The cost to recertify more than one designation is US $100 for application review and an additional US $25 for each additional certification. The total cost for a candidate who is recertifying at the GPHR designation and PHR or SPHR designation is US $125. The fee is subject to change without notice. Applications submitted without the proper fees will be returned unprocessed.

Multiple designation holders are subject to all other recertification requirements, policies and procedures outlined in the handbook.

GPHR recertification is required every three years by the expiration date of your current certification cycle (indicated on passing candidates’ certificates). GPHR certificants may recertify by documenting 60 recertification credit hours over that three-year period or by retaking the exam. Thirty of the 60 recertification credit hours must be in international HR management (as identified in the GPHR body of knowledge). Credit hours can be obtained through continuing education, instruction, on-the-job experience, research and publishing, leadership and professional membership in a national or international HR professional association.

Certificants of the GPHR designation only (e.g., candidates have obtained the GPHR designation but are not PHR or SPHR certified) should refer to the following sections for more information about recertification cycles, application submission, category maximums, accumulating credit hours and audit procedures: “Recertification Application Processing,” “Recertification Through Continuing Education” and “Recertification Audit Procedures.”

The GPHR exam was developed from the international HR body of knowledge as determined through a practice analysis study separate from the PHR/SPHR practice analysis study. While there is much in common with the PHR and SPHR body of knowledge, the differences are significant enough to determine a distinct, international HR body of knowledge. Certificants who achieve this designation have demonstrated their mastery of this separately defined international HR body of knowledge. It is possible, therefore, to hold the GPHR independent of the PHR or SPHR designation or concurrently with one of those designations.

Of the 60 credit hours, specified credit hours (e.g., 15 recertification credit hours in strategic management for SPHR certificants and 30 recertification credit hours in international HR for GPHR certificants) must still be obtained during that three-year period. Hours specifically required for either the SPHR or GPHR can fulfill both requirements. For example, a seminar on international trends in compensation could count toward specified credit hours for both the GPHR and SPHR designations.

For candidates who hold the GPHR and PHR or SPHR designations, HRCI will use the recertification cycle for the first certification obtained, thereby synchronizing the second certification.

If the GPHR designation is obtained after the PHR or SPHR, the requirement to obtain 30 recertification credit hours over a three-year period would be adjusted on a biannual basis (e.g., 5 international HR recertification credit hours every six months) for the first recertification cycle. If the SPHR designation is obtained after the GPHR, the requirement to obtain 15 strategic management credit hours over a three-year period would be adjusted on a biannual basis (e.g., 2.5 strategic management recertification credit hours every six months) for the first recertification cycle. There are no specified credit hours required under the PHR designation.