By  Ian J. Cook, CHRP

On March 3^rd, 2011 Bill 138 passed its second reading in the Ontario legislature. This marks a significant and important step forward for the HR profession and how it is recognized within Ontario and Canada.

Bill 138 it is a private member’s bill specific to Ontario that would position HR and the Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) designation as a tier-one profession, equivalent to the CMAs and CGAs and modernize HRPA’s role as a regulator of its members.

This is significant for both the CHRP and HR professionals across Canada. Whether or not one agrees with the details of the Bill, it is generating the type of commentary and attention that can only benefit the profession in the long run.  

Below are some direct quotes from the full text of the debate:

• David Zimmer – MPP – Proposer of the Act

  “Given that salaries are usually the biggest line items in an organization’s budget, given all the evidence that shows that HR practices have a big impact on an organization’s bottom line, an incompetent or an unethical HR professional can do just as much, if not more, financial damage to an organization as a CA, a CGA, a CMA, a lawyer or any other professional.”

  “Here’s a fact … that illustrates the professionalism of HRPA members. Last year, HRPA carried out a small research project into the relationship between HRPA membership and the conviction rate under the Employment Standards Act. Between October 2008 and January 2010, there were 489 convictions for violations of the act. The essential finding was that of these 489 ESA violations, none could be linked to an HRPA member.”

• Bob Delaney – MPP

  “We need skilled HR professionals who work within a framework of rules and regulations that they don’t get in their corporate environments. We need them to bring to the organization, its stakeholders and the people affected by what the organization does the full range of expertise that they acquire and use, in such areas as setting missions and goals, setting strategies, measuring organizational effectiveness, matching staffing needs to the available labour pool, sourcing strategic skills for the organization, retaining key employees, coming up with a fair framework of compensation and full and proper costing, both present and future. These are all things that HR people do.”

• Khalil Ramal – MPP

  “I want to say that our aim and goal is to strengthen the ability of the people of Ontario, give them the power and comfort they need and create an environment to create more jobs and to maintain the jobs we have in the province. Human resource professionals play a pivotal role in creating and maintaining jobs and in choosing the best of the best of the people of Ontario to occupy those jobs.”

When a profession has gone through rapid and complex change it takes time for those not closely connected to the profession to catch up and appreciate what has happened. HR and talent management are a long way from the personnel function of old and this transition has happened in 20 short years. At the same time when it comes to establishing a reputation it happens faster when others speak for you than when you speak for yourself.

What is happening with the passage of this Bill is that the elected members of the provincial legislature in Ontario are speaking positively about the impact made by HR professionals. All sides of the debate agree that HR professionals should be considered the same as lawyers, doctors, engineers and accountants.

Whether or not this Bill passes the confirmation by MPPs of the importance of good HR people and the contribution they make to business and society as a whole is beneficial to our profession. We have spent a long time promoting ourselves and will continue to do so. We stand to move farther, faster in gaining the public recognition we deserve through the comments of others.

For more information: http://www.hrreporter.com/ArticleView.aspx?l=1&articleid=9659.  

Throughout his career Ian J. Cook, MA, MBA, CHRP, has pursued his fascination with people and business. During his early career, Ian was both an entrepreneur and an operational manager. These experiences led him into consulting on organizational effectiveness, a path he followed for 10 years while serving some of the world’s leading organizations. Ian has established a reputation as a strategic business builder who is far-sighted and thought-provoking.