A beginner’s guide
By Mara Berger
Continuing professional development (CPD) is an important process to ensure members of the Human Resources Professionals Association (HRPA) continue learning in a profession impacted by economic, social, business and legislative changes. As such, designated members are required to complete 66.67 hours of CPD activities every three years. These activities can be completed through external providers of CPD activities, various HRPA events or on one’s own.
There are five main categories of CPD that have maximum hours per category:
- Continuing education (webinars, seminars, etc.) – 66.67 hours maximum
- Leadership (mentoring or being mentored, volunteering, etc.) – 46.67 hours maximum
- Instruction (developing and presenting courses, etc.) – 46.67 hours maximum
- Significant work projects or initiatives – 50 hours maximum
- Research or publication – 33.33 hours maximum
What activities qualify?
HRPA staff cannot confirm whether a specific activity qualifies for CPD hours. That is a determination that only the CPD Committee can make if you are selected for an audit. Typically, we suggest that you should ask yourself, “Does this activity further my skills and abilities as an HR practitioner and strategic business partner?” If the answer is “Yes,” then log the activity.
There should be a direct and describable link between the completed activity and your professional growth as an HR practitioner. In order to successfully manage this process, it is strongly recommended that you should construct a professional development plan by tracking your activities as they occur, rather than logging activities at the last minute. By doing so, you can alleviate the burden of having to locate information at the last minute when the log is due. You are also encouraged to develop a professional plan that outlines an annual schedule and development goals, as well as the kind of activities that will assist you in achieving your professional goals.
What are CPD pre-approved activities?
Some events may have CPD codes associated with them, and these are considered CPD pre-approved events. Pre-approved events can be identified by the HRPA CPD Pre-Approval logo. If an event you attend has been pre-approved and issued a CPD code, it has been determined that the event is an appropriate and accepted CPD activity. You will be able to log these activities with the CPD code through the online CPD log. That being said, if you are randomly selected for an audit, you still must prove your attendance at the event, but you will not need to prove its relevance towards furthering your HR skills. If you attend a pre-approved event, but do not have the code for some reason, you can always go ahead and log the event manually like you would any non-pre-approved activities. Please note that it is your responsibility to keep track of any CPD codes you received for participating in pre-approved activities.
Every year, HRPA selects three percent of CPD submissions at random to be audited by the CPD Committee.
How do you log CPD activities and submit your completed log to HRPA?
In order to log CPD online, you need to log in to your HRPA profile, visit your dashboard and then follow the link to access the “Continuing Professional Development” area. You can only log CPD activities from within your CPD period. Activities that were completed before your CPD period started, or after your CPD period was scheduled to end, will not count towards your CPD obligation. Once you have logged 66.67 hours, a red submit button will appear at the top of the log. You must press this submit button and then the CPD log will be sent to HRPA. No matter how early you submit your log, your next CPD period will not start until it was originally scheduled to.
CPD reminders
The Office of the Registrar issues CPD reminder notifications, by email, for members who are due to submit their CPD log by the next May 31 deadline. These reminders are sent six months, three months and one month in advance of the deadline. It is imperative that you ensure that your contact information, which includes your email address, is current and up-to date. Every designated member is responsible to notify HRPA regarding any changes to their membership profile. Failure to update your membership information will result in missing out on important updates from HRPA that may affect your designation, such as the CPD reminders.
The CPD audit
Every year, HRPA selects three percent of CPD submissions at random to be audited by the CPD Committee. The selected members are asked to submit supporting documentation to substantiate their logged activities. The committee will review the supporting documentation to ensure the CPD obligation has been met, i.e., that you have completed the required 66.67 hours of CPD-appropriate activities. You should also keep records of all your CPD activities on hand for two years after your CPD log was due. If during the audit the CPD Committee has any concerns with activities that you submitted for CPD hours, the committee will reach out to you for clarification and work with you to resolve the matter as quickly as possible to ensure you are able to successfully complete the audit. The intention of the audit is not to “catch” members, but to ensure you participate in CPD-appropriate activities that allow you to continue to grow your HR skills.
Failure to meet your CPD obligation
If you fail to meet your CPD obligation, your designation will be suspended and then revoked. Before revocation occurs, you will receive a series of notices, starting with the Notice of Impending Suspension, to make sure you are aware that your CPD obligation has not yet been fulfilled. When members are revoked for CPD non-compliance, so long as they maintain active registration with HRPA (meaning they continue to be a member by completing the renewal questionnaire and paying their renewal dues), they have up to two years to reinstate their designation. In order to reinstate a designation for CPD non-compliance, you must submit your CPD log for the period you missed, and you may be required to submit supporting documentation for an audit. If an audit is required before your designation can be reinstated, then your reinstatement submission, including all supporting documentation, will be given to the CPD Committee to determine whether the CPD requirement has been met.
If your designation is revoked because you both failed to meet the CPD requirement and your membership was not renewed, then you would be subject to HRPA’s Reinstatement and Re-Achievement Policy in order to re-achieve any designation you were previously granted.
Where can I find more information?
For additional information about the CPD process along with related materials (e.g., CPD guide, CPD description log, and CPD extension request form and policy), please visit the CPD section of HRPA’s website.
The Office of the Registrar hosted a fall “How-To” webinar about the CPD requirement. If you were unable to attend that webinar, it is available on the website as an “on-demand” webinar that can be viewed at any time. You may access the webinar here: CPD on-demand webinar.
Mara Berger is an associate registrar at the Office of the Registrar of the Human Resources Professionals Association.