TalentCorp's HR Network Strengthens Partnerships And Raises Bar Of Malaysia's HR Profession

HR Network and HR Certification Programmes for Corporate Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, 15 AUGUST 2014 – YB Senator Dato’ Sri Idris Jala, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department and CEO of PEMANDU, launched Talent Corporation Malaysia’s (TalentCorp) HR Network today, with aims at building better and closer partnerships with top employers to strengthen the HR community in Malaysia.

TalentCorp HR Network to strengthen partnership between Government and employers.

In an effort to address the talent needs of leading employers driving Malaysia’s economic transformation, the TalentCorp HR Network was created as an initiative to foster closer collaboration between leading employers and the Government to raise the bar of the HR profession in Malaysia. This collaboration will encourage and enhance industry participation in talent development programmes, promote the sharing of best practices in HR, and as well as encourage industry-led initiatives to attract and nurture Malaysian talent.

The Network launched today focuses on four areas important to the national talent agenda: diversity & inclusiveness, HR capability, leadership development and graduate employability.

“In Malaysia’s pursuit to achieve high income nation status by 2020, the Government recognises the need for a stronger workforce. The establishment of the TalentCorp HR Network will further strengthen the human resources capability of the workplace, which is key to build a strong workforce able to push Malaysia’s economy forward and support the National Transformation Programmes. Through this network, leading employers in industries driving Malaysia’s economic transformation can share their best HR practices and insight, and identify collaborative platforms to develop top talent and ensure the industry-readiness of our graduates,” said YB Senator Dato’ Sri Idris, who is also the patron of the Network.

HR Certification Programmes to raise the bar of the HR profession

YB Dato’ Sri Idris also witnessed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) exchange between TalentCorp and four local training providers of the HR Certification programmes, which will encourage more HR practitioners in Malaysia to gain professional certifications from the Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI), Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Malaysia Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM) and Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The four local training providers are K-Pintar Sdn Bhd for AHRI, SMR Group for CIPD, Malaysia Institute of Human Resource Management (MIHRM), and Kelly Outsourcing and Consulting Group (KellyOCG) for SHRM.

Currently, less than 1,500 HR practitioners in Malaysia have professional HR certification, which is very low compared to other professions where certifications are highly recognised, such as Accounting with approximately 30,000 qualified accountants in Malaysia.

To increase awareness and encourage more companies to raise their HR capabilities, TalentCorp will co-fund 50 percent of the programme fee, with the balance provided by the employer. By increasing participation in HR certification programmes, Corporate Malaysia will be able to build a future pipeline of certified HR professionals in Malaysia.

TalentCorp CEO Johan Mahmood Merican said, “The MoUs exchanged support the certification of up to 800 HR professionals over the next two years, to catalyse raising the bar for Malaysia’s HR profession. Employers should invest in developing their HR practitioners to ensure that our human capital management is benchmarked to international best practices and in the hands of professionally certified practitioners. This is in line with the New Economic Model Strategic Reform Initiative to strengthen HR standards and certification initiative, which is spearheaded by the Human Resources Development Fund.”

To date, a number of leading employers have already signed up for the HR Certification programmes including Berjaya Corporation, BMW Malaysia, Celcom, Deutsche Bank, DRB-HICOM, Ekuiti Nasional Berhad (Ekuinas), Motorola Solutions Malaysia, Pfizer, SapuraKencana Petroleum, Sime Darby and SME Bank.

The event also featured a panel discussion entitled “Is HR a strategic and credible function to address business issues?” which was moderated by Roshan Thiran, CEO, Leaderonomics and featured Sanjeev Nanavati, President, American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM); Nora Manaf, Group Chief Human Capital Officer, Maybank; Hamidah Naziadin, Group Chief People Officer, CIMB; and Lai Tak Ming, Director, Group Human Resources and Administration, Gamuda Berhad as panellists.