Understanding the Code of Ethics: What You Need to Know (Competence)

Author:  Dr. Christian Cook, CPHR, SHRM-SCP, ICD.D

All CPHR members must comply with our Code of Ethics. Your reputation, our collective reputation and our profession, depends upon it. 

As human resources professionals, we are likely familiar with codes in our workplace; some of us may have even had a hand in crafting those. In addition to committing to codes of ethics or conduct in our workplaces, it is also valuable to revisit the CPHR Code of Ethics for our profession occasionally to ensure we hold ourselves and others accountable. Each week this fall, members of the Discipline Committee will pose short scenarios to support the application of particular areas of the Code of Ethics to “make it stick.” 

This week, let’s discuss the requirement for Competence. Competence is a requirement in most professional codes (law, accounting, health care professionals, and yes, HR professionals, too!). 

In addition to carrying out professional duties competently, HR practitioners must do so with honesty and diligence. They must only work within their skillset’s parameters when assuming new tasks.  That said, we appreciate that HR is a learning profession and that mentoring new professionals is critical for the profession and perhaps even society! So, one can take on stretch assignments , be sure. However, support must be sought to ensure no harm is done and the HR professional in the learning stage doesn’t compromise our HR standards of competence or professional responsibilities.* 

Like many cases of learning, applying this knowledge to a real (or hypothetical) scenario is helpful. Let’s use the example of Jerrod, an HR business partner. He is a newly designated CPHR professional and has graduated from an accredited post-secondary institution in Alberta. He has worked in HR for over five years and passed the Experience Validation Assessment in 2022. He is grateful to his mentor at his previous employer (a large, non-unionized, provincially regulated credit union in Alberta) who supported his accreditation. Much that he enjoyed his time at the credit union, he was attracted to a smaller school district in Alberta for a junior role in labour relations, a field he had long been interested in and likely would not get engaged in at his old employer. 

Jerrod joined the school district and started working quickly at learning the collective bargaining agreement, past and current grievances, and longstanding bargaining issues for the employer. He was the junior of four labour relations professionals on the team. He felt like he was thriving and also acting like a sponge, soaking up so much of the knowledge and experience around him. About six months in, though, as can happen in our sector, there was a lot of turnover at the school district. Just after his probationary period ended, his mentor resigned, and the buddy he had been paired with for onboarding also left the organization. His remaining colleague was also relatively new to the team and was trying to find her way to a business partner role as she had decided LR was not for her. 

Though new, Jerrod had made a very positive impression on his leaders. He was quick to pick up on new tasks, comfortable with assuming responsibility, and had a lot of curiosity, which is typical for high-potential employees. Due to these attributes and the line manager’s interest in retaining Jerrod, they suggested he take the lead role at the bargaining table scheduled for January 2024. After all, the relations between the teachers and administration were excellent; they knew there was funding for increases, and many of the line managers had long tenure with the organization for backup (though none had participated in collective bargaining). 

From what we know so far, what should Jerrod do? This feels like a fantastic career opportunity that could be his big break and catapult his career. 

When considering the issue of competence, Jerrod’s course of action should be not to accept the role of Chief Negotiator for the school district. He would be entering a precarious situation and putting his organization at risk. The threshold of competence (again, from what we know in the scenario) cannot be met, and the gap is just too large between what Jerrod has learned and what Jerrod is being asked to do. There are other options to meet the business needs, including the provision of an external or seconded bargaining agent. There are mentoring opportunities here for Jerrod to grow into this position in the future, though to stay compliant with the Code, the right move right now would be to decline the opportunity. 

As noted in the Code, HR practitioners must maintain competence in carrying out their responsibilities. They must ensure that activities engaged in are within the limits of their knowledge, experience, and skill. When providing services outside one’s level of competence or the profession, the necessary assistance must be sought to not compromise professional responsibility.

*This paragraph excerpted/adapted from /understanding-code-ethics-what-you-need-know

The views and opinions expressed in this blog post belong soley to the original author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of CPHR Alberta.