Some universities offer courses on international HR, but no one has yet offered certification for professionals in this field. That will change next year when a US-based HR organisation offers an exam for professionals like you. Kirin Kalia reports.

Mobile workforce, global market — these phrases are hardly unusual to anyone who works for a company with offices outside its home country.

Yet, how many HR professionals have the knowledge and skills to manage mobile workforces in a global market?

And how many want to gain the knowledge and skills — and then have solid proof for their current or future employers?

Plenty, and that's just based on surveys of HR staff working for multinationals in the United States.

The US-based Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has confirmed what many of its internationally focused members already believed: global HR is a discipline worthy of professional recognition.

SHRM, in co-operation with its certification exam partner, will launch its global HR professional certification programme at its annual Global Forum event in spring 2004. 

The exam will test six areas of global HR knowledge (see sidebar for details). Any HR professional with at least two years of HR job experience will be eligible to take the test.

"We have to distinguish that certification in international HR means the profession of cross-border mobility and global strategy," explains Brian Glade, VP of international programmes for SHRM.

"It's not saying 'In China, this is what you have to do.' It's not domestic, it's international," Glade continues. "[Certification] is not to say it's certifying anyone anywhere in the world can do HR."

Since 1976, SHRM has offered a very popular certification programme for HR and senior HR professionals in the United States. Its sister organisation, the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), develops and administers these HR exams.

"We certify that you have the knowledge to do the work," Glade says of SHRM's approach to certification. "It doesn’t go towards performance or competence, it's about do you have the knowledge."

What a global HR professional should know Global Strategic HR Management: The development of HR strategies and programmes to allow the organisation to meet its short-and long-term business needs. This includes establishing HR policies and initiatives that support the organisation’s global growth and reputation as an employer. Global Organisational Effectiveness and Employee Development: The establishment of organisational structures, programmes, and processes that enable corporations to deploy and utilize employees to achieve current and future worldwide business objectives. Global Staffing: The process of planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating staffing initiatives on a worldwide basis to ensure that the organisation’s staffing goals and objectives are met. This includes recruiting and hiring, placement, and termination on a global basis. International Assignment Management: The establishment of international assignment strategy and policies. This includes planning, implementing, administering, and evaluating all activities relating to international assignments or global mobility. It also covers such areas as legal (visa and immigration), compensation, benefits, tax, relocation, and security implications for all global assignments — cross-border business travel, short-term, long-term, sequential, and permanent assignments. Global Compensation and Benefits: The establishment of global compensation and benefits philosophy and strategy. The development, implementation, and evaluation of compensation and benefits programmes, processes, and tools in line with competitive practice, the company’s business objectives, and legal requirements. International Employee Relations and Regulations: Processes and practices that ensure the creation of favourable employment conditions that balance employer needs with employee rights and needs. This domain includes collective bargaining processes and strategies, compliance with statutory requirements, sensitivity to local workplace practices, security, the protection of physical and intellectual property, and the protection of individuals from harm.

The idea for "Global PHR certification", as SHRM calls it, had been on the agenda of its international chapter, Global Forum (over 6,500 members), since the mid-1990s.

Then, in 1999, a certification committee was established. By 2000, SHRM had secured the co-operation of HRCI. That year, the organisation was also exploring what a global HR professional exam would like and researching the business case for such an exam.

In 2000-01, the certification team worked with academics, consultants and international HR professionals to compile a comprehensive list of knowledge areas within global HR. Those six areas were defined in 2001-02. International assignment management is just one knowledge area that a global professional human resources person should understand.

"There was a series of focus groups, surveying, testing of the findings," says Glade. "Out in the marketplace, we asked a cross-section of [SHRM] members and non-members: 'Is this what you think you do when you are an international HR professional?'"

"The public validated the results of the test we'd come up with," he adds. Glade says they surveyed thousands of people, including international HR professionals outside the United States.

"We didn’t want this to be a US-centric project," he says. "International HR isn’t necessarily about US HR law, though there are impacts from US law."

Glade says HR professionals at non-US multinationals like Shell, for example, would be likely candidates for taking the exam. Yet, he says, SHRM's main market is mostly US companies, "so we have to be faithful to them, first and foremost" in terms of their needs.

This year, SHRM's Global Forum and HRCI are focused on writing exam questions and developing study materials for those who will take the test.

Although there are no mandatory study materials — those taking the exam are free to study any way they choose — SHRM will offer up-to-date study materials for those who wish to use them. This scheme has worked very well for its US certifications.

"The education materials [for the global PHR certification] are being developed by SHRM with Global Forum providing subject matter and experts," says Glade.

While the materials do not cover every detail of global HR, they are "meant to help prepare" for the exam.

But Glade quickly points out that the people developing exam questions and those working on the study materials are strictly separated groups.

"People developing test questions and people developing educational material are not the same people and they will never communicate with each, there is a strict firewall between the two," he explains.

"We don't want to be teaching to the test, we want to maintain the integrity of the exam. The educational materials is not going to tell you, 'This is what you will be tested on.'"

Some HR professionals may wonder, "When am I really going to use all this information? Do I really need to be an expert on global compensation, for example?"

Glade's straightforward answer: "You need to know how it works" to be a global HR professional.

"When I worked in international HR," he says, "I never did compensation, but I know I needed to be conversant in it, I had to know the difference between balance-sheet and tax-equalisation [methods]. But I would never be an expert in it."

US companies are paying more and more attention to HR applicants with certification, though it's not yet a guarantee for getting a promotion or making more money.

Glade believes that certification, even if it does not immediately translate to career growth, "shows you are serious about the profession and have taken the time and studied and passed the exam."

"If you won't put aside time for yourself and your chosen profession, in many cases, you'll stagnate," he says. "You won't get the promotion and you won't get fulfilment each day from the work you do."

For more information about the certification, see
http://www.shrmglobal.org/certification/news.htm

February 2003

Kirin Kalia is the editor of Expatica HR.