HR practitioners can no longer operate without certification — President, CIHRM

February 27, 2026

2 minutes read

THE President of the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management (CIHRM), Mrs Florence Hutchful, has stated that Human Resource (HR) practitioners in Ghana can no longer operate without certification.

She said years of weak regulation had allowed unqualified individuals to occupy HR roles, contributing to industrial disputes and strategic failures in organisations.

Mrs Hutchful made the remarks in Accra yesterday at a press conference held as part of the Institute’s nationwide education and sensitisation campaign to ensure compliance among HR practitioners.

She described the event as a defining moment for human resource management education and practice in Ghana, noting that for far too long the HR space had operated without regulation, enabling non-professionals to take up roles for which they were unqualified.

The CIHRM President said the absence of professional standards had negatively affected organisations and national development.

“This lack of professional standards has contributed to the upsurge in poor industrial relations, limited contributions of the HR function to business strategy, and business disruptions, all of which have sadly had a negative impact on organisational success and national development,” she said.

Mrs Hutchful said the Council had resolved to fully enforce its mandate under Act 1020 (2020), which requires the Institute to promote training, regulate practice and maintain a national register of practitioners.

She called on all HR practitioners, consultants, freelancers and organisations offering HR services to register immediately, stressing that non-compliance would no longer be tolerated and that the era of unregulated practice was over.

She assured stakeholders that CIHRM would continue to provide oversight and uphold ethical standards. Although Act 1020 mandates training, regulation and a national register, she said the Institute was now moving from education to enforcement.

For his part, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CIHRM said HR management was often misunderstood as “common sense” because it involved people, but experience with people did not equate to professional competence.

“People management is an applied science with a distinct body of knowledge and ensures workplace decisions are based on rigor, evidence, ethics and accountability not solely on intuition,” he said.

He added that Ghana’s HR landscape had become unstructured, with unqualified individuals and even artificial intelligence tools presenting generic advice as professional expertise.

The CEO urged individual HR officers to register with the Institute, explaining that the process requires submission of a CV, a passport photograph, two referees and payment of the prescribed fees.

“We are calling on all HR practitioners, HR consultants, HR freelancers and organisations offering HR-related services to immediately take steps to register with the Institute to ensure compliance with Act 1020,” he said.

He assured stakeholders that registration fees were comparable to those of other regulatory bodies in Ghana and emphasised that regulation was necessary to make workplaces fairer, more productive and beneficial to society.

BY AGNES OWUSU

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