Singapore plans to double number of certified HR professionals by 2025

The National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF) are jointly aiming to double the nearly 6,000 certified HR professionals.

Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General at NTUC, announced the push to have 12,000 certified HR professionals by 2025, saying the need for more certified HR professionals comes amid efforts to enshrine workplace fairness guidelines in law.

“Previously, HR may have looked more like a support function, but increasingly, as we look at what has happened in the last 2.5 years with COVID-19 as an example, HR practitioners are the leaders… who are very critical to rolling out proper advisories, ensuring compliance and doing a lot of the day-to-day firefighting,” he said. 

The bid to broaden the adoption of fair practices with improved HR work standards was one of nine recommendations that an NTUC-SNEF task force made to the government in October 2021. 

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The task force, which Tay chairs with Sim Gim Guan, Executive Director for SNEF, was formed in October 2020 to promote the employment and employability of professionals, managers, and executives (PMEs). To be certified by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), HR professionals need to take exams that will gauge their ability to design and execute HR policies on hiring, retaining, and developing workers. 

Sim said the two partners are also looking into providing shorter courses for HR professionals who already hold overseas HR certifications, to orient them to local employment rules, as well as automating repetitive HR tasks, reported The Straits Times.