Job descriptions are important because they can be used to “recruit, for performance management, and compensation” (Tyler, 2013). They are more than simply a description of what a position will be about. They can be a way of having a development plan for training as well as creating a benchmark for other positions. That being said, it is necessary that these job descriptions are kept up-to-date.
Challenges with creating and maintaining job descriptions would be that it involves more than just human resources (HR). It generally involves most people in a company like employees and managers. HR would need to obtain the opinion of all the parties involved. For example, employees have the best idea of what their job entails and it is the manager’s job to make sure that “the responsibilities and requirements are aligned with actual activities” (Tyler, 2013). These are then shared to HR who would either create job descriptions or continuously update current job descriptions.
A way to tackle this challenge would be for HR to have more meetings with employees and managers about things that may be changing about the position or different goals that they have now to make sure the job descriptions are still accurate. The job description would also need to encompass more than one person and their skills because “that does not mean those special skills need to be written into the job description or the compensation needs to be increased” (Tyler, 2013). So, HR would need to ensure that they are talking to a variety of employees and as many as possible to get a clear idea.
Keeping job descriptions as up-to-date as possible is important in making sure everyone understands the current goals and expectations of a position and these are just some ways of tackling the challenges associated with creating and maintaining job descriptions.
Reference:
Tyler, K. (2013, January 1). Job worth doing: Update descriptions. SHRM. Retrieved October 19, 2022, from https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx
