What is Employee Certification?

In today’s world, where technology is evolving at an incredible rate, and competition in the market is becoming increasingly fierce, companies are striving to constantly improve the quality of their work. One tool that helps achieve this goal is employee certification. In this article, we will look at what certification is, what goals it pursues, and what significance it has for an organization’s development.

What is employee certification?

Employee certification evaluates a company’s employees’ professional qualities, knowledge, and skills. It is conducted to determine the employee’s suitability for the position or identify the need for training and development.
Attestation can be used to solve various tasks:

• Evaluate employee performance.
• Determine your skill level.
• Identify potential for promotion.
• Create a talent pool.
• Motivate employees for professional growth.
• Improve the quality of your organization’s work.

The certification process can include various assessment methods, such as testing, questionnaires, interviews, etc. Based on the certification results, decisions are made on salary increases, bonuses, transfer to another position, or dismissal of an employee.
It is important to note that the company’s legislation and internal rules must carry out the certification.

Why it is essential to conduct employee certification

Here are some reasons why it is essential to conduct employee certification:
1. Performance evaluation.
Certification helps you assess how effectively an employee performs their duties, identify strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas for improvement. This allows management to make informed decisions about salary increases or decreases, promotions, or dismissals.
2. Identify the training needs.
During the certification process, employee knowledge and skills gaps can be identified. Based on this data, training and staff development programs can be developed to help improve employees’ skills and the quality of work.
3. Motivation and development.
Regular certification can be an incentive for employees to improve their skills and improve their performance. Employees who see their work evaluated may be more motivated to achieve high results.
4. Compliance with quality standards.
Certification allows you to make sure that all employees meet the company’s requirements and standards. This is especially important for companies operating in the service or manufacturing sector, where the quality of products or services directly depends on personnel qualification.
5. Planning personnel changes.
The assessment results can be used to make personnel changes, such as promotion, demotion, transfer to another position, or dismissal. This helps to optimize the structure and composition of personnel according to the company’s current needs.
6. Improving the corporate culture.
The certification process contributes to forming a culture of continuous improvement and development. Employees understand that the company is interested in their professional growth and development, which can lead to a more responsible attitude to work and increase loyalty to the company
7. Compliance with the law.
In some cases, certification is a mandatory legal requirement, such as for government employees or employees of certain professions.
8. Analysis of the effectiveness of the HR management system.
The certification results allow us to evaluate the effectiveness of the existing HR management system and make the necessary adjustments.
Certification is a vital HR management tool that helps a company achieve its strategic goals, improve operational efficiency, and ensure high-quality products or services.

Mandatory and voluntary certification

Employees are certified, either mandatory or voluntary. The employer carries out mandatory certification by state requirements, and voluntary certification is carried out at will.

Mandatory certification of employees
Mandatory certification of employees is a procedure carried out by the employer or its higher authorities by the state’s requirements. Mandatory certification may be associated with the need to confirm qualifications, compliance with the position held, or performance of certain functions.
In particular, the following persons are subject to mandatory certification:

• Government employees.
• Employees of hazardous production facilities.
• Employees of educational institutions.
• Medical professionals.

The relevant regulatory acts determine the procedure for conducting mandatory certification.
Among the mandatory conditions of the contract that employers conclude with employees who are pleasant as employees are conducting certification at least once every three years. Other employment contracts, as well as contracts with different categories of employees, do not provide for certification conditions.

Voluntary certification
Voluntary certification, unlike mandatory accreditation, is not necessary. The employer decides how to conduct a voluntary certification. Its purpose is to assess an employee’s professional knowledge, skills, and competencies, identify their strengths and weaknesses, and identify areas for further development and improvement of work efficiency.

Voluntary certification can take various forms, such as testing, interviewing, performing practical tasks, etc. The results can be used to determine the salary level, promotion, formation of a personnel reserve, and other purposes.

It is important to note that conducting a voluntary certification should not violate the rights of employees and contradict labor legislation. The state establishes the procedure for certification.

Objectives of the certification process

The certification goals may be obvious or hidden depending on the direction of the company’s business and corporate policy.

• Obvious goals include evaluating employees ‘ skills, improving them, and assigning them responsibilities.
• Hidden goals include identifying the causes of low employee productivity and analyzing assignment errors.

Who conducts the certification process?

The HR department, particularly the HR specialist, handles all organizational issues. The company also appoints a certification commission.
A commission appointed by the company evaluates the results of certification. 
The compiler of certification tests is responsible for conducting the procedure, interpreting the results, and making conclusions about the employee’s skill level.
A company may contract with another company to conduct employee certification.
The employee is always certified in his presence and the presence of his immediate supervisor.

Which employees are exempt from certification
The following employees are exempt from passing the accreditation:

• Those who have been in the position for less than a year
• Young professionals who work in the company in educational institutions – for the first three years of work.
• Pregnant women.
• Employees who have been ill for a long time.
• Women who are on parental leave until they reach the age of three – a year after leaving work.

What you need to prepare for the certification of employees

To conduct employee certification, you need to prepare:
1. Order on certification.
Employees should be informed about the order to conduct certification in advance, no later than one month before the start of certification. The order prescribes the terms and schedule of accreditation, the list of employees for accreditation, the composition of the certification commission (including its chairman and secretary), the list of materials needed for certification, the terms of their preparation and the employees responsible for preparing the materials.
2. Lists of employees to be certified.
The lists do not include employees who are exempt from certification.
3. Lists of members of the attestation commission or agree with the company that conducts the attestation.
The attestation commission includes company managers (senior employees) and highly qualified specialists. You can also include representatives of trade unions and higher-level organizations.
Depending on the qualifications of the employees who will be certified, you can create several certification commissions in your company.
The attestation commission can work when the majority of its participants are present.
4. Schedule of certification.
The certification schedule is designed so that the company’s business processes are not disrupted, taking into account the ability of employees to pass the certification and the ability of the commission to process its results.
5. Characteristics of employees who will be certified.
The characteristics are prepared by the heads of the company’s departments where the relevant employees work. The description is signed by the head of the department and the employee, who must be introduced to the description.
The characterization report is submitted to the attestation commission ten days or earlier before the start of attestation.
6. Forms of certification sheets.
The Government of Belarus developed the certification sheet form. The sheet includes the employee’s data, work experience in the company, education, and speciality. After attestation, the attestation list indicates the results of voting by the members of the attestation commission, the decision of the commission and the employer based on the attestation results, and the reasoned recommendations of the attestation commission. 
The members of the certification commission sign the certification sheet, which is then introduced to a certified (or non-certified) employee.
7. Explain to employees the goals of certification.It usually explains the goals, procedures, and consequences of certification to employees at a general meeting or via a corporate mailing list.

The decision of the Attestation Commission

The attestation commission makes decisions by a majority vote of the members present. An equal number of votes “for “and” against ” is considered a decision in favor of the employee. After the commission members vote, the results are announced to the employee.
Based on the results of certification, the commission makes one of the following decisions regarding the employee:

1. That the employee corresponds to the current position.
2. That the employee does not fully correspond to the position held, in this case, the commission makes recommendations to the employee and conducts a recertification in a year.
3. That the employee does not correspond to the position held.

The attestation commission may recommend to the employer mainly that the employee be promoted or sent for advanced training or retraining.
The decision of the qualification commission is not necessary for the employer to execute it.