Category: HR & Leadership Portal

Once you have taken the time to define the basic components of each job the next phase is to establish the relative priority of each task to the total job. A Job Description (JD) has a number of parts but it essentially describes the tasks (what you do) and the behaviors (how you do it).  Once you have added the relative priority of each task to the other components and when this information is laid out clearly, it provides guidance to the employee about the standards and expectations of the firm in performing that job.

Each task should be given a priority. Some tasks are more important than others, although each task is relevant and that is why they are listed. You should establish a specific priority for each task listed as an “A” or a “B” or a “C”. Each task has a different level of importance within the job.

• “A” tasks or behaviors are those that are critical to your job. They are the core of what you do and are vital to your success in the end. These are the essence of what you do and what defines the essential elements of what our customers expect.
• “B” tasks or behaviors are those that are important to be accomplished. These are the foundations of the job and should be able to be accomplished with proficiency by everyone who is performing the job. Your expertise and know-how form the basic elements of the job and are defined here.
• “C” tasks or behaviors are necessary to the person properly functioning within the firm. These tasks and behaviors are legally required to be included in the overall job description and they form the general underpinning for reasonable standards in the firm. For example adherence to the rules and regulations established in the employee handbook or manual might be a “C” task. We should not be repeating every section of the handbook in the job description although each person is expected to have read, understood, and follow what is included in that handbook. By writing this into the job description you clarify with certainty an employee’s obligations to the firm as a whole. There may be several parts of the handbook that should be emphasized and they might be repeated for emphasis in this section as well.
• It is possible for some tasks to be given a level “D” or “E”, but too much segmentation usually causes confusion. For example a job description may have a number of tasks that would only be done by those working the job at night. Perhaps in that case a “D” task would help to clarify what should be done in the day and what should be done at night.
• It is recommended that tasks be divided only into 2 or 3 levels of priority in most circumstances for simplicity and clarity of direction.

The establishment of these priorities is significant to the proper functioning of the other parts of a well constructed human resource system. The Job Description should be used by the applicant to understand what the job entails before they join the firm. Priorities will help to focus the selection process on whether that person has the right skills and behaviors to successfully accomplish the overall job. The Learning Checklist (LCL) uses these priorities to identify what should be taught first and what should be explained second during the initial training that occurs. This assists the new hire in quickly assimilating information and getting them up to speed.  The Performance Development Plan (PDP) is used to provide a useful discussion and evaluation on a person’s past performance and future development plans. In this case the focus on the “A” priorities during the PDP discussions helps to keep the focal point on the critical needs that must be accomplished in the future without creating an overly lengthy meeting talking about the obvious. Priorities help to concentrate the time spent in the meeting on what makes a difference in the end to our customers and improves both the efficiency and effectiveness of the performance discussion.

COMPETITIVENESS – Persusasive, Confident, Assertive in the ability to compete successfully, Enthusiastic towards competitive activity, Expressed desire to win

SELF-RELIANCE – Independent, Individualistic, Interested in doing things in his or her own way, Little need for direct supervision

PERSISTENCE – Persevering, Unwavering, Emotionally tough, Stick with the task until it is finished,

ENERGY – High endurance, Spontaneous, Fast paced, Willingness to act; Seeks challenge

SALES DRIVE – Success oriented, Outcome focused, Internally driven, Self-motivated

Success qualities

January 2017

UPDATED AND ACCURATE JOB DESCRIPTIONS
WILL SAVE YOUR BUSINESS

By Mark F. Kluger and William H. Healey

We hope the somewhat dramatic title got your attention. Job descriptions, which have recently become the focus of many employment law litigations, can make all the difference in the outcome of a lawsuit. That’s why we wanted your attention. When was the last time you looked at or updated your job descriptions?

Our December 30, 2016 article described the now common problem many employers face when the 12 weeks of FMLA ends and an employee with a serious health condition cannot return to work. Employers must then engage in the interactive process under the ADA to determine whether the employee can return and perform the essential functions of the job with or without a reasonable accommodation or whether additional leave is reasonable. At that point, an accurate definition of “essential functions” in a job description can be a game changer.

An employer recently learned this the hard way. The job description for a stock clerk position said that the employee must be able to lift 20 pounds “constantly” and 20 to 60 pounds “frequently.” The employer terminated a long-term stock clerk when his doctor’s note stated that he could not safely lift more than 35 pounds. In ruling that the employee had a viable ADA claim, a federal appeals court, after four years of litigation, relied on the testimony of the employee and his co-workers that they rarely had to lift more than 35 pounds and that the outdated job description on which the employer relied did not accurately reflect the “essential functions” of the job. While employers have a much greater chance of defending terminations based on an employee’s inability to perform accurately described essential functions, with or without a reasonable accommodation, that is not the only benefit of an updated job description.

Imagine the problems that result when a candidate with a disability applies for a position for which there is no ADA compliant job description. If, for example, the disability is obvious, an employer cannot legally ask the candidate questions like, “Can you regularly climb a ladder given that you walk with a cane?” However, when there is a job description that includes “regularly climbing a ladder,” then the employer can simply give the candidate a copy and ask the legally permissible question, “Can you perform all of the essential functions of this job, with or without a reasonable accommodation?” Without that dialogue, an employer’s failure to hire the candidate based on assumptions may result in a difficult to defend ADA litigation.

Accurate ADA compliant job descriptions are a critically necessary tool for employers to maintain today. If you need guidance on how to do them right, please let us know.

There’s a good chance that what your employees actually do every day has little in common with what’s written in their job descriptions. That’s a problem. Inaccurate or in­­complete job descriptions can cause legal liability for ­­employers, especially if the EEOC or the De­­part­­ment of Labor comes calling.

Make it a practice to routinely review your job descriptions. It’s a good legal defense, and it will also help you recruit the right employees and manage their performance.

Cover the basics

A job description should contain the title of the position, the title of the person to whom the position reports, an overview of what the work entails and a description of duties and re­­spon­­si­­bil­­i­­ties. They often include qualifications for the position, as well as any necessary physical requirements.

That sounds simple enough, but problems usually arise in the execution.

Titles can be misleading. Duties can be so vague that they don’t adequately communicate to an applicant what the job really involves. As time goes by, too many tasks fall under “other duties as assigned” and bear little resemblance to the itemized responsibilities.

And as helpful as it can be to include qualifications and physical requirements for a position, over­­stating them can open the door to discrimination claims.

So what’s an employer to do?

Ask questions

Job descriptions are the first step in effectively managing employee performance. Consider what success in a position looks like. What skills are necessary? The best way to figure it out is by asking questions.

If your company is creating a new position, investigate the real nature of your needs. For example, an employer was looking for a staff person to tutor inner-city youths. Anticipated qualifications included experience as a tutor, experience working with kids in an urban setting, as well as skills needed to en­­gage kids and make them want to show up for tutoring sessions.

But as the HR manager asked higher-ups how they would judge long-term success for someone in the position, she quickly realized that what they actually wanted was someone to build a new tutoring program from scratch. That requires skills and qualifications far different than what would be needed to work directly with kids. A program builder would need high-level administrative and organizational skills, not to mention skills to recruit and coordinate volunteers—skills that had not, to that point, been considered or discussed.

Armed with that knowledge, the employer made a critical course correction—and avoided the expensive mistake of hiring an unqualified candidate because it advertised the wrong job.

Asking questions is no less important when filling an existing position. Find out how the people in that position really spend their time. Get specifics. Find out what good performers do and what skills they bring to the table.

You may find that the job description emphasizes duties that are less important, while critical tasks barely receive a mention.

Draft carefully

Once you have done your homework, you can draft a job description that accurately reflects reality. Ideally, you will have identified the right responsibilities, enabling you to hire for the right skills.

But in addition to avoiding performance problems, an accurate job description can help you navigate other, sometimes dangerous, waters.

One example is heading off trouble with disability discrimination claims. By clearly and accurately defining the essential functions of a position, and reflecting these functions in the job description, you are in a better position to assert that certain disability accommodations are not reasonable because they adversely affect an employee’s ability to perform an essential job function.

For each job title, you get the model job description … sample want ad … essential duties to help determine exemption status … and exemption analysis, with straightforward explanations and links to pertinent regulations.

Plus, you’ll have a record of your good-faith efforts to evaluate each job – important if the feds or an employee ever question your decisions.  

Note that the EEOC recently issued an informal opinion letter stating that requiring a high school diploma could be discriminatory if the requirement is not job-related and consistent with business necessity. Basically, that means that if you could do the job without a high school diploma, requiring one could bring on a disability discrimination claim.

One other trouble area is misclassifying employees as exempt from wage-and-hour laws. If you treat an employee as exempt, the job duties must meet a test for exemption. Mis­­stating the job duties won’t protect you from liability for noncompliance.

Better to have a clear and accurate sense of what employees do, reflect it in the job description, and classify from there.

Revise regularly

The process of analyzing job descriptions is as important as the end prod­­uct itself. It offers the opportunity to make sure you’re finding the right people for the right jobs, and to correct when you get off track. It’s also a self-check that can head off discrimination claims and wage-and-hour problems.

Engage in the process routinely and treat job descriptions as works in progress.

Download Below:

JOB DESCRIPTION Training Workbook

www.talentvalue.com  is your one place to search for people solutions. HR Out of the Box is the system used to bring many employee communications processes together in one place. Our human system is called S.O.A.R.©.

1. Selection – How to hire and select the best candidate.
2. Orientation – How to get the new person up to speed.
3. Assimilation – How to integrate them into your existing team.
4. Retention – How to create a plan to retain the best.

All the pieces linked together into a single human system; Created by industry experts; Customizable to the way you do your business; Available when you need it.

 The same standards for hiring are the same standards for training and the same standards for evaluating.

 The Job Description: The Tasks and the Measurement for what needs to be done plus the Behaviors for how it has to be accomplished. The foundation for hiring the best people.

The Learning Checklist:  How to train the new person on your staff and get them up to speed fast; and remain compliant with the standards you have set.

The Performance Development Plan: How to evaluate if the person really learned the task and also a plan for helping your people grow to be better than they are

All part of an entire human system from TalentValue to help you hire, train, and keep the best employees for your business. Providing information to enable you to make good decisions about your people.

Thanks

Doug Duncan

COMMUNICATIONS – LISTENS TO OTHERS; Listens to all points of view with an open mind; Listens carefully without interrupting; Summarizes input, then checks for understanding

COMMUNICATIONS – PROCESSES INFORMATION ACCURATELY; Considers the pros and cons, as well as short and long range consequences of decisions; Arrives at logical clear conclusions

COMMUNICATIONS – COMMUNICATES EFFECTIVELY; Expresses thoughts clearly in writing; Is an effective articulate speaker; Covers an issue thoroughly without overdoing it; Communicates in a straightforward manner, even when dealing with sensitive topics; Makes current job-related information readily available to others

LEADERSHIP – INSTILLS TRUST: Keeps promises; Person can be trusted with confidential information; Is honest in dealing with others; Demonstrates high ethical standards

ADAPTABILITY – ADJUSTS TO CIRCUMSTANCES: Is flexible in dealing with people with diverse work styles; Is comfortable in a variety of environments; Reacts constructively to setbacks

ADAPTABILITY – THINKS CREATIVELY: Approaches job with imagination and originality; Inspires innovation in the organization; Is willing to take bold, calculated risks; Views obstacles as opportunities for creative change  

RELATIONSHIPS – BUILDS PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS: Shows consideration for the feelings of others; Shows absence of prejudicial and stereotypical thinking in words and actions; Maintains composure in high-pressure situations

RELATIONSHIPS – FACILITATES TEAM SUCCESS: Resolves conflicts fairly; Creates an atmosphere of team cooperation over competition; Builds consensus on decisions

TASK MANAGEMENT – WORKS EFFICIENTLY: Applies current technology in practical ways to maximize efficiency; Makes wise use of outside resources; Avoids procrastination; Sets priorities and tackles assignments accordingly

TASK MANAGEMENT – WORKS COMPETENTLY: Demonstrates mastery of fundamentals necessary to the job; Is skilled at learning and applying new information quickly; Effectively implements new theories, trends, and methods into day-to-day operations

PRODUCTION – TAKES ACTION: Takes the initiative to make things happen; Is assertive in managing problems; Makes timely, clear-cut firm decisions

PRODUCTION – ACHIEVES RESULTS: Overcomes obstacles to complete projects successfully; Effects outcomes that set high standards for others; Achieves results that have a positive impact on the organization as a whole

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT – DISPLAYS COMMITMENT: Maintains a consistently high energy level; Persists and perseveres; Keeps a positive outlook

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT – SEEKS IMPROVEMENT: Admits mistakes and learns from them; Handles negative critiques constructively; Identifies and pursues resources needed to improve performance