By Sharon Lee

The 2013 Practice Analysis Study for the Human Resources Profession confirmed the need for a strategic outlook and financial acumen skills among HR professionals across Canada. These additional skills are highly valued by organizations, as well as expertise in the legal requirements pertaining to human resources policies and practices.

“When we spoke to CEOs and other organizational and HR leaders about the skills they valued in HR professionals, they all mentioned the ability to provide a broad strategic outlook and the ability to assess the financial impact of HR decisions,” said Sharon Lee, executive director of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Associations (CCHRA). “These competencies are in addition to the more traditional HR functions, such as compensation, employee relations, talent management and legal HR requirements.”

The Canadian HR professional practice analysis was conducted by Castle Worldwide Inc. for the CCHRA and the full report can be found at www.cchra.ca. Its primary purpose is to update required professional capabilities (RPCs) and validate the content of the National Knowledge Exam (NKE), a current requirement for the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) certification.

“A regular professional practice analysis is a critical component to keeping the body of knowledge relevant and ensuring that the CHRP designation remains credible, valued and recognized,” said Lee.

The Professional Practice Analysis (PPA) Panel of the CCHRA has made some initial conclusions, based on the PPA study.

1. Although it has been stated for quite some time that CHRPs need to operate at a more strategic level, this new practice analysis clearly confirms this view.
2. In regards to competencies, nothing was taken away, but new areas of competence have been added, particularly in the areas of strategy and finance.
3. Some of the competencies which were added require CHRPs to create solutions for their organizations, rather than simply administer processes (more ‘engineers’ than ‘mechanics.’)

The practice analysis consisted of four phases:

Initial development and validation

This involved determining the scope of the study and identifying the domains, capabilities, knowledge and skills essential to the performance of HR professionals at various levels in a range of settings.

The nine domains or major areas of responsibility proposed by the PPA Panel were: strategy; professional practice; engagement; workforce planning and talent management; labour and employee relations; total reward; learning and development; health, wellness and safe workplace, and human resources metrics, reporting and financial management.

The PPA Panel then developed tasks that HR professionals would actually perform under the nine domains and developed knowledge statements regarding the knowledge and skills required to perform the tasks.

Focus group review

Focus group participants, who had not been involved in the study to this point, meticulously reviewed the domains, tasks and knowledge statements drafted by the PPA Panel. Participants were recruited from the education community, CHRPs and input was collected from a group of chief executive officers.

Validation study

All HR professionals with membership in any CCHRA member association were personally invited to participate in a national survey to determine which tasks they actually performed and the level of knowledge among practitioners across employment levels and experience ranges. Survey results from respondents were considered in the analysis.  More than 10 per cent of respondents were working in British Columbia.

Analysis of data and decisions about levels

Based on the results of the survey, the PPA Panel determined that there was appropriate support for the required professional capabilities (RPCs.) The RPCs or tasks were then classified as appropriate to several levels of practitioner: Associate, Recent CHRP and Experienced HR Professional. Knowledge statements were also ranked across these classifications.

The changes to the body of knowledge will, after a comprehensive communication program, be incorporated into the NKE. Recent CHRP’s have been invited to provide real work-life examples of various tasks and knowledge to assist in better defining the task statements for the RPC’s.

Sharon Lee is the executive director of the Canadian Council of Human Resources Association (www.cchra.ca).

(PeopleTalk Fall 2013)