Why is a Job Description key?

20th March 2021 is the first day of Spring! Many of us start to think about new beginnings, spring cleaning, even sorting out year end. One thing not many managers think about is ensuring the team have updated job descriptions (JD).

Why bother?

Here are 4 key reason why each role in the business should have an updated JD.

1. Keeping a JD fresh ensures that employees have clarity as to their responsibilities and core tasks. This will set what is expected of them. It improves the communication between managers and employees and supports productivity. I can also aid in retention and development.

2. Recruitment is much easier if a JD mirror the role and it's responsibilities. Targeted adverts, selections methods and evaluation of candidate skills can be undertaken with more specific details and increased validity.

3. Development & promotion becomes more transparent and achievable.. Managers are able to benchmark skills again the JD and employees can see where their development gaps are in order to succeed in internal promotion. Knowing the jobs and levels in the organisations also allows managers to resource plan and create the basis of a succession strategy.

4. JDs are a useful document when it comes to compliance and evidence,. Demonstrating where underperforming employees are falling short of expectations of the role, and can help to defend any claims that may arise as part of a grievance for example during the recruitment selection process.

The process of creating effective JDs does not have to be a timely and cumbersome task, it can be a partnership between managers and existing employees and it is a great opportunity to align current efforts to future visions and goals.

The best place to start is with a consistent template, company business plan and core KPIs.

If you'd like some support in aligning JDs, expectations, company vision and recruitment process please do not hesitate to get in touch, I'd be delighted to offer a complimentary session to help kick off the JD spring cleaning tidy up.

Claire

07743 856083

claire@ccinhr.co.uk