Ch. 12: HR Professional Practices

Learning outcomes

After this chapter you should be able to:

1. describe which professional and personal skills lead to success in HRM;
2. explain the role of the Ontario HR professional body, the HRPA;
3. describe how to earn HRPA certification;
4. apply the clusters of competencies to conduct oneself in a professional manner;
5. apply a high level of professionalism in all situations.

12.1 HR professionalism and certification

In today's world of work, HR employees are expected to be professionals, which includes having specific qualifications. HRM is a specialized field, comparable to accounting, marketing or finance.

Besides competencies, a professional is recognizable by six characteristics of a profession:

1. a common body of knowledge;
2. consistent standards;
3. a professional association that members join;
4. a code of ethics;
5. credentials and designations;
6. lifelong learning.

For Ontario, the book relies on the material of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA), the professional body that governs HR professionals in that province. The chapter first explains which competencies the HRPA considers important and then describes the HRPA itself and its certification route.

Competency framework

The HRPA Human Resources Professional Competency Framework is shown as a diagram with two building blocks:

• Functional competencies: clusters of competencies linked to the specific content areas of HR work (what HR does).
• Enabling competencies: more general capabilities that support the performance of all functional areas (how the HR professional works).

The numbering of the functional areas in the diagram matches the order of the text that follows.

12.2 Very competitive field: HR competencies

The HRPA sets out several core competencies for HR professionals, sorted into functional and enabling ones. HR is a highly competitive field, so a professional who masters these competencies (and shows it through a designation) is easier to market.

Functional competencies

Each functional competency is a cluster: a group of related competencies around one HR area.

Note that the clusters mirror the chapters of the book: strategy (Ch. 1), metrics and planning (Ch. 2), job analysis (Ch. 4), talent acquisition (Ch. 5), learning and development (Ch. 6), total rewards (Ch. 7), performance management (Ch. 8), health and safety (Ch. 9) and labour relations (Ch. 10). International HRM (Ch. 11) falls under strategy. The chapter summary lists eight functional clusters; the framework itself contains nine, with HR metrics, reporting and financial management as the ninth.

Enabling competencies

Enabling competencies are general capabilities that make it possible to perform the functional areas well. The book lists fifteen:

Telling similar competencies apart (a common exam trap):

• Independence is about sticking to professional standards and the law under pressure; ethical behaviour and professionalism is broader (honesty, integrity, credibility, handling conflicts of interest and protecting the public interest).
• Research skills concern collecting and using data and the work of others in decisions; quantitative skills concern working with numbers and predictive analytics; critical thinking and analysis concerns understanding a problem and how its parts relate.
• Critical legal thinking is weighing legal interpretations; the functional cluster professional practice contains the "legal" and "ethics" content areas themselves.
• Business acumen appears twice: as an enabling competency and as part of the strategy cluster.
• Integration ties everything together: bringing several HR areas into one coherent answer.

The Human Resources professional: the HRPA

In Ontario, HR is governed by a professional body and by legislation: the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA).

The governing and regulatory role ensures competent and ethical HR practice and also works to advance the profile and value of the HR profession among members, students and organizations.

The HRPA maintains three designations:

The designations signal to organizations that a person has the knowledge and expertise to excel in HR. Benefits for the professional: it demonstrates their abilities and makes them more marketable in a very competitive field.

12.3 How to earn certification

How to get one's career going as an HR student

Students with an interest in HR may go through HRPA certification. Afterwards they are entitled to call themselves a Certified Human Resources Professional and to put C.H.R.P. or CHRP behind their name.

Why certification matters:

• it establishes common professional standards for HRM across Canada;
• employers value these standards because they address multi-jurisdictional considerations and support the efficient practice of HR;
• the CHRP places the practitioner at the forefront of the profession, as someone informed, experienced, well connected and devoted to career-long learning.

Certification requirements

The book takes these from the HRPA website (for current information, contact the HRPA; students can also attend an information session of the Employment Relations Students' Association early in the fall). The certification process has five components:

1. HRPA membership in good standing;
2. successful completion of the coursework requirement;
3. successful completion of the Comprehensive Knowledge Exam 1;
4. passing the CHRP/CHRL Employment Law Exam 1;
5. successful completion of the Job Ready Program.

Questions about the CHRP go to the HRPA Office of the Registrar.

HRPA's coursework requirement

The coursework requirement ensures that certified HR professionals have a solid foundation in the HR discipline. There are two routes:

1. completing the requisite coursework, or
2. demonstrating equivalent preparation in HR: the alternate route.

Example: an average of 74% with one course at 62% does not qualify (one course is below 65%). An average of 69% with every course at least 65% does not qualify either (average below 70%).

The nine courses:

Human Resources jobs

Most organizations need an HR department or at least a manager with HR skills. Industries and job titles vary so much that only general titles can be listed. The book's (non-exhaustive) list:

1. Recruiter / talent acquisition manager
2. Compensation analyst
3. Human resources assistant
4. Employee relations manager
5. Benefits manager
6. Work-life coordinator
7. Training and development manager
8. Human resources manager
9. Vice president of human resources

The list is meant as a starting point for researching an HR career path.

12.4 Key terms

Competencies: the knowledge, skills, abilities and attributes (KSAs) needed to perform a job effectively. This is the only key term the book lists for this chapter; the other terms above (HRPA, CHRP, functional and enabling competencies, coursework requirement, alternate route) are still exam material.

12.5 Summary

This chapter covers the competencies that HR professionals require according to the HRPA in Ontario. The HRPA splits core competencies into functional ones (total rewards; strategy; labour and employee relations; professional practice; learning and development; organizational effectiveness; talent management and workforce planning; a healthy, well and safe workplace; and HR metrics, reporting and financial management) and enabling ones (emotional intelligence, business acumen, critical thinking and analysis, research and quantitative skills, technological savvy, critical legal thinking, decision-making, project management, independence, professionalism and ethical behaviour, managing relationships, influencing and negotiation, organizational and strategic leadership, and integration). To protect the public interest the HRPA regulates HR practice in Ontario and awards the CHRP, CHRL and CHRE designations; certification requires membership, coursework (an average of 70% with no single course under 65%), two exams and the Job Ready Program.