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The requirement is one of five recommendations accepted by the government to strengthen human capital capabilities, alongside measures covering workforce planning, AI use, and people leadership.
Organisations in Singapore with more than 200 employees will be required to have at least one certified HR professional from 1 July 2028.
The requirement is among five recommendations put forward by the Tripartite Workgroup on Human Capital Capability Development (TWG-HC), which the government has accepted.
The TWG-HC was co-chaired by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and the Singapore National Employers Federation (SNEF); and comprises members from diverse backgrounds including business and HR leaders, representatives from Trade Associations and Chambers, IHRP, NTUC, SNEF, and government agencies involved in human capital development.
Speaking at the IHRP People Behind People Forum on 24 September, Minister of State for Manpower Foo Cexiang said the certification requirement would establish "a trusted baseline" for HR practice.
"Certification gives employers confidence that their HR teams can advise leaders well. It gives workers greater assurance that decisions affecting their careers are guided by recognised professional and ethical standards," he said.
With the requirement, these HR professionals will need to be certified at the Institute for Human Resource Professionals (IHRP) Certified Professional (IHRP-CP) level or higher.
The government said the requirement is expected to grow the pool of certified HR professionals from about 9,000 to around 18,000, or 40% of the HR workforce, by 2030.
Organisations will be able to meet the requirement if their HR professionals hold equivalent certifications from other international HR professional bodies recognised by IHRP and meet any prescribed bridging requirements.
The government will also provide an additional S$100 subsidy for Singapore residents undertaking IHRP certification from 1 October 2026 to 30 June 2028, on top of existing subsidies. This will bring certification fees to S$163.50 for IHRP-CP certification and S$272.50 for IHRP Senior Professionals (IHRP-SP) certification. Both certifications are valid for three years.
Finally, eligible organisations will also be able to use their SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit to offset remaining out-of-pocket fees for their HR professionals.
A look at the remaining recommendations
The certification requirement forms part of a wider set of recommendations aimed at strengthening human capital capabilities across the economy.
The TWG-HC was convened in February 2025 to examine trends including rapid technology advancement and rising longevity that are reshaping work and workplaces. Over one and a half years, it engaged more than 1,000 employers, workers, HR professionals and representatives from trade associations and chambers, HR institutions, academia and government agencies.
Kenny Tan, Deputy Secretary (Workforce) at MOM and TWG-HC co-chair, said the recommendations reflect a shared vision of workplaces as places of opportunity, where workers can build meaningful careers.
"Leaders at all levels of the organisation – business leaders, human resource professionals and people managers – must drive enterprise and workforce transformation together," he said.
The first recommendation is to establish the Singapore Opportunity Index (SOI) as a national benchmark for opportunities that employers create, using verified administrative data.
The SOI is intended to help workers make more informed career decisions and employers better evaluate the impact of their human capital strategies. Tripartite and industry partners will provide advisory services and resources to help enterprises understand their SOI reports and strengthen their human capital strategies.
The second recommendation focuses on helping enterprises build workforce planning capabilities and bringing strategic HR expertise within reach of more SMEs.
SNEF and IHRP will provide practical guides and real-world showcases to help firms anticipate and plan for workforce transformation as part of their enterprise transformation plans.
For SMEs without dedicated strategic HR expertise in-house, IHRP and local start-up co:grow are piloting a model that matches participating SMEs with experienced HR leaders on a part-time, embedded basis.
The third recommendation is to help enterprises use AI effectively and responsibly in HR.
Tripartite partners will introduce the People-centred AI Transformation for HR (PATH) initiative, including AI Starter Kits that package AI solutions with practical implementation guidance, consultancy, training and funding support for high-impact HR use cases.
IHRP will also work with training partners to introduce more accredited training programmes aligned with 12 new IHRP AI Fluency Skills Badges, while NTUC will develop a playbook to help HR professionals navigate the AI transformation journey, targeted for release in the first quarter of 2027.
The tripartite partners also recommend developing guidance on responsible AI use in recruitment, including processes and safeguards employers should put in place to ensure employment decisions remain fair and merit-based.
Sharing his views, Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General of NTUC and TWG-HC co-chair, cited HR professionals as the "stewards of human capital", noting that they should move towards becoming strategic partners for workers as businesses transform and adopt AI.
"Stronger human capital capabilities can help companies make better workforce decisions, invest in their people, and ultimately create better jobs and work prospects for the Singaporean core, including PMEs," he said.
The focus on job design and workforce transformation
MOS Foo also highlighted the need for organisations to consider how AI changes jobs and learning pathways, particularly for newer workers.
"AI is changing not only how work is done, but also how jobs are designed and how firms grow," he said. He noted that experienced workers can often use AI to move faster because they already possess operational knowledge, inter-firm context and judgement to assess its outputs.
"For new workers, they must still have opportunities to understand work from the ground up, practice core skills, learn from feedback and build the relationships and foundations on which sound judgement rests," he said.
"If we automate every entry-level task, we may improve efficiency today but weaken the pipeline of expertise for tomorrow."
Foo encouraged firms to redesign jobs and learning pathways together, using AI to augment experienced workers while giving newer workers structured exposure and progressively more complex responsibilities.
The fourth recommendation addresses the professionalisation of HR practice through the certification requirement, while the fifth focuses on developing people leaders for the future.
To drive this, HCLI is designing a human capital leadership development programme for senior HR and people leaders, aimed at equipping them with the capabilities, resources and support network to develop next-generation enterprises.
The TWG-HC said the five recommendations are intended to benefit more than two million workers, support at least 2,000 enterprises, and build the capabilities of 20,000 HR professionals and people leaders.
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