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Time to ensure your descriptions are compliant and useful!
Position descriptions really serve as part of the foundation of good management practices. It is an important "tool" for management and employees. It helps employers focus on each employee's contribution to the workplace. It ensures that all functions are adequately covered by appropriate personnel. They help identify gaps that are important to close, to optimize productivity.
Improve communication/Strong management tool. There are so many gray areas when dealing with people, where you can, you need to put things in "black and white" Positions descriptions help you do that if they are well written. As a consultant, I use them in order to assist my clients with multiple levels of decision making. Such a document, if well done, quickly provides me with what I need to know about a specific position in order to assist management with important decisions about that person/position.
Consider effective performance management. When addressing performance issues, a detailed position description is extremely important. Although you aren't expected to have everything someone is expected to do or does on the description, the primary functions certainly should be clearly stated. For example, if someone is reprimanded for performance that isn't even remotely described on their position description, an argument would be, "if it wasn't important enough to have it written, why is it important enough to possibly cost a person his/her job."? Very little of what someone is expected to do, should be assumed to be in the catch all "other duties as requested by supervisor" section. Ineffective descriptions become a possible legal liability.
The "bedrock of performance measurement" is the content of the position descriptions that need to be clear on expectations, goals and priorities.
FLSA classification determination is an important part of ensuring objective details are included. There are many factors that go into what appropriately classifies a specific position. There are significant risks to classifying employees inappropriately and there is a great deal of attention on finding those employers that are non compliant.
ADA law also expresses that the details of the position must be clear enough so that someone can do the job "with or without reasonable accommodations".
Conflict among co-workers is often a result of descriptions that are not appropriate, clear and/or useful.
I would say that in most cases, position descriptions are not adequate and should be considered a priority to review and where necessary move to improvement! |
