Why do only a third of HR managers belong to their professional body?

Economist John Philpott has done some interesting research into what is happening in the HR market. It is worth a read and can be found here. In summary, he has found that people employed as human resources managers or directors in the UK account for more than 400,000 people in the workforce, and is growing. But what caught our eye, was his observation that "at most only 1 in 3 people working in HRD in the UK is a CIPD member".

CIPD is the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development and is the world's largest Chartered HR and development professional body, with over 135,000 members. . Philpott's analysis has prompted an interesting debate highlighted by XpertHR on their blog around whether this says more about HR professionals lack of interest in personal development than it does about the CIPD.  Of course, no-one will miss the irony of HR professionals fearing growth and change. Tempting as it is to debate the complacency of a profession that used to be the all-seeing hub of an organisation (now replaced by the Corporate Comms function), it is the role of the CIPD that interests us.


Anne Tynan makes a point we have been reiterating for some time: "If a professional body has no regulatory functions, members of that profession will exercise the same type of consumer choice as they do for other areas of their life: they will purchase services strictly according to their perception of their own needs"

Incidentally CIPD offers a great range of fringe benefits to its members, including discounts on shirts, flowers, gyms, golf and breakdown cover (see more here), but membership requires more than this.  Having a regulatory function is merely code for having to belong to an organisation, and that clearly gives the same advantages to a professional body that a closed shop does to a trade union. The challenge then is for professional membership organisations to demonstrate their relevance and the benefits of membership.