Institute for Human Resource Professionals

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The Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) is the HR professional body, set up by the tripartite partners: the MOM, NTUC and SNEF.

Institute for Human Resource Professionals is set up by the tripartite partners: Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation to professionalise and strengthen HR practice in Singapore.

30/10/2026

AI is reshaping work at an unprecedented pace. But while organisations focus on technology adoption, an equally important question remains: are our people, leaders and HR functions ready to transform alongside it?

At the WTW Human Capital Summit Singapore 2026 on 29 October, more than 200 HR professionals gathered to explore the future of human capital. IHRP CEO Aslam Sardar joined moderator Shai Ganu, Senior Managing Director and Global Practice Leader at WTW, for a fireside chat on “Rewiring HR for the AI Era: Building Human Capital for What Comes Next”.

Drawing on the recent Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital Capability Development (TWG-HC) recommendations, Aslam highlighted why professionalising HR is an important step towards building stronger organisations. The upcoming requirement for organisations with more than 200 employees to have at least one IHRP-CP or higher certified HR professional from 1 July 2028 establishes a professional baseline.

However, certification is a floor, not a ceiling. Its real value lies in how HR professionals translate their knowledge and judgement into better workforce decisions and outcomes.

As AI adoption accelerates, HR professionals must also develop the fluency to identify where AI can meaningfully augment work, understand its implications for people and skills, and champion responsible adoption.

Looking ahead, the CHRO of 2030 will need to be a co-architect of enterprise transformation, bringing together commercial acumen, data and AI fluency, change leadership and a strong understanding of human capital.

Certification sets the baseline. Stronger people practices create the impact. And that transformation must begin now, with HR taking its place at the heart of business strategy.

29/10/2026

A career in HR can take many paths. For Leo Tang, the journey began in the Republic of Singapore Navy, continued through a decade in aviation, and eventually led to recruitment and human resource management.

Today, he is a Manpower Specialist at Royal Plaza on Scotts, overseeing full-cycle recruitment and onboarding across multiple roles. His varied career experiences have given him the opportunity to work with people from different backgrounds and industries, shaping his understanding of people and the workplace.

But as he grew in recruitment, he recognised the importance of understanding HR beyond hiring alone. “I wanted to deepen my expertise in recruitment while gaining exposure to the wider HR function.”

Having transitioned into HR from aviation, he saw IHRP Certification as an opportunity to validate the experience he had accumulated, strengthen his professional foundations and demonstrate his long-term commitment to the profession.

The learning journey helped him see how different aspects of HR connect. It also gave him greater confidence when advising hiring managers and contributing to conversations beyond his immediate scope. With a shared framework anchored in a national standard, he found that discussions with stakeholders could become more structured and productive.

For Leo, the greatest value of certification comes down to one word: credibility. “It shows employers and colleagues that you are committed to the profession and that your practice meets an industry-recognised standard.”

His message to aspiring HR professionals, especially mid-career switchers, is that certification offers more than recognition. It provides structure for learning, a clearer path for professional growth and the confidence to contribute meaningfully to the wider organisation.

His journey is a reminder that while there are many ways to enter HR, continuous learning helps turn experience into stronger professional practice.

👉 Take the next step in your HR journey. Build your capabilities and strengthen your credibility with IHRP Certification.

28/10/2026

Ready to take the next step in job redesign for Financial Services?

Join us for an exclusive webinar on Navigating Job Redesign in Your Organisation, where we will walk through the Job Redesign Playbook for Financial Services and explore how organisations can translate job redesign into practice.

Designed for business leaders and people managers in Banking and Insurance Operations, this session will offer you insights into:
🔹 Real-world case studies on how financial institutions are implementing job redesign for Operations roles.
🔹 The REVAMP framework and how it can support your organisation in putting job redesign into practice.
🔹 Practical tools and resources to support your organisation’s job redesign journey.

📅 Date: Tuesday, 24 November 2026
⏰ Time: 4pm–5pm
💻 Online via Microsoft Teams

Download the Playbook at https://utm.guru/us5Y9 and come prepared with your questions and gain practical insights to help your organisation get started or advance its job redesign efforts.
👉 Register now: https://forms.monday.com/forms/452e0c02f22607b005a957aaf381ca5a?r=use1

Brought to you by the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP), the Institute of Banking & Finance (IBF), Skills & Workforce Development Agency (SWDA), and BDO.

28/10/2026

At the launch of the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment (TWG-SE) Report on 26 October, IHRP CEO Aslam Sardar moderated a panel discussion exploring how the Workgroup’s recommendations can translate into meaningful action.

Joining the discussion were Co-Chairs of the TWG-SE; Mr Dinesh Vasu Dash, Minister of State for Manpower, Mr Desmond Tan, NTUC Deputy Secretary-General and Ms Tan Hwee Bin, SNEF Vice President.

Following consultations with over 1,000 stakeholders, the Workgroup developed six recommendations across three priorities. Key measures include bringing forward the increase in the Retirement and Re-employment Ages to 65 and 70 respectively, on 1 January 2029; introducing a Flexi-Load Programme to help employers create flexible roles for workers aged 50 and above; and establishing a programme office led by the Skills and Workforce Development Agency, in collaboration with NTUC and SNEF to support career and skills transitions.

Other measures include higher recommended Employment Assistance Payment amounts, enhanced Earned Income Relief, a new Re-Employment Credit from 2028, and enhanced support for lower-wage senior workers.

During the panel discussion, Aslam brought the conversation beyond policy announcements to practical questions: how senior workers can stay employable and future-ready, how employers can build age-inclusive workplaces through job redesign and flexible work arrangements, and what it takes to turn recommendations into sustainable workforce practices.

Longer working lives should not simply mean working longer in the same way. They should create opportunities for people to contribute meaningfully while enabling businesses to retain valuable experience, institutional knowledge and workforce stability.

HR professionals have an important role in translating these recommendations into action through skills development, fair hiring, thoughtful job redesign and effective multi-generational workforce management.

📖 Access the report at: http://go.gov.sg/twg-se

27/10/2026

Building a stronger HR profession takes collective effort, from investing in professional capabilities to turning workforce transformation into meaningful action.

On 21 October, IHRP brought together our corporate partners and the wider HR and business community for Conversation That Matters 2026, themed “Disruption to Opportunity: HR Leaders Driving AI-Powered Workforce Transformation.

In his opening address, IHRP CEO Aslam Sardar highlighted IHRP’s ongoing efforts in certification, AI fluency development, workforce transformation tools and continuing professional development. He encouraged HR professionals to make the most of these opportunities and take an active role in shaping the profession.

The programme featured:
🔹Thought Leadership: Henry Koh, Senior Manager & Cluster Lead at Ngee Ann Polytechnic, explored Workforce Transformation, through Behavioural Lens.
🔹AI Fluency in HR: Jocelyn Chua, Assistant Director at IHRP and Kyla Lee, Analyst at the Centre for Skills-First Practices, Institute for Adult Learning, shared how HR professionals can move from AI awareness to action.
🔹Community Spotlight: An introduction to the Job Redesign Community of Practice (JRCoP), connecting practitioners to share experiences and learn from one another, featuring Eko Ongsono, HR General Manager at Murata Electronics; Dr. Jaclyn Lee, Chief Human Resources Officer at Certis Cisco; Justina Tan, Executive Vice President, Corporate People Culture at Changi Airport Group; and Randy Ang, General Manager at Metropolis Security.
🔹Partner Perspectives: Dr. Jaclyn Lee also shared how the organisation is future-proofing its workforce, while Madelene Lee, Senior Vice President, People & Culture at Singtel, discussed building workforce capabilities in the age of AI.

A meaningful highlight was the inaugural Partners Recognition and Appreciation Ceremony, celebrating organisations and individuals whose partnership with IHRP has helped advance professional development and workforce transformation. Congratulations to our recipients:
🏆 MINDEF – IHRP Certification Excellence Champion & IHRP Retention Excellence Champion, represented by Danny Chen, Head of Human Resource Institute
🏆 Elitez Pte Ltd – IHRP Certification Excellence Champion, represented by Dato’ Wayne Chen, Co-Founder, Elitez Group of Companies.
🏆CLA Southeast Asia Holdings Pte Ltd – IHRP Retention Excellence Champion (Recertification), received by Ginny Then, Associate Director, People and Culture
🏆 Murata Electronics Singapore – IHRP Integrated Advancement Champion, represented by Eko Ongsono, General Manager, Human Resource Division

Our thanks to all our speakers, recipients, corporate partners and the wider HR community for your continued support.

Let’s keep the conversations going. Join IHRP as a Corporate Partner today: https://ihrp.sg/corporate-partner-programme-overview/ -register

27/10/2026

Earning a certification is a milestone, not the finish line. As expectations of HR continue to evolve, establishing a recognised professional benchmark is an important step towards strengthening the quality and credibility of HR practice.

One of the five recommendations put forward by the Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital (TWG-HC) is to professionalise HR practice by establishing a trusted baseline for HR capability. This reinforces the importance of building a strong, credible HR profession in Singapore, with recognised standards that support quality practice and continued development.

The growing interest in IHRP Certification has been encouraging. The 20th October clinic saw a record-breaking in-person turnout of 56 participants, reflecting strong interest among HR professionals in understanding certification and investing in their professional growth.

Interested in learning more about IHRP Certification? Join an upcoming Certification Application Clinic in November 👉https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/JwgT5Sqr0i

23/10/2026

Trust is built in moments of concern, not moments of comfort.

At Tripartite Connect 2026, themed “Building Trust at Work Through Fair, Progressive and Safe Workplace Practices”, IHRP CEO Aslam Sardar moderated a panel discussion on “Beyond Policies: Turning Grievances into Opportunities for Trust”. The conversation explored how organisations can move beyond formal policies to create workplaces where employees feel safe raising concerns and confident that they will be heard.

This builds on the message shared by Guest of Honour, Minister of State for Manpower and Energy, Trade and Industry Mr Foo Cexiang, who highlighted trust as a strategic advantage that enables organisations to strengthen resilience, improve productivity and navigate change.

Joining the discussion were Lilian Tan, IHRP-MP and Chief Human Resources Officer at Mediacorp, and Gabriel Aw, Director of Planning & Corporate Development at RySense. Drawing on their experiences, they shared practical perspectives on what it takes to build trust through everyday workplace practices.

Three key takeaways stood out:
🔹 Speaking up is a sign of trust. An employee who raises a concern may still believe the organisation will listen and act. Silence, however, should not automatically be mistaken for harmony.
🔹 People managers are the face of trust. Employees experience workplace policies through their interactions with managers. How managers listen, respond fairly and follow through shapes whether employees feel respected and supported.
🔹 Trusted organisations listen, learn and respond. Resolving a grievance matters, but so does understanding what it reveals about workplace culture, leadership and existing practices.

For HR professionals, the opportunity lies in equipping people managers to handle concerns with care, ensuring employees have accessible channels to speak up, and creating processes that support fair and consistent outcomes.

Ultimately, trust is strengthened not just by having the right policies, but by what organisations do when employees need them most.

23/10/2026

How should HR redesign work as AI takes on a growing role in the workplace?

This was the focus of IHRP’s Job Redesign Capability Development Workshop (AI-enabled HR) on 20 October 2026, where HR professionals explored how AI is reshaping Talent Management and what this means for the way work and jobs are designed.

Using the REVAMP Job Redesign framework, participants considered how to rethink roles and workflows by identifying what should remain human, what tasks can be supported or performed by AI, and how responsibilities and capabilities need to evolve.

Key areas explored included:
🔹 Applying REVAMP to redesign workflows, tasks and job responsibilities
🔹 Exploring AI-powered tools across the employee lifecycle, with a focus on Talent Management use cases
🔹 Determining the right balance between human expertise and AI-enabled work
🔹 Identifying the skills and capabilities HR professionals will need as roles evolve

The key takeaway: as AI is introduced into workflows, organisations need to redesign the work and jobs around it, rather than simply applying technology to existing processes.

A big thank you to all participants for the thoughtful exchanges, and to Lifelong Learning Singapore for supporting the session as part of the SkillsFuture Festival 2026.

📘 Download the Job Redesign Playbook for HR for practical approaches and tools to redesign HR roles and work: https://myhr.sg/guest/contentdetails?id=5e46927c-cd21-4fb9-99e3-9243b833cc8b (Optimised for desktop viewing. On mobile, copy the link and open it in your browser.)

23/10/2026

Experience is invaluable, but great people management goes beyond instinct. It requires the right frameworks, practical tools and a commitment to leading with fairness and consistency.

For Samuel Chan, Assistant Manager, Learning & Development at Paris Baguette AMEA, the Human Capital Development Series reinforced that effective people management is a discipline that can be learned, strengthened and applied every day.

Reflecting on the programme, Samuel shared: "The journey reinforced that effective people management requires objective frameworks, fair calibration and inclusive practices. It clarified that my role is not just to manage operational outcomes, but to create an environment where every team member has an equal opportunity to grow."

Having completed the Responsible People Leader through Performance and Transition Management and Responsible People Leader through Workplace Fairness and Inclusivity courses, Samuel gained greater confidence in making objective people decisions, managing workplace transitions with empathy, and fostering an inclusive team culture grounded in fairness and trust.

His experience highlights the value of combining workplace experience with structured learning to build people managers who are equipped to lead with confidence, consistency and purpose.

Together with our partners, including the Food, Drinks and Allied Workers Union (FDAWU) and Singapore Polytechnic, IHRP is committed to helping organisations develop responsible, future-ready people managers through the People Manager Role Badge pathway.

Address

Lifelong Learning Institute #05-02, 11 Eunos Road 8
Singapore
408601

Website

http://www.ihrp.sg/

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