The Foundation for Human Resources Development (FHRD) was set up in 1990 to spearhead the evolution of people management and development practices as well as the human resources profession in Malta. FHRD works in partnership with its corporate members, the professional conglomerate of HR practitioners and service providers, leaders of the industry, and other key local players in the field of human resources management and development.
In 2019, FHRD introduced the HR Quality Mark. This is a standard, developed by the FHRD, that recognises organisations for their effective HR practices in terms of HR competence and professionalism. There is an increasingly greater need for measuring, monitoring, tracking, and understanding how well people are being managed and developed.
As of now, there are a total of 36 local companies which have obtained this national certification in human resources.
The HR Quality Mark will give organisations the following benefits: internal recognition; external recognition; enhance employer brand; more attractive to new talent; HR content areas evaluation; HR Quality Mark event to promote the certified organisations; sense of achievement for the internal HR team; motivates the HR team to strive for excellence, and; a report identifying strengths and areas for improvement.
The aim of the HR Quality Mark is to recognise organisations that place HR at the centre of their business through the implementation of various policies and strategies which include: HR policies and practices; recruitment, selection, and talent management; compensation, benefits, and total rewards; employment and industrial relations; performance management; HR information systems; and people training and development.
The Quality Mark is not a competition between organisations but encourages all organisations, irrelevant of size and sector, to assess their HR practices. This means that there are no restrictions or rankings on how many organisations can achieve this award, as long as the HR criteria set by FHRD are reached. The Quality Mark serves as a process to guide organisations on how to improve their HR practices.
The HR Quality Mark process consists of five steps as detailed below.
Eligibility
To be eligible to apply for the HR Quality Mark, organisations must have at least 10 full-time employees registered with Jobsplus. Applicants must be fully compliant with all statutory obligations. The organisation and its people must show they follow ethical standards in their line of business.
Application
To apply for the HR Quality Mark, interested organisations are to complete an online application form, as well as pay the HRQM application fee and the respective FHRD membership fee for the current year.
Vetting of application
FHRD will acknowledge applications received and then verify each application for eligibility.
Review process
FHRD will appoint two evaluators for each application. These evaluators will visit the organisation and subsequently compile a technical report and submit it to FHRD. The report will include recommendations for improvement.
Success
Successful organisations will be awarded the HR Quality Mark Certification based on a marking system tied to a set of questions relating to the seven content areas, with a pass mark of 75 per cent in each content area. An HR Quality Mark award ceremony will take place after every intake to celebrate those successful organisations deserving of this award. A memento for the HR Quality Mark will be given to each successful organisation during the award ceremony.
During this year’s annual HR Conference and Expo, entitled Revitalising HR – Leveraging Employer Branding, FHRD will be organising the presentation of the HR Quality Mark certificates and mementos for the 15 successful organisations.
These 15 organisations obtained the FHRD Quality Mark during the fourth application intake. These organisations are Air X Charter Limited, Alberta Fire & Security Equipment Ltd, AMSM, Arkadia Marketing Limited, Fenech & Fenech Advocates, Fenlex Corporate Services Limited, Foundation for Tomorrow’s Schools (FTS), GasanZammit Motors Limited, Institute for Education, MAPFRE Middlesea, MAPFRE MSV Life, Malta Digital Innovation Authority, Mekanika Limited, RS2 Software plc, and Teva.
The Quality Mark is awarded following a meticulous evaluation carried out by competent evaluators who assess applicant organisations on their HR practices in the seven content areas mentioned above. The onsite evaluations started at the beginning of the second quarter of 2022 and were concluded before the end of the second Quarter of 2022. Each application was assigned two evaluators who carried out a rigorous onsite audit and presented a final report, which was the basis on which the Quality Mark was awarded or not. In every case a post-evaluation report was prepared and sent to the respective applicants with the outcome of the assessment, highlighting their strengths and the areas for improvement.
Organisations that achieved the HR Quality Mark during previous intakes are Credorax Bank Ltd (formerly Finaro), Ecopure Ltd, Farsons Beverage Import Company plc, Go plc, Hero Gaming Ltd, ICT Solutions, Malta Business Registry, Melita Ltd, Quintano Foods Ltd, Shireburn, Simonds Farsons Cisk, The Inspire Foundation, Malta Archdiocese, Baxter, Calamatta Cuschieri, De La Rue Security & Print Services Ltd, Jobsplus, Hilton Malta, St John’s Co-Cathedral, Probe Investments, and EUPA.
Successful organisations can use the HR Quality Mark Logo for a period of three years on all outgoing correspondence, recruitment advertising, press releases, social media channels, and corporate website.
All successful organisations are listed on the FHRD website. For more information, e-mail qm@fhrd.org or visit https://fhrd. org/hr-quality-mark/.