New Year, New Focus
The new year is just one short month away. There has never been a better time to upskill and reskill workers, and SHRM Education is positioned to help you thrive and grow in the ever-changing workplace by introducing new programming to boost your career and increase organizational performance.
We're hearing a lot about AI, virtual reality, and many other technologies that are changing and evolving. This article highlights our new specialty credentials in this area in partnership with the California Institute of Technology's (Caltech's) Center for Technology and Management Education in Pasadena, Calif. These credentials will position you as a future-thinking HR professional immersed in data analytics that influence strategic thinking.
In addition, we know accessing talent continues to be at the forefront of organizational challenges, so we have introduced the Total Rewards Specialty Credential to help position you as an employer of choice that attracts world-class talent.
Continue your journey with premier education tied directly to the SHRM Body of Applied Skills and Knowledge (SHRM BASK).
Caltech Partnership
SHRM and Caltech established two credentials - Advanced Technology and Strategic Capabilities - to help HR professionals better understand big data, AI, and cybersecurity.
The credentials are offered on two tracks through the Caltech Future Skills Academy.
"If HR professionals and leaders use people analytics and AI appropriately, they can make more effective decisions, improve the employee experience, and impact the bottom line," said SHRM Chief Knowledge Officer Alex Alonso, Ph.D., SHRM-SCP, who drove SHRM's partnership with Caltech and is a recognized thought leader in the AI and HR technology fields. "Evolving their knowledge in this area can make them a powerhouse for their organizations as they future-proof themselves and apply a future-centric focus for their organizations."
"They are designed for the average HR professional who is dealing with the adoption of new technologies throughout the organization," said Rick Hefner, executive director of Caltech's Center for Technology and Management Education. There are no prerequisites for taking the courses, which were created specifically for SHRM to offer to HR professionals.
Each track consists of five required courses over 20 hours and a bonus course of four additional hours. A final exam for each course validates the learning, ultimately awarding a digital badge to demonstrate the newly earned credibility and expertise. Instructors are leading tech professionals, researchers, and consultants at the top of their fields.
TECHNOLOGY TRACK
With the SHRM Caltech Advanced Technology Specialty Credential, you are equipped to understand the changing technologies that will determine the future of the HR landscape and gain vital insights in areas crucial to modern HR professionals. Topics include:
- Artificial intelligence.
- Virtual and augmented reality.
- Natural language processing.
- Blockchain.
- Cloud computing.
- Cybersecurity.
- Multi-dimensional data modeling.
- Systems thinking.
- Data analytics.
STRATEGY TRACK
The SHRM Caltech Strategy Capabilities Specialty Credential recognizes your ability to prepare for the new future of HR on the horizon. Build a future-focused strategic vision that allows you to innovate and understand the changing 21st century landscape. Topics include:
- Agility for strategy, leadership, and organization.
- Design thinking for HR.
- Future of work and creating workforce 4.0.
- Innovation frameworks.
- Marketing mindset and skills.
- Leading change.
- New world people manager.
- Supply chain fundamentals.
- Platform strategy.
"The big thing to recognize is we don't assume any technology background for the students," Hefner said. "Companies are driven by these emerging new technologies. These are all critical areas HR needs to have some baseline understanding if they're going to help their organizations adopt these new technologies. We're trying to give them the basics to get them a seat at the table."
For more information, please visit SHRM Caltech.
Total Rewards Specialty Credential
Total Rewards (TR) is one of the functional areas of HR knowledge described in the SHRM BASK, the foundation of SHRM certification. To make effective use of TR, an HR professional doesn't have to be SHRM-certified or an expert but should know enough about compensation and benefits to be able to examine the areas in a holistic manner.
TR is all about finding the magical balance between supporting employees' needs and wants and offering rewards that are affordable, competitive, and attractive. Understanding TR starts with understanding the employee experience.
TR can help HR professionals cause the effect they want in their organizations. To give them the confidence, knowledge, and credibility to do so, SHRM has developed a unique learning experience, the SHRM Total Rewards Specialty Credential (TRSC).
Through a lens of compensation, benefits and rewards, SHRM's TRSC curriculum encompasses issues from the basics through the totality of the employee experience. It starts with a foundation on TR strategy, then moves on to modern areas of focus, such as flexibility; compliance; outsourcing; inclusion, equity and diversity practices; and more. Learners discover the secret of how to strike a balance between what businesses want and what employees prefer.
HR generalists, departments-of-one, and business partners, as well as talent acquisition professionals, people managers, and those who work closely with business functions, will all benefit from earning the TRSC.
Earn your SHRM TRSC by taking the live, instructor-led program and two self-paced eLearnings and then passing the self-paced assessment. Successful earners will receive the digital badge displayed above to gain credibility in the workplace. SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP credential-holders who earn the TRSC get an added bonus: 21 professional development credits (PDCs) toward recertification.
We recommend that you earn the SHRM TRSC before the future of TR passes you by. For more information, please visit SHRM Total Rewards Specialty Credential.
Where Is SHRM Education?
As always, SHRM Education will continue to offer in-person and virtual offerings to give you the flexibility to learn in the way that is best for you. SHRM plans to offer programs at its headquarters in Alexandria, Va., along with the following locations:
- Austin, Texas.
- Chicago (SHRM Annual Conference & Expo 2024).
- Denver.
- Las Vegas (SHRM Talent Conference & Expo 2024).
- Seattle.
- California and Florida cities to be announced.
Remember, SHRM Education can also be brought to you. If you need to upskill a team, SHRM will come to your location to provide your team the skills it needs.
Come join us! For a full list of in-person programs and locations, please visit SHRM Education In-Person Programs. For more information about all of SHRM Education Programs, please visit SHRM Education Programs.
Kathy Gurchiek is associate editor of HR News, and Carolyn Barley is lead, instructional design, education programs at SHRM.
An organization run by AI is not a futuristic concept. Such technology is already a part of many workplaces and will continue to shape the labor market and HR. Here's how employers and employees can successfully manage generative AI and other AI-powered systems.
Related Content
HR must always include human intelligence and oversight of AI in decision-making in hiring and firing, a legal expert said at SHRM24. She added that HR can ensure compliance by meeting the strictest AI standards, which will be in Colorado’s upcoming AI law.
The proliferation of artificial intelligence in the workplace, and the ensuing expected increase in productivity and efficiency, could help usher in the four-day workweek, some experts predict.
Learn how Marsh McLennan successfully boosts staff well-being with digital tools, improving productivity and work satisfaction for more than 20,000 employees.