Slovenian HR Standards

 

Slovenian HR Association is aware of current challenges which constantly increase the demand for professionalism and responsible behaviour of HR managers and professionals. As a guardian of HR professionalism, Slovenian HR association had been discussing ways to offer its members effective support and guidance. During these discussions the need for establishing HR standards has emerged and thus a special project group was established in 2012 to prepare a draft version, composed of HR experts and practitioners. They first prepared an overview of existing HR standards in Europe and the world and the efforts of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), focusing on HR competencies and standards of behaviour for HR managers and professionals, were recognized as the most suitable basis to develop a comprehensive set of Slovenian HR standards. The whole model was adapted to Slovenian environment in which middle and small size companies prevail and overall the development of HRM function has been somewhat lagging behind the most developed countries.

After this initial decision, the project team met regularly over a period of six months and thoroughly discussed each HR competence and related HR standards for HR managers and HR professionals as two most frequent HR positions in Slovenian companies. The basic premise was, that HR manager should be capable of effectively managing HR processes and departments in a medium size company, while HR professional can act as a HR generalist in a small company (where main responsibility for HR processes is held by the general manager) or as a HR specialist for a chosen area, such as recruitment and selection, training, compensation. The content of HR standards was built around key working areas and responsibilities of Slovenian HR managers and professionals, thus some issues were added to the SHRM lists and some were merged or omitted. The project group also aimed at developing Slovenian HR terminology and spent a lot of time also working on proper wordings.

After the project group prepared a draft version of HR standards, these were discussed initially and confirmed by Slovenian HR Association Management Board. After they were presented at the Slovenian HR Congress in April 2013, an on-line discussion was open to members. The final discussion then followed with the Experts Council and after all amendments the final version of standards was adopted by the Management Board on July 9, 2013. Then a booklet of Slovenian HR Standards was published and several promotion activities followed because these standards will be worth only as much as they will be practiced. Therefore one of the important tasks of the Slovenian HR Association Management Board is also to gather the support of important partners and stakeholders, such as Slovenian Manager’s Association, Employer Association, Trade Unions, The Ministry of Labour

Slovenian HR Standards encompass eight competencies, for each a set of knowledge, skills and abilities as well as examples of standard behaviours for HR managers and professionals are developed:

  1. The use of professional knowledge: Contributing to effective business performance through implementing HR knowledge and best practices.
  2. Interpersonal relations: Effectively collaborating and encouraging co-operation among others with the aim of providing effective HR services and organizational success.
  3. Leadership: Agility in leading processes and HR initiatives to capture stakeholders’ support.
  4. Communication: Forming and exchanging effective information for persuasive communication with different stakeholders both inside and outside of organization.
  5. Diversity management and inclusion: Working and effectively conducting HRM within and outside borders and in different cultures.
  6. Ethical behaviour: Enforcing basic values, integrity and responsibility in personal, professional and business activities inside and outside of an organization.
  7. Critical evaluation: Using of comprehensive information (e.g. data, performance criteria, business and professional literature) for decision making and formulating of recommendations in order to assess organizational and business effects as well as impact on people, environment and society.
  8. Business orientation: Creating a positive impact of HRM on company performance through an understanding of wider business environment and business content of an organization and industry.

 

The aim of Slovenian HR Standards is to help HR managers and professionals recognize, promote and implement desired behaviour and professional conduct. They also serve as a benchmark to identify areas for improvement, which additional knowledge and skills are needed and how to build effective training programs. Ultimately, these HR standards can also serve as the basis for developing HR certification system.

 

Dr. Nada Zupan

HR standards project group leader