share on
The Responsible People Manager Role Badge, focusing on fairness, inclusivity, and performance management, launched on 5 August. The Progressive People Manager Badge, centred on team engagement and growth, will follow suit in Q4 2025.
The Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) launched two new Role Badges on 5 August 2025.
The Responsible People Manager and Progressive People Manager role badges, designed to empower managers with essential skills and to equip for effective team leadership, are tailored to equip managers and leaders with the competencies needed to drive responsible and progressive team management.
Here is a breakdown of the focus areas for each of the role badges:
Responsible People Manager role badge
- Workplace fairness and inclusivity
- Performance and transition management
Progressive People Manager role badge
- Team engagement
- Team growth and development
These role badges directly address findings in the recently released Driving The People Agenda Of The Future study, in which only 53% of C-suite leaders surveyed feel that management is actively involved in advancing the people agenda and possesses the necessary skills to do so.
The findings from the study were shared at IHRP Learning Day 2025, which was graced by Guest-of-Honour Shawn Huang, Senior Parliamentary Secretary at the Ministry of Manpower. Conducted by Mercer, the research analysed survey responses from 272 business and HR leaders, as well as HR diagnostic data from 990 organisations.
The study identifies four essential areas requiring attention:
- Strengthening leadership accountability: Organisations should integrate people-related KPIs into C-suite and corporate scorecards while redirecting investments to high-value HR initiatives. People managers need enhanced training to better develop and engage their workforce.
- Transforming HR beyond operations: With 72% of HR functions focused on operational work — above the global average of 64% — Singapore organisations risk falling behind. A "diamond model" is recommended, with administrative work at 20% of HR capacity, allowing 60% core work and 20% strategic initiatives.
- Building future-ready HR capabilities: Only 53% of respondents from the Human Capital Perceptions Survey (HCPS) believe HR can develop strategies to support business needs. Key skill gaps include people analytics, AI, business acumen, workforce planning, and change management — critical for addressing sustainability reporting, generative AI, and strategic workforce planning.
- Elevating employee experience: 2024 trends show Singapore employees have lower satisfaction, with 54% thriving compared to 65% globally. Alarmingly, 61% of organisations remain at the basic "Level 1 Formative" stage in integrating employee experience into HR practices.
Peta Latimer, President, Mercer Asia shared: "Strategic HR is vital, but real progress comes through everyday people management — supporting, motivating, and enabling employees.
"HR must work in tandem with organisational leaders, as building a resilient, future-ready workforce requires shared ownership of wellbeing, capability development, and the employee experience," she reflected.
"This research exposes the vulnerabilities in how Singapore organisations approach human capital management," said Aslam Sardar, Chief Executive Officer, IHRP.
"The gap between expressed commitment and tangible action represents unrealised potential and can hamper national competitiveness."
The Responsible People Manager Role Badge launched on 5 August whereas the Progressive People Manager Badge will follow suit Q4 2025.
READ MORE: Singapore’s Employment Act set to be reviewed amid changing workforce trends
Lead image / IHRP Facebook
share on
