The challenge of unemployment and the need for qualified staff in the public sector are among the issues being touched on at the First Annual General meeting of the Institute of Human Resource Management which is currently ongoing.
Speaking at the three day conference, the National Chairman of IHRM, Mr Joseph Onyango, says that institute has been able to address some of these challenges by anchoring its practice on the 2012 enacted Human Resource Management Practice Act.
” The Act has streamlined the HR sector by ensuring that there is professionalism as well as removing out quacks so that HRÂ professionals by allowing professionals to be more engaged and be more productive,” he says.
In the AGM, the Chairman observes that the IHRM, started in 1997, has been able to record financial growth based on membership, who are over 14,000 as of 2019, and fee paid by members who want to further their training in the field.
“Revenue as of 2017 stands at Kshs 153.8 million, up from Kshs 111.1 million in 2016,” he says.
The legislation has ensured that employers will seek to only hire professionals who have been registered with IHRM.
Furthermore, the IHRM has partnered with the government agencies such as the Ministry of Interior to evaluate HR professionals who want to work in the country but also assess foreigners who want to work in the country.
The Act has also ensured that HR professionals also get to work in the field but has also sought to protect them by allowing them to partner with other like-minded organisations such as the Law Society of Kenya ( LSK), ICPAK and ICS that can ensure their financial and social welfare.
“As a body, it has come into to address the inclusion of women into the corporate sphere, by holding the first ever conference for women last March,” further says the chairman.
According to research, women in the African corporate boardroom find it hard to scale up the ladder due to inhibitions in the glass ceiling, standing at five percent of only those who lead organisations in the continent, according to a study by McKinsey titled “Women in Africa.”
Despite its success, the IHRM still continues to face challenges such as ensuring that members adhere to a Code of Conduct, they comply with Continous Development Training and the need to attract more membership in the face of socio-economic changes such incomes and changing dynamics in the profession.
