference this year, with an added tradeshow and bookstore.
“Last year was a year of fantastic growth for our association,” says Godin. “This year will have growth in areas where we never dared dream before.”
MaryAnn Kempe
President
Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba
New headquarters in downtown Winnipeg represent a rebranding of the Human Resource Management Association of Manitoba (HRMAM), says president MaryAnn Kempe, who is also the vice-president of HR at Manitoba Public Insurance.
As part of its new professional appearance, the association is beefing up the professional development program for its 1,300 members.
“We’re offering new networking opportunities for members and information sessions, such as workshops and lunch-and-learns on hot topics such as immigration, grey hair strategies and issues of recruitment and retention,” says Kempe.
Ironically, recruitment is not a burning issue for the association itself.
“We believe we’ve got most of the market,” she says.
But one area of focus for HRMAM is Aboriginals, because many employers are facing labour shortages and Aboriginals are the fastest growing population in the province.
In March 2006, HRMAM signed a partnership agreement with the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs that enables it to educate and bring best practices in Aboriginal issues to members, while connecting Aboriginal candidates with employers in the province.
“We also work with them to help educate their people on the HR profession,” says Kempe.
Two specific goals for 2008 include building a workshop around the latest Aboriginal provincial census data and developing an employment tool kit to help employers and the Aboriginal community further connect with each other.
“Top of mind across the board is the issue of recruitment and retention and the whole demographic shift in the country,” she says. “For Manitobans, it’s about tapping into two resources — the Aboriginal community and new immigrants. We’re working hard on both those fronts.”
Another HRMAM priority is government relations. Last year, it became involved with changes to the province’s Employment Standards Code.
“Because of our work, the government had more stakeholders involved and is now calling on us for more input in general,” she says.
HRMAM is holding its biannual conference in Winnipeg on Oct. 28-29.
Bill Greenhalgh
Chief executive officer
Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario
In targeting various segments of the HR field — from students to general practitioners to senior-level associates — the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario (HRPAO) is providing a better balance to members, says Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Toronto-based group.
As a result, the association has grown by about 10 to 12 per cent per year to its current count of 16,500 members, he says.
“We’ve made it absolutely clear in our direction and strategies that we are a member association and if what we’re doing doesn’t benefit members then there’s not much point in doing it,” he says. “Our retention has gone up dramatically and I think a lot of organizations tend to forget that a little bit.”
For mid-level practitioners in the process of obtaining their designation or recertifying through the NPPA, the association has produced an online preparation course called HRwrx that features four exams, two in real-time, along with webinars, an online study group and a money-back guarantee.
HRPAO is also ramping up its webinar offerings overall, with about 30 or 40 online.
“We’re trying to load (HR practitioners) up with programs and materials at times that suit them,” says Greenhalgh. “You don’t have to come to Toronto or be in a certain place at a certain time.”
HRPAO is also introducing a customer relationship management system in the fall that will allow members to check an individual file online to track their certification logs.
“It’s a 21st century approach to membership services,” says Greenhalgh.
And the HRPAO has put greater concentration on senior practitioners whose interests lie in very specific topics, he says. They also appreciate meeting with peers, so HRPAO offers an invitation-only executive forum on timely topics such as executive compensation.
The association has also partnered with the Conference Board of Canada and the Directors’ College at McMaster University in Hamilton to launch a Human Resources and Compensation Committee certification program. Tailored to directors and senior corporate officers, the program shows how to apply the latest governance principles, practices and insights to HR and compensation committee procedures.
And HRPAO will continue to evolve along with the HR profession, focusing on the increasingly strategic and global role of HR.
“Look at Canada and what’s happened in the last five years in terms of the need for an international outlook. Look at the transfer of wealth that’s happening over the next 10 years from the developed countries into countries like China, India and Russia. It’s a huge transfer of wealth, that has implications in HR, quite dramatic, so one of the things we’ll be focusing on in 2008 is making sure our members really have a better understanding of Canada’s role in a global world, the importance of having an international perspective.”
Florent Francoeur
President and chief executive officer
Ordre des CHRA at CRIA du Québec
The number one priority for the Ordre des CHRA et CRIA, Quebec’s association for HR and industrial relations professionals, continues to be promoting the profile of the CHRP.
“We want to raise awareness about the difference between HR professionals who have a CHRP and those who do not,” says president and CEO Florent Francoeur.
The organization’s members — required to have CHRP designation or work toward it — make up about one-half of the estimated 15,000 HR professionals working in the province, he says. Communications efforts that target the public, employers and HR professionals include a television advertising campaign and a regular column in the magazine Les Affairs.
The association is also hard at work on other fronts. Recognizing Quebec is no different from the rest of Canada in facing a labour shortage, the Ordre is targeting schools to educate students about the profession and attract them to the field. A website dedicated to that task, with information promoting HR as a career, is being launched in April, says Francoeur.
The Ordre is also developing an “HR competency model.” Unlike the CHRP designation, which tests what HR professionals know, this model will set expectations for what kind of expertise HR professionals should have in various fields, such as labour relations, says Francoeur.
“It’s the same idea as CHRP. But it is not about questioning or testing how much you know, but defining what HR professionals should be able to deliver on. It’s more for employers.”
Among other regular workshops and training activities, the Ordre launched “HR Studio,” a 10-minute e-learning session members can download weekly to watch.
“You can use it to train groups of HR staff, it’s easy and free to members,” added Francoeur.
The Ordre will continue to work with the Quebec government on issues important to HR professionals.
“It is something we are very proud of. We are involved in everything related to the HR profession at the government level,” he says.
Rachelle Gagnon
President
Human Resources Association of New Brunswick
Human Resources Association of New Brunswick (HRANB) president Rachelle Gagnon has reason to boast about the dedication of the team behind the scenes. Among the 850 and counting members, there are more than 100 volunteer chapter committee members who, like Gagnon, are working hard to grow membership while managing full-time HR jobs.
“It’s wonderful to see such commitment and energy levels at each of our chapters. There’s a healthy collaboration going on,” says Gagnon, who is also director of HR at Assumption Life in Moncton, N.B.
Last year, HRANB added two new chapters in the northern, mainly French-speaking part of the province — Bathurst and Edmundston — to its list of existing chapters in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton. Staff are now spending a lot of energy ensuring the association is truly bilingual.
“Expanding to five chapters was a big deal for us. Now we are fully bilingual, one of the few HR organizations that is, as far as I know,” she says. “And a big challenge for us is making sure all our services, from meeting notices to our website, are in both English and French.”
With the addition of the two new chapters and other activities, membership increased by 20 percent over the past year. The 2008 goal is to exceed 1,000 members.
“We’re seeing more demand for our services, as much from business owners as HR professionals,” says Gagnon.
Last year HRANB offered a course to help members write the CHRP exam. This year, all efforts are being poured into preparing for the first-ever HR conference in the province, planned for October.
“It’s going to be a combination trade show, human resources conference and awards (Atlantic Canada HR Awards) show. It’s never been done before in New Brunswick. We’re hoping to have at least 300 people,” says Gagnon.
The association is also trying to position itself as an indispensable support for the profession of HR.
“It’s always been a concern for us that we are not just there for professionals on a occasional basis, but that we help our members, and really give them added value,” she says.
HRANB plans to do this by continuing to provide strategic training and networking opportunities, such as regular breakfast meetings and professional development sessions, promoting the CHRP and remaining a fiscally responsible association.
“Our member rates ($100 per year) are some of the lowest in the country,” says Gagnon.
Patrick Hartling
President
Human Resources Association of Nova Scotia
The Human Resources Association of Nova Scotia (HRANS) recently put out a call for volunteers to fill three vacant board positions. In the past, finding just one person would have been difficult. This time, 18 people put their names forward.
“We had a great response not only quantitatively but, when we looked at the talent, we had all excellent people respond,” says Patrick Hartling, president of HRANS.
There’s a renewed energy in HRANS, which represents 1,100 HR professionals in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, he says, and much of the credit for that can go to the recent hiring of an executive director, Sheila Olyer. The hiring has allowed HRANS to offer members more professional development — something that was “hit and miss” in the past — and focus on long-term projects.
HRANS is also focused on improving government relations, on issues such as immigration legislation and mandatory retirement. And it has set up a task group to look at how to design professional development that is more intentional.
“Our professional development activities shouldn’t just be what things have we traditionally done, but they should be based on a professional standard and some targeted areas,” says Hartling.
One of the challenges still facing HRANS is geography. Its membership is concentrated in Halifax, Cape Breton and Charlottetown, but it hopes to pull in others by forming partnerships with other organizations, such as chambers of commerce.
“We want to be innovative in our partnerships and see where we can add value,” he says. “Chambers of commerce often reach out to the small business community and work with them in a way we haven’t managed to do that well.”
HRANS is also continuing to promote the CHRP designation by providing members with preparation courses. There are more than 390 designated members in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.
Hartling expects these goals will be easier to meet under the direction of Olyer, who has experience in banking and as executive director of other voluntary organizations.
“We felt we wanted to grow as an association,” he says. “She’s got that notion of running things as a business, as a service-oriented person which has helped us already, immeasurably, in our thinking.”
Sheldon Winsor
President
Human Resources Professionals of Newfoundland and Labrador
The Human Resources Professionals of Newfoundland and Labrador (HRPNL) hopes to celebrate its fourth anniversary this year with a gift to itself: A paid staff member.
“All of the work is being done by a volunteer board,” says president Sheldon Winsor. “The problem is the organization doesn’t get the focus it should.”
HRPNL hopes to access federal or provincial funds to hire a part-time administrator to handle everything from receipts and invoicing to co-ordinating personal development events.
“We desperately need someone to do that,” he says. “We’ve identified a whole bunch of things that need to be done as an organization to take it to the next level and grow the membership and be able to offer the members better benefits.”
HRPNL is at the mid-point of a three-year strategic plan aimed at becoming a more effective organization, adding value to its membership, growing the association and creating partnerships with other organizations.
Membership has grown from 10 members four years ago to almost 160. The association hopes to tap into a new market by recruiting students and meeting with the HR departments of some of the province’s largest employers.
“We are fairly new, there are probably lots of folks out there who still don’t know much about us,” he says.
The association hopes its lunch-and-learn workshops and professional development seminars will help retain the new recruits.
HRPNL is also continuing to promote the CHRP to professionals and employers. There are now almost 30 designation holders in the province, a substantial jump from four in the association’s first year.
Winsor says demand for the designation is increasing, evidenced by the number of job postings in the province that now list it as a requirement.
“There is some momentum, but (we want to) increase it and get it going even more,” he says.
To increase awareness of both the CHRP and HRPNL, the association has updated its website and included a discussion forum for members.
“For us, we’re just trying to look at how can we make the organization better, to benefit the current members and grow it,” he says.
Ian Hendry
President
Strategic Capability Network
When the Strategic Capability Network (SCNetwork) talks about sustainability, it does more than just talk. It is buying carbon-free electricity for every event it holds in 2008.“We’re actually paying money for carbon-free electricity on top of whatever overhead we have, just to send the message that we’re conscious of our environment as an association,” says president Ian Hendry.
Since 2005, SCNetwork (formerly known as Canadian Human Resource Planners) has moved away from being a solely HR organization to an association of leaders who manage people.
SCNetwork sees its role as a forum for leading-edge thinking, whether it be best practices in HR, strategic issues facing the profession or more global issues, such as sustainability.
The association is focused on three areas: strategic capability, organizational effectiveness and leadership in action.
“The things that we’re trying to focus on, which are far more strategic and less of a tactical nature, are the things that people who are trying to run operations will find equally as important as an HR practitioner,” he says.
The association has more than 500 members, with chapters in Toronto, Calgary and London, Ont., and a presence in other areas, such as Ottawa and Ontario’s Niagara region.
In the coming year, it’ll tackle several topics, including a discussion of how CEOs and HR professionals in some organization have led, and survived, radical change together.
“We’re trying not to get just HR people, but line and operational people to talk about some of the issues they’re dealing with and how they’ve gone about them,” says Hendry.
In addition to its monthly meetings, SCNetwork is now offering teleconferences at “hubs” around Toronto and London, followed by group discussions. Hendry says participants tend to come from a variety of organizations and roles.
SCNetwork has also established a group to help members between jobs. The association runs a small session every few weeks, where members help members in their job search.
In the coming year, SCNetwork will continue to build on its membership, bringing in people from more diverse backgrounds, says Hendry.
“We are trying to get more business leaders into the fray so that we get at that broader perspective of the things that really underpin the business,” he says.
Patrick Culhane
President
Canadian Payroll Association
The Toronto-based Canadian Payroll Association (CPA) is proud to say it is now a certification-based organization, not a seminar-based organization. Since the payroll certification program was revamped, starting in January 2006, there are now 4,500 members certified with the designations of Payroll Compliance Practitioner (PCP) and Certified Payroll Manager (CPM).
“That speaks to the calibre of the professional requirements of payroll,” says Patrick Culhane, president of the 12,800-member CPA. “One-day seminars don’t have the academic rigour that a 13-week course does, with mid-terms, assignments and exams.”
But seminars are not forgotten, with several offered by CPA each year, along with an annual conference and trade show and National Payroll Week in September.
New for 2007 was CPA’s introduction of payroll guidelines on payroll continuity.
“Payroll is mission-critical. If people don’t get paid, they’re not going to be too happy,” says Culhane.
However, when CPA talked to businesses, it found many didn’t have a payroll component in business continuity plans.
“So what we did is prepare the guidelines to get people to document what the process would be under varying scenarios, such as electric outage or systems gone down.”
The guidelines are the start of a series, with the next batch looking at payroll statements. Some requirements are national in scope but most are driven by provincial legislation, says Culhane, so this document will not only provide one place with all the requirements but serve as a jumping-off point to try and influence government bodies to be more consistent with terminology, he says.
“From an advocacy perspective, our overall goal is to make payroll and employment standards-related legislation efficient and effective for all stakeholders, including employers, employees and government,” he says. “If you can reduce the regulatory burden for the employer community, it’s also going to reduce the burden for government.”
That fits well with the findings of a 2007 member survey that found legislation compliance was a top concern for payroll professionals, in terms of complexity, changes and inconsistency between provincial and federal governments.
In 2008, CPA will do a major survey on employment benefits since the Canada Revenue Agency has asked for input on how to administer taxable benefits. Some of the thresholds used haven’t been updated in 20 years so CPA will look at how to reduce the regulatory burden, “changing the process and administration so it’s more consistent and, frankly, up to date,” says Culhane.
Lynn Johnston
President
Canadian Society for Training and Development
One of the biggest developments at the Canadian Society for Training and Development (CSTD) in 2007 was “Investing in People,” a project to demonstrate the value of investing in training through evaluation tools, case studies and, ultimately, a set of best practices. The focus of the three-year initiative, sponsored by Human Resources and Social Development Canada (HRSDC), is largely on small- and medium-sized organizations, in the manufacturing, services and retail sectors.
“It’s funding to do 12 return-on-investment studies in 12 separate workplaces, to have a look at the impact and value of training that went on… with the same set of instruments,” says Lynn Johnston, president of Toronto-based CSTD. “We need the evidence to convince employers to invest more, to say it works, it makes an impact to your bottom line. As it becomes harder and harder to poach talent, (smaller companies) may have to do a little more investing.”
Three companies have started the project and training-evaluation templates are now available online at www.cstd.ca. Results from the case studies should be reported at CSTD’s annual conference in October, says Johnston.
Another big project in 2007 was an executive think-tank to study the question of the leadership gap. Done in partnership with the Canadian Business Hall of Fame and Knightsbridge Human Capital Solutions, the initiative produced the white paper Invisible Fire: Responding to the Leadership Gap in Canada.
It offers several recommendations to address the “burning” need for increased leadership capacity, such as: making leadership capacity a national issue and a business issue “comparable in scale to the Y2K issue in the late 1990s”; setting up a Canadian Centre for Leadership as a repository of leading practices and ideas; holding CEOs and boards accountable for building leadership capacity and ensuring it is embedded within every organization’s business strategy; and aligning educational systems to grow a pipeline of future leaders.
CSTD’s Learn@Work Week initiative gained momentum in 2007, with about 14 municipalities adopting the mantra and more than 50 companies participating.
“It just allows companies to raise awareness of their own learning and development department internally,” says Johnston.
The 2,300-member, 18-chapter association has grown by 40 per cent since 2003 when it went national and certification is also seeing gains, with 16 per cent certified or in the process of certifying as a Certified Training and Development Professional.
“As the membership is outstripping our wildest expectations, it’s hard for that to keep up, but it is moving up,” says Johnston, who adds the CSTD is focusing on educating employers on the value of certification programs for employees or suppliers.
CSTD is also preparing to host the 2009 conference for the International Federation of Training and Development Organizations, a Geneva-based group of which CSTD is a member. The Toronto event will take place in October 2009.
Sue Meisinger
CEO and president
Society for Human Resource Management
The world’s largest HR association is gearing up to provide local professional development opportunities to its 700 Canadian members this year, says Sue Meisinger, CEO and president of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), based in Alexandria, Va.
“And we will continue to partner where we can with provincial HR associations to do so,” she says.
SHRM is partnering with HRPAO to offer a prep course for the Global Professional in Human Resources (GPHR) certification, which designates HR practitioners as savvy in a stateless body of HR knowledge, something ideal for those working at international companies. SHRM is also in talks with other provincial associations to offer a similar course.
Sometime later this year, the association also plans to partner and provide business education on the topic of “creating a culture of innovation” with the Ordre des CHRA et CRIA in Quebec. And the results of SHRM’s collaboration with CCHRA on surveying talent issues will be presented at the council’s National Human Resources Forum on March 26 in Ottawa.
“The goal is to share knowledge and raise awareness about the talent and migration issues we are all dealing with,” says Meisinger.
Like any HR association, SHRM, with its 239,000 members in more than 120 countries, is focused on raising the bar for the profession. Providing connectivity between associations is key for members, especially in the current economy of globalization, says Meisinger.
“We are focused on creating good links with other associations because they are an excellent resource. So if our members have a question about HR in Quebec, we know who to hook them up with. And if a Canadian needs help with something in the U.S., we are a resource. Frequently, the type of questions people have are best answered peer-to-peer and in the trenches,” she says.
She also points out how, nationally, the professions can help each other set higher standards. The fact Canadian HR professionals will be required to have a post-secondary degree to obtain the CHRP by Jan. 1, 2011, is something the U.S. should mirror with its designations, says Meisinger.
“That’s an example of a professional best practice we can learn from.”
Richard Rousseau
President
HRMS Professionals Association
It’s been almost three years since the founding members of the HRMS Professionals Association (HRMSP) left the International Association for Human Resources Information Management to form a separate Canadian organization. Since then, membership has grown to 134 people in Quebec and Ontario.
“Even though we’ve done only a few activities in Ontario, we’re getting memberships,” says Richard Rousseau, president of HRMSP. “It shows there’s a need in the market for an exchange of technology in the human resources field.”
The decision to strike out on their own followed years of perceived American biases, says Rousseau.
“We were involved at a very high level on the international board, at the local and regional board, but everything was driven by the U.S.,” he says.
Not anymore. HRMSP brings together HR, payroll and information technology professionals to exchange ideas and education about information systems management and technology, as they pertain to Canadian organizations.
Rousseau says HRMSP has two objectives — to share experience and education among consultants, vendors and people who use these systems and to promote Canadian vendors.
HRMSP holds regular panel discussions in both provinces, where members hear about the challenges and impacts of new technologies and products, such as e-learning and self-service.
“For the last panel, we had three people who came to talk about their experience implementing different products,” he says. “What were the challenges? What was the reaction and the direct impact on the corporation?”
HRMSP considers itself a complement to existing HR organizations, not a replacement, according to Rousseau.
“Very often we see HR conferences where technology has a very low profile. In HR today, everyone is using technology,” he says. “I haven’t seen an organization today that doesn’t have a PC.”
HRMSP expects to eventually expand to the East and West, but first it plans to unveil a new website this spring that will be more interactive and offer information on white papers, technology and recommendations from consultants, says Rousseau.
While membership is not growing as rapidly as it is in some other organizations, he says HRMSP is more concerned with having the right structures in place first, to benefit and grow with members.
“You have to clean your house before you can open it,” he says.
