Institute for Human Resource Professionals

28/01/2026

🔑 Unlock Your New Chapter: The Door to Career Progression is Open!

Are you still waiting to take your HR career to the next level? 2026 is your moment to act. With IHRP Certification, you can open doors to new opportunities, sharpen your skills, and advance your career.

Even better: with the Enhanced Subsidy for HR Certification*, eligible HR professionals enjoy an extra S$100 off — bringing your total certification fee to just S$163.50–S$272.50 (including GST), depending on your level.

🌱 Start your journey today. Register for our Certification Application Clinic and let us help your career flourish in 2026: 👉 https://forms.office.com/r/PVPM9hv0tJ

*Subsidy is non-stackable and applicable for New, first-time Upgrade and Bridging applicants only. Available to Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents only. Other terms and conditions apply.

28/01/2026

In an interview with CNA Singapore tonight, IHRP CEO Aslam Sardar shared perspectives on how Singapore’s workforce can upskill for a fast-changing future and what it will take to build lasting skills confidence across the labour market.

The issue today is not merely awareness. Many workers already recognise the importance of AI, digital and core human skills such as communication and problem-solving. The greater opportunity now lies in application; helping individuals understand which skills matter most for their roles and how to use them effectively at work.

📈 The urgency is clear. SkillsFuture findings have revealed that demand for AI-related skills more than doubled between 2022 and 2025, reflecting how quickly job expectations are evolving. Most workers need practical AI confidence, which is the ability to use tools responsibly to support productivity, analysis and decision-making.

Yet participation in training remains uneven. What workers really want to know is, “How will this help me perform better and what opportunities could it open for my career?”

👥 HR plays a critical role here. When skills are embedded into hiring, job design, performance conversations and career progression, learning becomes meaningful. Upskilling stops feeling like a cost and starts feeling like an investment.

Workers’ hesitation often stems from practical concerns such as time pressures, uncertainty about whether skills will be recognised, and limited opportunity to apply what is learned. These are not mindset issues; they are workplace design challenges and HR is central to solving them.

🌟 A skills-first workforce starts with skills-first workplaces. Watch the interview here: ▶️ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kZQKrubLcY

SkillsFuture Singapore is tightening its course funding guidelines - a move aimed at raising the quality and relevance of workforce training. Aslam Sardar, C...

28/01/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Singapore’s Top Employers and Our Valued Corporate Partners! 🎉

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to the 300 organisations recognised in the Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI) for demonstrating excellence across five areas that matter most to workers: career progression, pay, hiring practices, staff retention and gender parity. This achievement reflects progressive human capital choices that enable individuals to thrive, grow and build meaningful careers.

👏 A special shout-out to our corporate partners — your commitment to uplifting human capital is clear and impactful. Together, you represent a powerful testament to the value of good HR practices. We are delighted to share that more than 1,500 IHRP-certified professionals contribute their expertise within these top employers, advancing strategic HR leadership that truly shapes workforce outcomes.

🌟 Thank you for championing good HR and for partnering with IHRP in empowering careers and strengthening workplaces across Singapore. Here’s to building even stronger, more opportunity-rich workplaces for all!

27/01/2026

Rethinking Talent Retention: The Business Case for Systems 🔍

The latest thought article from Professor Joseph Fuller (Harvard Business School), Matt Sigelman (Burning Glass Institute), Kenny Tan (Singapore Ministry of Manpower), and Elizabeth Tan Levy challenges a fundamental assumption in HR practice: that progressive policies alone drive talent retention.

An analysis of nearly one million workers across 1,500 firms in Singapore reveals a striking truth 📊. Employees at top-performing companies were 2.2 times more likely to remain beyond their first year and earned 3.4 times more than those at bottom-performing organisations. The differentiator was not industry, size, or budget—but the presence of coherent, integrated talent systems.

Key insights for HR professionals:
🔗 Systems thinking is essential
The most successful organisations ensure hiring aligns with onboarding capacity, pay strategies complement career visibility, and advancement reinforces retention.

🧩 Skills-first hiring calls for infrastructure
Opening doors to non-traditional talent demands structured onboarding, capable managers, and visible progression pathways. Without these systems, 48% of companies fail to retain first-time workers beyond one year.

⚖️ Fair advancement matters
Rapid promotion without transparent, merit-based standards can weaken retention. Companies approaching gender parity in advancement and pay demonstrate stronger retention and mobility.

📈 Experience creates multiplier effects
Organisations that excel at retaining older workers and developing internal leaders are 55 percentage points more likely to achieve high overall retention rates.

The research underscores a critical message for HR professionals: culture does not emerge from mission statements or standalone initiatives. It arises from systems where core practices reinforce one another.

As talent markets grow more competitive, the focus must shift from adopting individual progressive policies to building coherent talent ecosystems.

📰 Read more: https://hbr.org/2026/01/policies-arent-enough-to-retain-top-talent-you-need-systems

Enduring talent retention is driven not by isolated HR policies or industry norms but by the presence of coherent, integrated systems in which hiring, compensation, advancement, and retention practices reinforce one another. An analysis of nearly one million workers across 1,500 firms in Singapore d...

27/01/2026

For HR and business leaders, understanding and closing workforce skills gaps has never been more critical. In our recent collaborative webinar with SkillsFuture Singapore and JobTech, “Closing Skills Gaps Made Simple: Discover TalentTrack & TalentTrack+,” participants saw firsthand how these innovative solutions can transform scattered training data into actionable insights that drive business outcomes.

Through tools such as TalentTrack and TalentTrack+, employers can use the TalentTrack dashboard to identify in-demand skills, access curated training, and monitor SkillsFuture grant utilisation, which helps them take ownership of their workforce development. Employers benefit from advanced analytics in TalenTrack+ to benchmark skills readiness against job roles, pinpoint critical gaps, and design personalised upskilling plans that align with organisational objectives.

The session also demonstrated how HR practitioners can map career progression pathways and enable meaningful, data-backed conversations, ensuring employees’ development aligns with both their aspirations and the company’s evolving needs.

A big thank you to SkillsFuture Singapore and JobTech for sharing their expertise and live demos!

🔗 Missed it? Stay tuned for future webinars or discover more ways to close skills gaps and build a future-ready workforce at https://ihrp.sg/career-health/?tab=overview

26/01/2026

🎬 Learning Journey to Mediacorp (Exclusive to IHRP Certified Community)

Get ready for an immersive experience like no other and tap into this rare opportunity to learn how Mediacorp navigated a pivotal workforce moment, balancing people, principles, and business impact in real time.

What You Can Look Forward To:
🌟 Off-the-record Dialogue and Storytelling by Experienced HR Leaders
Hear directly from Mediacorp’s top HR leaders—Ms. Lilian Tan, CHRO, and Mr. Nadeem Ashraf, SVP HR—on how they led workforce transformation with clarity, courage, and empathy.
🎥 Exclusive studio & facility tour
Go behind the scenes into spaces that influence the way millions experience content daily.
🤝 Networking with fellow certified HR professionals
Connect with peers to share experiences, deepen your practice and expand your network.

Event Details:
🗓️ 12 February 2026 (Thursday)
⏰ 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM (registration starts at 2:00PM)
📍 Mediacorp: 1 Stars Avenue, Singapore 138507

⭐ Sign up before registration closes on 7 February 2026 at https://luma.com/soh323pp (Please note that due to limited capacity, only approved registrants will receive a confirmation email.)

26/01/2026

2026 marks a defining milestone for IHRP, as we recognise our 10th year of establishment with the aim of championing HR excellence and unlocking human potential.

Over the past decade, we have partnered the HR and business community, as well as our partners and stakeholders to elevate standards, shape progressive practices, and empower professionals to lead with confidence in an ever-changing world of work.

This is not just a celebration of how far we have come; it is a reaffirmation of why we exist, and a commitment to the impact we will continue to make.

💛💙 Stay tuned to our page for an exciting line-up of events and activities as we celebrate IHRP’s 10th birthday!

23/01/2026

🎉 MVP Launch Event Recap: Thriving Through Transformations

We kicked off 2026 with the launch of our first playbook of the year: Thriving Through Transformations – A Guide for Building Workforce Agility.

As business leaders and HR professionals, we are at a decisive moment. AI is reshaping work, roles, and business models faster than ever. Skills are decaying, job boundaries are blurring, and companies that cannot adapt risk being left behind.

Workforce agility is no longer a “nice-to-have”; it’s a strategic imperative. Teams that can pivot across tasks, learn continuously, and step confidently into redesigned roles will define the companies that thrive.

This guidebook provides a practical blueprint for building workforce agility at every level:
💼 Business Owners: Grow with leaner, flexible teams
💡 Senior Leaders: Align workforce decisions with strategic priorities
💙 People Managers: Recognise and nurture transferable skills
💛 HR Professionals: Lead reskilling, job redesign, and a skills-first culture

Packed with frameworks, tools, and templates, it helps companies not just withstand disruption, but to thrive through it.

📖 Ready to spark change? Access the guide here: https://myhr.sg/guest/contentdetails?id=8c21e80d-6e0c-4800-9309-c703609fe1ce (Best viewed on laptop or iPad)

23/01/2026

🎉 Congratulations to Murata Electronics Singapore! 🎉

We are proud to celebrate with Murata Electronics Singapore for being recognised as one of the Top 300 organisations in the inaugural Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI) for delivering outstanding workforce outcomes.

Murata has been on an important transformation journey; certifying their entire HR team with IHRP since 2022, and benchmarking their human capital practices with the Human Capital Diagnostic Tool (HCDT) in 2023 and 2025. These efforts have driven impactful improvements, including automating recruitment and onboarding, enhancing their employer brand, and earning the Straits Times & Statista Best Employer Award in 2024 and 2025.

In 2024, Murata developed a skills framework to guide employee learning and career progression. Most recently, they partnered with IHRP on the Job Redesign Launchpad pilot, where ten cross-functional teams reviewed roles, applied the Job Redesign framework (REVAMP) with the Job Redesign Evaluation Tool (JRET), and introduced practical improvements supported by change-management coaching and leadership engagement.

Through these initiatives, Murata has aligned human capital practices with business transformation, creating more value-added roles, strengthening employee careers, and setting a benchmark for human capital excellence in Singapore.

At IHRP, we are delighted to support Murata’s journey and invite other organisations to partner with us to transform their workforce, build career pathways, and achieve human capital excellence.

22/01/2026

The launch of the inaugural Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI) marks an important milestone in strengthening Singapore’s human capital landscape.

At IHRP, we believe that career outcomes are not determined by chance, but by the everyday human capital decisions organisations make; how roles are designed, how people are hired and developed, and how progression is enabled over time. The SOI provides the ecosystem with a shared, data-driven lens to understand how these choices translate into meaningful career opportunities for workers.

By recognising 300 employers across different opportunity models: Career Launchers, Builders and Anchors, the SOI sends a clear message. Whilst effective human capital practices may take different forms across organisations, they all share a commitment to intentionality, fairness and long-term capability building.

In a rapidly evolving skills landscape, the focus is not on preserving jobs as they are but on enabling resilient and adaptable careers. This is where HR plays a critical role; not merely as administrators of policy, but as architects of workforce capability and mobility.

The SOI invites employers, business leaders and HR professionals to reflect on their practices, benchmark against peers, and take shared responsibility for strengthening Singapore’s career ecosystem. Explore at https://www.singaporeopportunityindex.sg/

🫱🏻‍🫲🏻 IHRP looks forward to partnering with employers and HR leaders to turn these insights into actionable human capital strategies that drive both organisational performance and workforce resilience.