Merit Recognition Program

The Merit Recognition Program adopted in 1979 and sponsored by APS represents an important step toward the fulfillment of the Association's goals of advancing the prestige of the profession and providing valuable services to Productivity Specialist firms.

This substantial program promotes established standards for the Productivity Specialist profession, and generally elevates the performance of firms and individuals through the creation of achievement goals. This program notifies the public that certain prerequisites and requirements are necessary to best practice this profession and that those individuals whose merit has been formally recognized are best able to reliably perform.

This program provides an extremely beneficial service to the firms in the profession and those firms who avail themselves of this service and encourage their staff to participate actively will be measurably adding to their own strengths and worth. Some of the reasons that the Merit Recognition Program is valuable to each participating firm are:

• The program provides its employees with the goals and recognition of achievement levels they are desirous of. It stimulates individual pride in the profession.
• The program encourages company loyalty and adds stability to the field by including requisites for company longevity as part of merit recognition criteria.
• The program provides some common measure of individual productivity specialists as well as an industry roster of Certified, Advanced and Master Productivity specialists.
• The program increases the size and strength of the APS. This is advantageous to member firms because it helps preserve the profession as it now exists.
• The program provides member firms with a marketable approach to the business community that affords a competitive edge over non-members.

Individual Productivity Specialists also will benefit from the Merit Recognition Program as the designation will provide them with professional recognition and status by their peers. Those experienced individuals who form the backbone of the industry will be so designated on an industry-wide basis, identifying those who through their ability, experience and integrity are best qualified to carry out the work of the Productivity Specialist in a manner consistent with the high standards defined by the Association and its member firms. It also will permit these special individuals the opportunity to provide input and participate in the further development of their own profession.

The following is intended to serve as an informative introduction to the Merit Recognition Program (MRP). This outline summarizes the important aspects of the program for the public. Those qualified individuals who apply for certification will be sent a specific instruction package. Others with additional questions are encouraged to write or E-mail the APS. In addition to registering with APS (individual members are automatically registered), applicants must comply with certain established requirements summarized as follows:

EDUCATIONAL ACHIEVEMENT - requires the applicant to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree from an accredited university OR meet certain practical education requirements based on acceptable previous business experience.

EXPERIENCE VERSATILITY - insure the applicant is flexible by requiring two years of PS experience, one of which must be with a single company. The requirements in this category also call for a variety of assignments, with experience in five different areas of endeavor being the minimum.

EXECUTION ABILITY - must be proved in order to satisfy this requirement. A detailed written test is the procedure employed to verify this category.

ETHICAL OATH - is required as a pledge to uphold the Code of Ethics and Conduct of the Association of Productivity Specialists. This pledge consists of five parts, and each applicant's signature confirms agreement with "both the meaning and spirit of each article and agrees that adherence on a widespread basis will safeguard the integrity of the profession."

Some of the criteria for being designated as an Advanced Productivity Specialist or as a Master Productivity Specialist are similar to those described above. But, the major different qualification is that a Master requires 14 years of active participation in the profession with a minimum of five of those years in the profession, three of which must be with the same company.

For information about the Merit Recognition Program criteria, procedures, certifying bodies, etc., Please E-mail us with your name, company name, address and phone number.