HRPA introduces three new designations to accommodate industry changes

If you’ve spent your career in HR you’ll no doubt have seen the industry undergo mammoth changes and, if you’re successful, you’ll have grown and adapted too but HR designations haven’t necessarily been keeping up… until now.

“The world of work has advanced dramatically in the last 20 years and is driving businesses to demand higher expectations of HR professionals. We needed to update our certification framework to incorporate both knowledge and competence around things like strategy, demographics, workplace accommodation, business acumen, diversity, employment law and analytics,” said Human Resources Professionals Association CRO, Bill Greenhalgh.

The HRPA’s first, core designation, the CHRP, was created in 1996 but both the world and the workplace have seen significant changes since then. Now, the HRPA is addressing those dramatic changes, and the increased demands placed on HR professionals, in a new and updated certification framework.

The three-tier framework will test an updated body of knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge at all three levels of HR practice:

• Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP)

Under the new framework, HRPA's original HR designation will once again become the entry-level designation, intended for HR professionals in roles that are generally administrative, such as a contributing role in a larger HR function, or a sole HR practitioner in a small HR function.

• Certified Human Resources Leader (CHRL)

HR professionals at the CHRL level will be responsible for managing projects and programs, implementing plans passed down by senior management and delegating tasks to entry-level staff.

• Certified Human Resources Executive (CHRE)

Executive level professionals have a high level of experience and responsibility such as leading the HR function in large organizations, developing and executing significant HR projects, working with boards or HR committees, dealing with executive compensation and having responsibility for HR strategies in support of long term organizational goals.

"We believe that this is a giant progressive step forward for HRPA members, we are sure it will have major positive career impacts in the future and it will create a designation framework that is highly valued not just by members but by organizations as well,"  said Greenhalgh.

Existing CHRPs, SHRPs and CHRP will be grandfathered into the CHRL, CHRE, and CHRP designations respectively.