Job descriptions are the cornerstone of communication between you and your staff. After all, it’s hard for supervisors to measure job effectiveness during performance reviews unless you and the employee both know what you expect.
Key Ingredients
Analyze Essential Job Functions
The key part of job descriptions is an item-by-item list of the job’s duties and responsibilities. What kind of personality, experience and education are needed to perform the job
Outline the job’s goals. It’s important to identify which are the “essential” job functions critical to the job’s successful performance.
To identify essential functions, look at the purpose of the job, the frequency of each function and the consequences if that function isn’t performed.
Carefully drafted job descriptions can be useful tools in court. For example, if an employee files an Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) lawsuit, courts will review what the organization has identified as the job’s “essential functions” to see if the charges have merit. Without a written job description, the court may decide for itself which functions are essential.
Position by Title
Titles may seem unimportant, but they carry a great deal of weight in the workplace and in court. Each position’s title should match the level of authority and responsibility.
For example, “administrative assistant” should be doing administrative tasks. Don’t upgrade employees by giving them inflated titles: You’ll only regret it later when they ask for more money or refuse to perform tasks they consider beneath them.
Inappropriate titles also factor into discrimination charges. For example, if you have two administrative assistants and one handles filing and the other runs the entire office, be prepared to explain why the first employee isn’t being paid the same as the second employee.
Supervisor
Include the title of the employee’s direct supervisor and other identifying details that separate this position from others.
Make sure the job descriptions refer to other job titles, not other employee by name.
Take the time to write a good job description. They’re an important element of the employment process. Any employee coming into your organization needs to have a clearly defined role and expectations to ensure his or her success. By following the tips listed above, you’re more likely to create a job description that will attract the superstar you are looking for.