CIPM and SLSI collaborate to define national HRM standards

CIPM Sri Lanka – the nation’s leader in human resource management together with the Sri Lanka Standards Institution (SLSI) has initiated a collaboration to define much needed national standards in human resource management recently. 

This initiative will replace the use of varying standards and practices used by people managers in different strata of industry and organisations with credible and accepted international best practices and homogeneous benchmarks. The people management profession has risen to take centre stage in organisations around the globe due to the advent of the 4th industrial revolution and now people managers are emerging as employee champions and frontline crusaders in response to the changing world of work brought about by the pandemic. In this backdrop, implementing National HRM standards are becoming increasingly important to successfully respond to the unprecedented challenges brought forth by and in response to the pandemic including changes in lifestyles.  

“CIPM Sri Lanka is the only professional body in the country mandated by the supreme legislature as the authority in Human Resource Management, Profession and Practice in Sri Lanka. The time is opportune for us to embark on this long overdue initiative of formulating the National Standards in HRM to standardise the world of work in line with international best practices. Upon completion of this exercise, we will be joining a handful of advanced economies who have defined appropriate national standards in HRM to be on top of the changing world of work,” said CIPM Sri Lanka President Jayantha Amarasinghe.

CIPM together with SLSI has setup a Committee for Developing National Standards on Human Resource Management comprising of nationally and internationally acclaimed HRM and business professionals and academics, and SLSI experts to take this initiative forward. The Committee, which has been approved by SLSI as a special Sectoral Committee to formulate national standards on HRM, is led by Chairman Dhammika Fernando – Chartered MCIPM and Immediate Past President/President-Asia Pacific Federation of Human Resource Management (APFHRM)/Board Member of the World Federation of People Management Associations (WFPMA). 

“We have decided to benchmark the existing, ISO, British and American standards in formulating our country specific National HRM Standards with the collaboration and support of the Sri Lanka Standards Institution. SLSI will actively contribute to this initiative by providing their expertise and assigning key members while assisting to establish modalities and SOPs to drive this nationally important project forward. Once such standards are introduced and promulgated, we can see a great potential in unifying and streamlining practices of HR in line with the globally accepted best practices and standards which will auger well not only for the profession but also for whole of the corporate world in numerous ways,” said Dhammika Fernando – Chairman, CIPM Committee for Developing National Standards on HRM.

The steering committee appointed by the head of CIPM President Jayantha Amarasinghe is as follows: Industry veterans Prof. Ajantha Dharmasiri, Chartered FCIPM/Past President of CIPM, Chartered Manager, Chartered Electrical Engineer, C. Hewapattini, Chartered FCIPM, Dr. Chandana Jayawardhane, Chartered MCIPM, Senior Lecturer, University of Peradeniya, Priyantha Ranasinghe, Chartered MCIPM/Director HR-Coca Cola Beverages Inc., Aruna Jayasekara, Chartered FCIPM/Attorney-at-Law/Chief People Officer of Sri Lanka Telecom, Dhammika Kobbekaduwa, Chartered MCIPM/General Manager HRM and Special Projects at Lalan Rubbers Ltd./Chairman, CIPM Kandy Chapter and Ruwani Senevirathne, Manager Quality Assurance and Compliance, CIPM (Secretary to the committee) together with M.S.S. Fernando – Director (Engineering Standards) and Hasitha Karunaratne, Assistant Director (Engineering Standards) will provide their expertise to this nationally important endeavour.