Pressure is growing for thousands of human resources professionals in the country, as the clock ticks towards the 2020 deadline set by the regulator for them to have practicing certificates. The Institute of Human Resource Management says HR professionals are currently undergoing retraining and vetting to be certified. This has forced many practitioners back to class to get the coveted certificate.
Speaking when the Human Resource Management Professionals Examinations Board (HRMPEB) released examinations results for the November-December 2017 class, IHRM Executive Director Dorcas Wainaina said the regulator has tightened processes to ensure only qualified professionals practice either as employees or consultants.
According the results for the second batch, 397 candidates sat for various Certified Human Resource Professional (CHRP) examinations, with 75% of them passing while 25% failed, a drop from 79% pass for the July/August class. The number of HR professionals enrolling for the courses increased from 247 the previous class.
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The drop in performance has attributed to a number of factors including non-completion of syllabus by some candidates. Those who failed will not be certified to practice. Female candidates dominated in the examination and had a share of 76.8% against male candidates with a share of 23.2% of the total number of candidates.
Kenya is the first country in Africa to have certified human resource professionals, which marks the climax of reforms started five years ago. HRMPEB in November 2016 launched a customized curriculum to address the HR challenges at both organisational and national levels in Kenya.
IHRM Council chairman Elijah Sitimah said they had written to the public service to have it align its scheme of service with the CHRP qualification alongside the Higher Diploma, which is to be phased out from 2020.
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“Human resource development in the country cannot be sustainable if it does not address the challenge of certification,” he said. “Recognition of regulation and certification as a standard will maximize the potential of the HR profession in Kenya.”
With a highly competitive HR profession, the country will be able to meet the requirements of the rapidly industrializing global economy’ he added. “The professionals who consider that certification is not a matter to be taken seriously, are simply sending the message that they are unfit for the profession,” Mr Sitimah said.
