CIHRM grants HR firms, practitioners 3-month amnesty to register

The Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana (CIHRM), the body mandated by law to regulate the practice of the profession, has given existing HR practitioners and consulting firms a three-month amnesty to regularise their status with the institute or face the law. 

It said the era of having unqualified persons parading themselves as practitioners was over, giving such persons up to May 29, 2026, to regularise.

Addressing a news conference in Accra, the Chief Executive Officer of the institute, Dr Francis Eduku, said to crack the whip, the institute would conduct an HR audit across the country to enforce regulatory compliance and standards in line with the Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management, Ghana, Act 2020 (Act 1020). 

Act

Section 40(1) proscribes a person from practising without registering under the act and recommends those liable on summary conviction to a fine of not less than GH¢1,800 and more than GH¢150 not more than GH¢2,400 or to a term of imprisonment of not less than six months and not more than 12 months or to both.

Holders of foreign certification in HR are also required to regularise to ensure that they are aligned with the country’s labour and regulatory standards. 

Regulation

Dr Eduku explained that the HR landscape in Ghana had largely been unstructured, and in many respects, chaotic.

“Almost everybody in Ghana is offering HR consultancy services, including individuals with no formal education or training or professional certification,” he said.

He described HR as an applied science with its own body of knowledge that must guide workplace decisions, rather than reliance on intuition or inexperienced practitioners.

As a result, he warned that informal and unregulated human resources (HR) practices would no longer be tolerated.

Categorisation

The CIHRM, he said, had introduced a clear categorisation system for HR firms and solution providers to promote transparency and order.

The six categories are category A for multinational HR firms or HR solution providers; category B for local HR firms with foreign partnerships; category C for HR firms with 10 or more years’ experience; category D for HR firms with less than 10 years’ experience.

Category E would be for HR startups with less than 5 years’ experience and Category F for freelance HR consultants and independent practitioners

On the issue of foreign qualifications, he clarified that holders of approved foreign qualifications would receive direct admission to Level 3 of CIHRM’s professional certification programme and will be exempted from Levels 1 and 2.

“It is unlawful to perform HR functions in Ghana if you are not a registered member of the Institute and in good standing,” Dr Eduku stressed. 

New chapter

The President of the Institute, Florence Hutchful, stated that the era of unregulated human resource management had given way to a new chapter where the Institute had been entrusted with the authority to promote professional training in human resource management and to regulate the practice of human resource management in Ghana.

She stressed that, with the activation and strict enforcement of Act 1020, non-compliance would no longer be permitted in the HR space, adding that accountability, compliance, and professionalism would be embedded in all facets of the HR profession in Ghana.