I have a unique perspective on job descriptions because I currently am within a career field where I review and approve job descriptions on a week-to-week basis. Job descriptions can be great. They outline the needs of the department while emphasizing the qualifications they are looking for in order to qualify an individual before the interview process so as to streamline the process of finding the best fit individual. However, job descriptions are also an important tool for managers and Human Resource representatives to use in order to evaluate employees and determine goals based on performance of their duties related to the job description.
In order to ensure a job description is serving its purpose beyond finding an employee who meets the minimum qualifications, you must look at updating and reviewing the job description on a consistent basis. The job description needs to follow industry standards in comparison to competitors, and allow for employees to follow a specific set of tasks in order to measure their performance. In A Job Worth Doing by Kathryn Tyler, there is a mention of the importance to update job descriptions and how most managers simply skip this step which can cost them exponentially in terms of risk for employee disengagement, grievance filings, or job dissatisfaction. “Unfortunately, job descriptions often aren’t viewed as living documents. Once completed, they may be relegated to dusty three-ring binders or long-unopened text documents. Experts say this is a mistake”(Tyler, 2013).
As time goes on in most employees careers they are bound to take on more responsibility as the department adapts to new challenges. If the job description they once signed off on no longer outlines their job responsibility as it once did, the employee will not be fairly compensated which can lead to a lack of motivation, and slowed performance. I’ve experienced this personally in my career. My department was small to begin with, which meant as we grew there would be more work to take on for everyone. I was quick to say yes to any new project, because I knew this would result in more skill, experience, and leverage to reason for a promotion when the time came. I ended up taking on a much larger responsbility of tasks that were not within my job description, and recognized 2 years later that I was being extremely under compensated which led me to become very unmotivated to do more. To combat this risk, a manager should take a very close look at their job description in order to evaluate each task individual to build their team in the most efficient way. In First Break All the Rules, it states a managers catalyst role is to “select a person, set expectations, motivate the person, and develop the person”(Buckingham & Coffman, 2016).
Ultimately in order to ensure efficient productivity, workplace satisfaction, employee motivation and egagement, you must actively review the job descriptions set in place. Without this internal audit, you may lose good talent, and develop an underperforming staff due to the desire to be valued in the way their job expects them to perform.
References
Buckingham, M., & Coffman, C. (2016). First, break all the rules: What the world’s greatest managers do differently. Simon & Schuster.
Tyler, K. (2013, January 1). Job worth doing: Update descriptions. HR Magazine.