Singapore makes headway on national HR Industry Manpower Plan

Eighty-eight HR professionals were certified on Thursday under the pilot programme of the National HR Professional Certification Framework, Workforce Singapore (WSG) announced. This comes as Singapore seeks to bolster the HR community’s role in its economic transformation.

The national HR certification is a key initiative under the HR Industry Manpower Plan to strengthen the HR profession, according to WSG. The initiative aims to enhance the competencies of HR professionals and create developmental and progression pathways for them.

WSG administered the pilot programme in October and November last year. “Certified HR professionals can expect to be recognised for their knowledge, skills and attributes, and be more effective in enabling human capital development to deliver positive business impact for their organisations,” said WSG.

Moving forward, the credential will be known as the “IHRP Certification,” under the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) jointly set up by tripartite partners comprising Ministry of Manpower (MOM), National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF).

““The IHRP certification recognises the skills required for HR professionals to be future ready and help businesses plan and address manpower challenges ahead. WSG will continue to support and strengthen the professionalisation of HR professionals in Singapore to enable them to transform and grow their organisations to build a productive workforce and a strong Singapore core,” said Tan Choon Shian, Chief Executive of WSG.

Last week, Minister of State for Manpower Teo Ser Luck said it’s “particularly important” for the country to build its HR community. According to Teo, the development of an HR team is “top priority” because it enables Singapore’s economic transformation through human capital development. Teo called on HR professionals to “adapt and grow” to effectively help their businesses during the transformation journey.