Ontario, Saskatchewan, Nova Scotia and P.E.I. launch SHRP
Four provinces are launching a new designation that will recognize senior human resources professionals who have made a significant impact on their organization and the profession.
The Senior Human Resources Professional (SHRP) designation will raise the profile of senior leaders and what they can do for an organization, as well as provide a goal for HR professionals to work towards throughout their career, said Bill Greenhalgh, CEO of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), Ontario’s HR association.
“This is now a designation that celebrates and validates the capabilities these leaders can bring,” he said.
The designation was developed by an interprovincial task force, with representatives from the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA) and all provincial HR associations.
Ontario began accepting applications in June and Saskatchewan will accept applications in August. Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will hold consultations with members over the summer, with plans to launch the designation in the fall. No other provinces are planning to offer the designation at this time.
The task force, who worked together for about one year, looked at senior HR designations offered by other associations, such as the Society for Human Resources Management in the United States and the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Kingdom, to develop the SHRP.
“It’s the natural maturation of the profession itself,” said Bob Bayles, president-elect of the Saskatchewan Association of Human Resource Professionals (SAHRP). “It’s in keeping with other HR associations across the world.”
The task force also conducted a survey of 200 HR professionals on the idea of a senior designation and what it should look like.
“They wanted it to be experiential. They said that they didn’t want to have to go back to university or take exams. They wanted it to be a kind of a celebration or validation of an impactful career,” said Greenhalgh.
Many of the comments from the survey revealed senior HR professionals don’t feel as if HR associations meet their needs as well as they should, said Greenhalgh, who was also chair of the task force.
“Associations have to be relevant for all HR levels, from the student right to the chief human resources officer, so we all need to make sure we provide programs that support careers at all levels,” he said.
A senior HR designation is a way to reach out to senior professionals and involve them more in the associations, said Greenhalgh.
The designation will also give senior professionals the opportunity to network with their peers, said Bayles.
The SHRP is not to be confused with the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation and it is not intended to be a senior CHRP, said Greenhalgh.
“The CHRP is the gold standard for HR competence,” he said. “This senior designation is a very important way to recognize HR leaders who have made a real impact on their organization at a strategic level.”
While a CHRP holder can apply for the SHRP if she has enough experience, the CHRP isn’t a prerequisite for the senior designation in Ontario and Saskatchewan, said Lynn Palmer, CEO of the CCHRA.
“(For) someone who has 20 or 25 years’ experience who maybe didn’t go that route initially or has come into the profession from another part of the business, (the SHRP) allows them to get recognition for the impact they have had and the experience they have brought to their organization,” she said.
However, during consultations with members, the Human Resources Association of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island will look at the possibility of making the CHRP a requirement for the SHRP, said Patrick Hartling, president of the association.
“I think there’s value in both the CHRP certification and the SHRP certification and we have yet to work out whether it will be a precondition. Probably not, but I want to open that up for discussion,” he said.
To receive the designation in Ontario and Saskatchewan, HR professionals must first complete an online self-assessment including: experience, education, job scope and size and complexity of the organization. The self-assessment is available at www.shrpdesignation.ca.
HR professionals who pass the self-assessment will be sent a detailed questionnaire, which will be evaluated by an assessment committee that eventually will be made up of SHRP volunteers.
Demand for the designation, at least in Ontario, has already exceeded expectations, said Greenhalgh. The association, which has about 18,000 members, expected about 1,500 people to apply for the designation over the next year or two. But five hours after the HRPA announced the new designation on June 15, the association had received 450 applications, he said.
“I was astonished at the demand,” he said. “I know, I absolutely know, there is demand for this in all other provinces.”
SAHRP, which has 1,300 members, is also expecting significant interest in the designation, said Bayles.
“We know that we have senior members who will join the association as well as members who will stay on due to the creation of the senior designation,” he said.
However, the British Columbia Human Resources Management Association (BC HRMA), which has more than 4,600 members, chose not to offer the senior designation because it hasn’t seen any demand for it, said Simon Evans, the association’s CEO.
“In the five years that I’ve been here, I’ve not had one request from any senior HR leader for another designation,” he said.
“We felt it was more important to stay the course because we believe in the CHRP process as being the right one for the profession.”
The association will continue to put all its resources behind supporting and advancing the CHRP. If, at some point, the CCHRA board decides to create a senior CHRP, that is something BC HRMA would consider supporting, said Evans.
The portability of the SHRP has less to do with other provincial HR associations recognizing the designation and more to do with individual employers, said Greenhalgh.
“They will see this as a very attractive designation because of what it recognizes. It recognizes things that most employers are looking for,” such as demonstrated leadership in HR, he said.
To help organizations see the value of both a SHRP and a CHRP, associations will have to continue to do outreach about the designations, said Hartling.
“As we communicate the message of the value of the CHRP and the different value of the SHRP designation, it will give a clearer picture to people about what an HR professional can do,” he said.
