Continuing Professional Development (CPD)
What is CPD?
CPD stands for Continuing Professional Development, and is the term used to describe the learning activities professionals engage in to develop and enhance their abilities.
The Human Resources profession sees new trends, developments and legislative requirements emerging all the time. It’s for this reason that continuing professional development is crucial to the serious HR professional. HRNZ supports practitioners to:
- maintain and enhance their professional knowledge on an ongoing basis
- achieve recognised standards of excellence and competence in HR practice.
What are CPD Points?
CPD points track your ongoing professional development. They demonstrate you've invested time in your own growth each year. HRNZ provides CPD points as a tool for every member to capture their development activities.
For Chartered and Accredited Professional members, CPD points are essential to gaining and maintaining accreditation. The minimum requirement is 25 points per annum, calculated from your membership start date or accreditation date.
Who should be recording CPD points?
Everyone. While CPD is required for professional accreditation, all members should record their development regardless of role or seniority. Your CPD records can support accreditation applications or inform development conversations with your manager.
CPD Activities
There is a wide range of CPD-earning activities available, to ensure that you can choose the best mix of opportunities to meet your personal development goals. These could vary depending on your training and development needs, job type (in-house HR specialist, external HR consultant, HR academic), stage of career and personal circumstances.
For example, if you are a retired HR professional, choosing to become a mentor could be a suitable activity. If you have a goal to develop your HR technology skills, a professional development course on workforce analytics may be more useful.
The table below outlines the types of activities recognised and the relative points value of each.
| CREDITS | ACTIVITY | DESCRIPTION / NOTES |
| One credit per hour of development [max 10 per annum] | Participation in a work-based process of professional development | Participation in a development conversation or process that involves planning of, and reflection on, work-based activities that enhance your professional development. Note: Independent HR consultants may receive the same credit for an equivalent process involving peer review of their professional development. |
| One credit per contact hour [max 15 per annum] | Courses, webinars, workshops and conferences | These could be HRNZ related offerings, or outside provider offerings but must be relevant to a member’s CPD. Evidence of relevancy should be saved with record of attendance for random auditing purposes. |
| One credit per hour of development [max 10 per annum] | Research, development and thought leadership | Development and/or delivery of professional development courses, methods or thought leadership which advances the HR profession and/or people leadership practice. |
| One credit per contact hour [max 10 per annum] | Professional networking events and special interest forums | Participation in communities of practice and professional networks e.g. Special Interest events, regional events, café connects, which enable individuals to learn with others facing the same HR and/or people leadership business challenges. Can include HRNZ and externally facilitated events. |
| One credit per contact hour [max 15 per annum] | Mentoring in the HRNZ or other formal system. | As long as the mentoring is relevant to CPD, involvement can be either as mentor or mentee. |
| One credit per contact hour [max 10 per annum] | Informal study | This relates to personal, self-guided study that helps the individual to develop their HR or business knowledge. This can include reading the HR Magazine, reading HRNZ News or Hub content, or reading The Basics – HRNZ’s HR Guides. |
| Two credits per annum | Code of Practice Module | For completing the Code of Practice Module on the eLearning Platform. |
| One per contact hour [max 15 per annum] | HRNZ eLearning Platform | For each hour on the eLearning Platform. |
| Fifteen credits per completion [max 15 credits per annum] | The Career Blueprint | The Career Blueprint is a unique career scoping tool designed by Julia Stones, Distinguished Fellow of HRNZ. It is a practical and powerful programme which offers you a personalised roadmap to help you proactively plan and achieve your career aspirations. |
| One per contact hour [max 15 per annum] | Sustainability | This relates specifically to working on or implementing sustainable practices within your organisation. These could be related to HR practices, or to general business practices and should ideally relate back to the SDG’s or other measure of sustainability. |
| Varied | Professional Accreditation Application | Completion of your Chartered Membership application is worth a one-off allocation of 15 CPD points. Completion of your Accredited Professional application is worth a one-off allocation of 10 CPD points. |
| Two credits per annum | Completing The Path Self-Assessment | Using HRNZ’s self-assessment tool to determine your areas of current capability and help you identify your areas of development will count towards 2 CPD credits per annum. |
| Other | Members may apply on an exceptional basis for other activities to receive CPD credits. |
Any enquiries about professional development activities and points accrual should be directed to [email protected].
Recording your CPD points
Members applying for or maintaining the status of accreditation at an emerging or chartered level are asked to provide evidence of CPD points earned.
Members can track their CPD points via their account dashboard. To access your CPD points record, log in to your account and select ‘CPD’ on the blue dashboard. Here, you can see your CPD dates, activities, descriptions, and points, and add any CPD you have earned.
We do our best to record the CPD points you earn from courses and events for you, but if these are missing you are able to upload them manually yourself.