HR officer qualifications

[Libby10]

Would you expect someone at HR Officer level within an organisation to have formal HR qualifications?

Not necessarily.
Depends on which area of HR they're working in to be honest and they're previous experience

Their previous experience that should be!!!!

This person does payroll, pensions, interviews, advises on HR issues. It is a generalist role in a small organisation.

I would. Well, as a minimum, be working towards it.

I don't think it's essential for basic hr work, but it's a tough labour market out there and would probably influence my decision making if I was recruiting.

In terms of interviews and HR advice I would think yes - they should have an appropriate qualification.

I'm a HR officer. I need a CIPD recognised level 5 qualification as a minium.

I don't have a qualification but I do have 4 years experience and I have access to a qualified advisor off site if I want to run something by them first.

X-post

In that case yes.

My studies gave me an insight into the broader elements of HR. It got me thinking about why we did things they way we do. Got me thinking about how the different disciplines in HR work together. Also, gives you exposure as to how things can be done differently.

You are obviously talking about someone specific OP. What is actually the issue?

This person works in my organisation. Once before they got into a muddle about my leave - I work PT. I am currently considering putting in a flexible working request. Our current policy doesn't reflect current legislation. I double checked with this person that this was the most uptodate policy and was suprised that they did not seem to know why the policy was wrong. I have since heard that they do not / are not working towards any CIPD although they have previously worked in HR. I've always assumed you needed CIPD (happy to be told I am wrong) to work at a certain level in HR. The reason it concerns me is that my line manager has said that she does not want me to change my current work pattern and I am not sure if they are also aware the policy is incorrect. I'm trying to work out what is the best thing to do next.

I've not met any competent HR officers, qualified or otherwise, so not sure what difference it makes.

In my line of work I furfill a number of HR roles as my role crosses over with HR. I am not qualified as CIPD but I am thinking of pursuing it just as a means to be more employable rather than because I think I need it as I already have a degree in psychology which does help

I think you are confusing the issues. Having a CIPD qualification doesn't make you competent to work in HR.

If your policy is wrong you can't point of out to your line manager, the hr person on their manager (it sounds like the person you are referring toau be the hr administrator rather than the manager). When you say 'wrong' what do you mean (just out of interest) - the regs are well defined, so it's quite difficult to get them wrong. In any case, it should be your line managers decision as to whether your application is accepted and not hr.

I don't understand why whether a particular person in your HR department has a qualification is an issue

The most recent change to flexible working removed some of the rigid procedural requirements and extended the right to request beyond parents/carers. It is unlikely the procedure your organisation will use will change much if at all.

In terms of what you should do next, put in your request as you normally would. The incompetent person in HR won't be making the decision anyway. Concentrate your energies on putting in the best case you possibly can for flexible working rather than worrying about whether people in HR do or should have qualifications.

Like any job, some are good, some are rubbish, and a qualification is no guarantee of competence, just as not having a qualification is no guarantee of incompetence.

A lot of smallish businesses tend to allocate HR duties to someone whose role/experience/qualifications are finance related and I suspect this is what has happend in your organisation too. It's a usually a right pain for these poor employees as well as the rest of the workforce.

The best thing for you would be to print out the correct procedures from acas or the gov.uk website and highlight the particularly relevant sections and give this to your employer when you apply.

Thanks everyone - I will proceed with my request and not be sidelined by something irrelevant.