Ontario association keen to boost regulation of profession
The Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) is continuing to ramp up efforts to boost the regulation and profile of the HR profession in Ontario with several initiatives.
Most recently, a delegation of members attended the Ontario Liberals’ annual general meeting in Windsor, Ont. The effort was part of HR LNX, a new government relations advocacy program aimed at raising awareness about the HRPA and its members among MPPs at Queen’s Park. The goal of the lobbying initiative is to influence decision-makers in the policy making and legislative process.
And it dovetails with the HRPA’s push for a public act regulating HR management in the province. Currently the profession is regulated in Ontario by a private act, the Human Resources Professionals Association of Ontario Act, 1990. But the association believes a public act would carry more weight.
In some ways, the difference is very subtle, said Claude Balthazard, director of HR excellence and acting registrar at the HRPA in Toronto.
“Everything you need to be a fully functioning regulatory body is in our current act. It’s… not so much the powers we would get under a public act — yes, they are a bit different — the real issue is the government support for the profession and how it’s positioned in their awareness.”
Public acts have several other benefits, according to the HRPA: They indicate a stronger commitment to the profession on the part of the government, allow for stronger regulatory powers, would increase the status and influence of the profession and clarify the HRPA’s regulatory authority.
Workplace legislation is not enough — to ensure fair, equitable and productive workplaces, the government needs to support HR management professionals, according to the Ontario association. The public interest and employees who are impacted by the actions of an HR professional require these professionals to practise with a high degree of professionalism.
This kind of initiative would benefit the profession and practitioners, particularly as HR has evolved so much over the last 20 years, said Debbie Bennett, president of the Ottawa-based Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations.
“It would flow from that you would probably want to increase the level of regulation commensurate with the level of responsibility falling on the lap of the HR practitioner,” she said.
Provincial differences
The HRPA knows it could be a long process to achieve a public act, with short-term chances slim to none and more likely success in 10 years or so, said Balthazard.
And there are a few challenges. For one, there is the misunderstanding this should be a national issue — but HR is regulated provincially and the provincial government is not concerned with the activities of other provinces, he said.
Each province has to figure out on its own where to go, said Bennett. But since HR is regulated in Quebec and Ontario and the two, by far, make up the most populous part of Canada, “what they do sort of raises the bar and enhances the credibility of the profession for everybody,” she said.
There’s a commonality and drive to raise the profile of the profession across Canada but the details of what, where and how mean a deeper interprovincial collaboration doesn’t make sense when it comes to the issue of regulation, said Ian Cook, director of research and learning at the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA).
“It’s unfortunate, because each provincial association has to do its own lifting, but it’s also a reality of the makeup of the way Canada is structured, basically.”
BC HRMA has looked at regulation, out of a duty to members, but the issue is not on the agenda right now, he said. And positioning papers from the provincial government suggest it’s not interested in more regulation.
“For us to do anything, it would take a lot of time and a lot of money. It’s something we’re quietly watching so if Ontario makes inroads, it certainly supports us because we’ve got an example to point at,” he said.
“We definitely support the drive. We’re in exactly the same business as the HRPA — we want the profession to be recognized for the challenging, useful role that it is.”
Instead, BC HRMA has focused on exploring, explaining and promoting the merits of the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation, which has become established as a mark of the profession and is “a surrogate” for regulation, he said.
“So, if we have a choice, do we put resources into going after regulation or put a bunch of advertising and PR and marketing into, ‘By the way, CHRP really makes a difference in your business?’ It’s cheaper and faster for us to go that second route,” said Cook.
Education also needed for members and government
There is also a considerable lack of awareness among HRPA members, as only 10 to 15 per cent know the profession is regulated in Ontario and few know of the 1990 act or have read it, said Balthazard. So the association ran three webcasts in the fall to bring people up to date on the whole issue, providing background information and updates on recent initiatives.
“In a funny way, although the framework is 20 years old and the message is not new, it is kind of new because people either don’t understand it (or) forgot it. And it’s amazing in what circles, even among chapter executives or our board, at times, that awareness of exactly how the framework works is very, very sketchy,” he said.
But it’s a two-way street, said Scott Allinson, director of government and external relations at the HRPA, as many government members are also unaware the profession is regulated in Ontario. But awareness has shot up tenfold since the HRPA started making rounds with the government and the HR LNX program should boost that drive, with greater member involvement on the constituency level, he said.
The biggest challenge is making the issue important enough for the government to pursue, especially with the economic downturn.
“Moving their awareness is easy. For government to take action is a big step,” said Balthazard.
“A lot of them privately are very sympathetic to our whole idea; it’s just, with government, there’s a big inertia factor which we need to overcome because you’re playing in the legislature and the big leagues.”
