That said, for an effective organization in this decade, employee job descriptions can slow you down. Employee job descriptions can strangle your success and put people back into the organizational chart boxes you've been asking them to break out of for years.
The goal? Employee job descriptions that provide the positive impact discussed in the first part of this article, without these potential negatives. You can create the balance that allows employee job descriptions to inform, communicate, and align performance without damaging your speed, flexibility, and forward motion.
As you develop employee job descriptions, recognize that they are one component in an effective performance management system. Consider these warnings about employee job descriptions.
Negative Potential of Employee Job Descriptions
Employee job descriptions have their downside, too. use these ideas to identify the negative aspects of employee job descriptions - and turn them into positives.
Employee job descriptions become dated as soon as you write them in a fast-paced, changing, customer-driven work environment.You must supplement employee job descriptions with regularly negotiated goals and developmental opportunities, at a minimum, quarterly, preferably monthly. This requires the employee to meet with the boss or the team to establish the next set of specific, measurable objectives.
This meeting must also be realistic. If the employee receives new goals and is still responsible for every task listed on the original employee job descriptions, this is unfair.
Especially, if the goals and job accomplishments are tied to salary or bonus, you must take a look at where the employee is investing his time. If the employee job descriptions provide a wrong picture, change the employee job descriptions.
Make certain employee job descriptions have enough flexibility so individuals can "work outside of the box."
And, no, I don't mean to equate "other duties as assigned by the manager," with creative thinking. Employee job descriptions must be flexible so that employees are comfortable cross-training, helping another team member accomplish a task, and confident they can make appropriate decisions to serve their customers.
You want people who are comfortable taking reasonable chances and stretching their limits. You don't want to encourage people to think, "That's not my job."
Poorly-written employee job descriptions can serve as evidence of wrong-doing or wrong-telling in a wrongful termination lawsuit.
According to Dr. John Sullivan, a nationally-known HR expert, there are many reasons to stop doing employee job descriptions. These include the fact that most are vague, unmeasurable, untimely, and unused.
For effectiveness, you must regularly look at and use employee job descriptions as part of your day-to-day work.
In addition to the updating of regular goals and objectives suggested above, employee job descriptions are an integral part of the performance management and evaluation system. They are used to determine salary increases and bonus eligibility.
They are a job reference for determining how an employee spends her time at work. They provide a measurable focus for energy and attention. If not, I agree with Dr. Sullivan. Eliminate employee job descriptions.
Employee job descriptions that sit unused in a drawer, or worse, filed in the HR office, are a waste of time; they must be integral in your hiring process.
Take the actions discussed in the first part of this article, and make employee job descriptions an integral part of your hiring and selection process.
Use employee job descriptions to obtain employee ownership and support for the position and to trace the parameters of the skills and abilities you seek for the position. In hiring, well-written employee job descriptions can help you make good hiring decisions. And hiring the right team is critical for your future success.
