The Chartered Institute of Human Resource Management Ghana (CIHRM), has held its hybrid 2023 Annual General Meeting (AGM) .

The programme was streamed live to members of the institute with few in-person officials of the institute at its HR office complex at Tse-Addo in Accra.

Welcoming its members to the AGM, the Chief Executive Officer of CIHRM Ghana, Dr. Ebenezer Agbettor, said, the CIHRM Ghana Council would normally come to AGM to seek approval for numbers that could be conferred.

However, since the CIHRM Ghana 2020 (Act 1020) and as per practice of other sister bodies like ICAG, CIBG, GhIE and CIMG, the council has assumed full responsibility of its management.

Therefore, the CIHRM council holds the duty to take every decision concerning fellows of which is supported by the Fellows Committee’s work. Subsequently, there should be no limit as to the number of members that we confer fellows on a yearly basis as long as they meet the criteria.

Presenting his report to members at the AGM, the President of CIHRM Ghana, Dr. Edward Kwapong, said the institute managed to increase its membership in all the categories during the year under review.

Chartered members increased from 115 in 2021 to 255 in 2022, indicating an increase of 122%. Full membership increased from 1,845 in 2021 to 2,887 in 2022, an increase of 56%. Associate members saw an increase by 56%, whilst Affiliate members increased by 24%. Corporate members also went up by 21%. Fellow members were 40 in 2021 and remain same in 2022.

On financials, Dr. Kwapong said, total income increased from ¢1,673,610.65 in 2020 to ¢2,917,877.56 in 2022, indicating an increase of 74%.

Total expenditure of the institute for the same period also increased from ¢1,585,083.03 in 2021 to ¢2,605,988.65, indicating an increase by 64%. The institute recorded a net surplus of ¢311,888.94 in 2021 as against 2020 net surplus of ¢88,733.49.

Briefing members on the Legislative Instrument (LI) Status, the CIHRM President said the institute continued with its engagement with the Government of Ghana on the LI, through the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Attorney General’s office and eventually got it forwarded to the Subsidiary Legislation Committee of Parliament.

On June 19, 2023, the institute was invited for the pre-laying of the regulations which to all intents and purposes, ended successfully. Hopefully, the end of this year, the LI would be in place to enhance the operationalisation of the institute’s parent Act, CIHRM 2020 (Act 1020).

The CIHRM President urged members of the institute to shine everywhere they work and hold the image of the institute very high.

Speaking under the theme: “Managing Expectations of Employees in the Current Economic Dispensation – The HR Perspective; the Guest Speaker of the 2023 AGM, Eric Adadevoh, Chief HR Officer, AT Ghana, formerly Airtel Tigo stated that the hike in inflation in recent times affected operations across all sectors hence the need for a proper review of various salary schemes.

He said said inflation is hovering around 42%, whilst the Central Bank’s lending rate is over 25% but salaries negotiation is around 10%, Ghanaian employees are becoming poorer and poorer.

Providing strategies to manage the expectations of employees in the current economic difficulties, Mr. Adadevoh called for transparency in communication in the operations of respective companies in all sectors.

He also spoke about regularity of giving update to employees on the operations of the business.

He suggested a Town Hall meeting with management and leadership of the business once every quarter of the year to talk about employees about performance, targets, bottom line figures and production guidelines.

He also suggested focus groups meeting with CEOs and MDs of the business on breakfast meetings to share information about the business.

“We need to explain the challenges the company is going through to the employees as they are equally key stakeholders. They should be able to understand what is happening due to the current economic challenges".

Flexible remote working has become a very important tool for HR in managing employees due to the COVID-19 pandemic”, he added.

He explained that the current inflation has affected all operations of organisations, "as a result, we need to be open to employees and engage them on several issues confronting salary reviews".

At the AGM, six outstanding members of the Institute were recognised and the council approved for the conferral of fellow status on them.

They include Isaac Sackey-Governing Council Member; Nana Yaa Twum-Former Council Member; Eric Bose Duker-Chairman, Tema Chapter; Georgina Yeboah-Chairman of Kumasi Chapter; Dora Siaw-Lartey-former Accra Chapter and Emmanuel Korsah-Immediate Past Chairman of Accra Chapter.