I am thinking about State/Provincial or Federal legislation that determines who may claim to be a Human Resources Professional and hang out an HR shingle in whatever form.  To enforce the legislation there would be a Human Resources Association handling the accreditation side and any other legally enforceable aspects. 

In Ontario, Canada, there is a major dispute currently on this subject, with HRPA (Human Resources Professionals Association) members opposing introduction of legislation (Bill 138) similar to legislation regulating the Accounting and Legal professions.

I believe the current accreditation is valuable as it gives credit to people who have successfully completed extensive training and other requirements and should have a broad knowledge base to take responsibility for a Human Resources function.  It is a signal to potential employers, who would normally accept (without legislation) that the Human Resources Association is handling accreditation in a competent way.   Once the HR person is on the job, other legislation would take care of other aspects e.g. Occupational Health and Safety, Labor Relations, Human Rights, Employment and Compensation regulations etc.

Some HR people are very specialized and may be accredited (or recognized by reputation) through their affiliation with more specialized associations e.g. recruiting, training, employee benefits and compensation.  The professionals involved, depending on the way they progressed into their chosen field, may not be in a position (or have the desire) to gain full Human Resources accreditation through their local HR Association.  If they are specialists, it may add little value.

So, if the professional recruiters, for example, cannot claim to be HR professionals, even if working in an HR function, there would be a division between HR recruiters and other recruiters who may be leaders in their field.  Does it make sense?

Should the Human Resources profession be legally regulated?  Are there reasons, similar to Accounting and Law, why Human Resources should be legally regulated?   What are those reasons?   What aspects of HR bring significant risk to employers/clients and require such legal scrutiny, beyond the impact of legislation already in place?

What is the role of a Human Resources Association?  How far should it extend beyond accreditation and its normal administrative role?  The dispute in Ontario has been continuing for a while, but what is the role of Human Resources?  What aspects should only be handled by accredited Human Resources professionals? 

It becomes even more complicated when HR attempt to push back to line managers traditional HR areas of involvement e.g. discipline and performance management, for which many managers have little training.

Where are we (HR) going and what controls should be in place to help us move in the right direction?   

I look forward very much to your input on this complicated subject.

Thanks,
Ian

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BIOGRAPHY

Bio:Ian Welsh CHRP

Ian’s style of HR is being resourceful in a human way. His HR experience spans more than 25 years at an executive level within major organizations where his emphasis was on HR solutions – respecting theory but knowing how to apply it in real life situations and recognizing holistic needs. As an Independent HR Practitioner, based in Toronto, Ian continues to focus on “reality HR” with strong communications overtones. He shares his experiences and thoughts on his Toolbox for HR blog “The Search for Mutual Success” and interactively through online discussion.

http://hr.toolbox.com/blogs/search-for-mutual-success/

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