When developing job descriptions, one of the challenges many HR managers face is how to set a different standard of treatment for interns and current employees. Compared to existing employees, interns are often those who lack experience and are not familiar with the corporate culture and tasks. Usually, training, getting familiar with the job, and doing some trifles are main work content of interns. As they get to know their jobs, they will gradually obtain experience and full get engaged in their jobs. However, before that, interns may be overwhelmed with assignments. Faced with this situation, human resource managers usually consider whether the interns should be offered higher salaries. If interns are overpaid, existing employees may resent it. Conversely, if interns are paid too little, many of them will drop out and the company will suffer a loss of talent. Taking China, my country background, as an example, many interns receive salaries that cannot even cover their daily expenses, and some interns receive no salary.
Faced with training costs and high salary demands, human resource managers find it difficult to retain talents for their companies. However, after learning about job descriptions and design, I came up with a potential suggestion. Human resource managers can use the psychological states to give meaningness and responsibility to the jobs of interns and emphasize the importance of knowledge and learning to motivate interns (W4 Lecture 2-Job design). In addition, human resources managers can help these interns see the future prospects of the company and their positions through the visions of their jobs. For example, HR managers can motivate interns by setting future salary expectations for them.
Human resource managers usually pull out old job descriptions when maintaining job descriptions. However, many job descriptions may become outdated as employees demand more from the business and as the business undergoes constant structural change. An effective solution is to update the job description regularly. Personally, I recommend to update once at least quarterly. As some HR experts point out, “job descriptions help with workforce planning. You can see how talent flows through the organization and holistically how it all fits together” (Tyler 2013). Updating jobs in timely can not only quickly reflect the progress of job and task innovation, but also help enterprises adjust workforce planning to make enterprises run more efficiently.
Source:
Tyler, K. Job Worth Doing: Update Descriptions. SHRM, January 1, 2013. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/hr-magazine/Pages/0113-job-descriptions.aspx
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