Managing Job Descriptions

Having an accurate set of job descriptions is crucial within a company. These descriptions provide a clear and concise standard for any given position. This is valuable to both the employee and the employer. To an employee, they are fully aware of what is expected of them at any given time. In turn, the employer can use this during the employee review process and when evaluating compensation. If updated and maintained well, an employer can also use this data during recruiting and selection, during training, in the creation of new jobs, and if needed, in legal defense situations.

A good job description is made up of four components:

• Job Identification – This states the given positions title, as well as the department and supervisor in charge of overseeing position.
• Job Summary – This states the purpose of the position within the firm.
• Tasks Statements – This provides a detailed list of the position’s duties.
• Working Conditions – This provides information about the job that is not covered in the description, describing the location and environment of the job.

 Unfortunately, this is often overlooked. Most companies create these, often create them once, file them away, and regard them as acceptable for future use. Instead, they need to view these as living documents, that need regular updates.

Expected tasks within a business change. This can be caused by something as simple as a firm implementing new software, or changing the daily duties of a position because new equipment requires an entire new set of skills from staff. With this changing data, job descriptions must be changed regularly, otherwise the data will continue to pile up untill it is dealt with. If companies viewed these as living documents and created a systematic method where the HR team and management worked together to compile and update this information regularly, the whole of the company would better thrive because of it.

Tyler, Kathryn. “Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions.” SHRM, SHRM, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx.