In order to understand what HR professionalism is we first have to break down what it means to be a professional. The term professional could be an individual who is a qualified member of a professional body, someone who continuously updates their knowledge, is competent, and uses their skills in practice. Professionalism could be interpreted as the use of specialist knowledge necessary to perform a particular type of work or role. Professionals are associated with increased training, the development of professional knowledge standards, and a requirement to update this knowledge.
One way the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development) measures professionalism is through their code of conduct which can be broken down into 4 sections as shown below:
- Professional Competence and Behaviour
- Ethical Standards and Integrity
- Representative of the Profession
- Stewardship.