Updating job descriptions is essential to workplace planning. In my experience with job descriptions, I have used them to understand a job’s scope, size, and compatibility with my skills and characteristics before applying. However, they serve as more than the design of a job advertised for recruiting. They can also serve as a training development plan and help gauge employee performance and compensation. In addition, updated descriptions are helpful as a legal defense, protecting organizations from employee claims. To improve efficiency and employee job satisfaction, organizations need to produce better job descriptions.
Firstly, to create an effective depiction, experts recommend that job descriptions be updated annually. The longer you wait to update your job descriptions, the more difficult it will become; you may need to pay for in-depth job analysis, allocate more of HR’s time to reworking descriptions, and limit HR’s availability to resolve other organizational issues. Secondly, HR should never assume they know more about the job than the person working. It is helpful to have managers’ and workers’ input on descriptions and their approval before standardizing them.
To rewrite a job description, you need to perform a job analysis. This assesses the work and employee characteristics required to perform the job successfully. An analysis will result in a list of tasks that workers regularly fulfill. From here, it is simple to identify the KSAO, or knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics HR is looking for in strong applicants and current employees. Information for analyses can be sourced from professional organizations, the internet, and experts in the field, like supervisors and incumbents. This information can be collected through interviews, observations, questionnaires, or employee diary-keeping.
Tyler, K. (2013, January 1). Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions. SHRM. Retrieved April 28, 2023, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx
