The Institute of People Management Malawi (IPMM) has said it is still pushing for the passing of the Malawi Institute of Human Resources Bill which would apparently help bring sanity in the industry.
IPMM president Godwin Sam Ng’oma was speaking in Lilongwe during an engagement which the body organised for its members.
Among others, the bill provides for the establishment of the Malawi Institute of Human Resource Management and for the regulation of conduct and management of human resource personnel.
The bill also makes provision for qualifications and application for membership to the institute.
According to the bill, IPMM will be responsible for the regulation, promotion and development of the profession of human resources management in Malawi.
The institute will not only regulate individuals practising the profession of human resources management in Malawi, but also represent their professional welfare.
It is envisaged that the establishment of the institute as a statutory body will give it the necessary legal mandate to regulate the human resource management profession both in the public and private sectors.
Ng’oma said the bill will be a game changer in the human resource profession.
“The bill is going to be a legal instrument that human resource professionals are going to be operating on. Right now, as we are, without that legal instrument, we cannot guide and develop the profession. Anyone can come into the profession without any standards.
“No one can check you because you have got nothing to show which indicates that this is what we ought to be doing and this is what we are,” he said.
IPMM vice secretary general Frank Sabola said the institute would like to open up to more people who are into human resource management in the country.
He said the institute has noted that there are many people in the public sector who are doing human resource work but are not members of the professional body.
According to Sabola, IPMM wants to close the gap where some people think that there is private sector human resource management and public sector human resource management.
“Membership to IPMM is not only important but a necessity. IPMM offers you a platform to interact and network with veteran industry players as well as those who are joining the sector. It gives you a platform to know more about human resource management,” Sabola said.
