A clear understanding of the job is required to do just about everything that we do in HR. From recruiting the right people and evaluating their performance, to benchmarking jobs and developing an equitable salary structure--all these tasks require reliable job information. However, if you’re like most of us, your job descriptions aren’t the reliable super-sources of information they have the potential to be.

Throughout the years, we've helped numerous organizations improve their job descriptions and how they manage them. In order to help you do the same, we'd like to share with you our top 10 tips. Click here to download your free copy!

As soon as I walk through the doors of a shopping mall during the holidays, I’m immediately reminded of my time as a retail employee. The smells, the music, the bright Christmas sweaters, all bring back memories of hectic shoppers, long hours and even longer lines.
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To make it through the busiest time of year, many retailers hire seasonal employees to supplement their permanent staff. ​These employees are expected to jump into a position they may know little about and quickly acclimate to their new surroundings without losing a step. As someone who has interacted with seasonal employees on both sides of the counter, it’s not their technical skills that I admire the most but their enthusiasm and a willingness to learn that really makes these employees special.

Most job descriptions give little or no guidance to the associate or the manager about the job. That's because, for all their wordiness, they focus mainly on the experience and qualifications applicants are expected to bring with them, and the activities he or she will engage in once they get the job.
 
Despite the dramatic increase in the use of outside resources -- contractors, vendors, consultants -- and the use of agreements with specific expectations about results and time, not much of that experience has been ported over to be of any help in setting the specs for work done by employees. Now, more than ever, it's critical to use every opportunity to be clear about what's expected of each position in your organization.

​A clear understanding of each job within an organization is required to do just about everything that we do in HR and Compensation. From recruiting, evaluating employee performance, learning and career pathing to benchmarking jobs, succession planning and developing an equitable salary structure, these tasks all require reliable job information. When you look at job descriptions in this context, it’s obvious how critical this information is to an organization. But unfortunately, job descriptions are not living up to their potential and could contain a wealth of untapped information.

Released last week, the tenth annual Compensation Planning Survey conducted by Buck Consultants, now Conduent, provides insight into how companies view and interact with their job descriptions. The 172 organizations participating in this survey ranged from small to very large. Although it would not surprise anyone at HRTMS, a majority of participants (63%) reported challenges in maintaining their job descriptions.  Participants (43%) also cited limited resources such as time or manpower and difficulty coordinating efforts with managers and other team members (33%) as top contributing factors. They also stated that there is a concern that job information is either outdated (23%) or inconsistent with the actual duties/responsibilities/qualifications of the job (23%).

Does your company have operations in California or New York? Then how are you planning on complying with the new, more stringent Equal Pay laws?
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We’d like to share with you this free mini ebook entitled, Job Descriptions & Fair Pay Act: Could The Answer To Equal Pay Compliance Lie Within Job Description Management? This ebook focuses on California’s Fair Pay Act that went into effect this past January, but many of the recommendations apply to other states with similar equal pay requirements. It also explains how job descriptions play an integral part in complying with these laws. 

​HRTMS Inc., a human resources software company that specializes in Job Information and Description Management, announced today the worldwide release of its newest product, JDXpert. JDXpert by HRTMS is an All-In-One Job Information & Description Management System that enables users to consolidate and maintain their job descriptions and job information in one application. 

Following President Obama’s directive to “modernize and streamline" white collar overtime exemption regulations, the Department of Labor is poised to release changes to the FLSA any day now. Experts are urging HR professionals to prepare by scrutinizing the validity of their job descriptions. The administration has yet to release the details of the draft regulations, but it’s likely to impact both the salary level test and the primary duties test for determining whether a job is classified as exempt or non-exempt. It’s projected that the current exempt salary level of $23,660 will increase significantly to as much as $52,000. This alone will create a huge increase in the number of employees that could be considered non-exempt.  It is likely, as well, that the duties test will mirror the California rules requiring exempt employees to spend more than 50% of their time performing exempt duties. This means that companies will need to categorize primary responsibilities by exemption status as well as track percent of time for each task. Companies will be forced to use these enhanced job descriptions as a measure for ensuring that both the jobs themselves are compliant and that the employee is complying with the job description. Failing to do so could put companies at risk of being out compliance, and that could be costly.

Raleigh, NC and New York, NY
HRTMS Inc., a human resources software company specializing in job description management, announced today that it has entered into a strategic alliance with Mercer. This alliance will give clients the ability to leverage Mercer’s decades of consulting and information solutions experience and HRTMS’s industry leading capabilities in job description management technology via its HRTMS Jobs product.

by Roger Plachy and Sandy Plachy, Principals at Job Results Management Institute

Far too many managers misunderstand what managing is all about. So, how do you teach managers the essence of managing? Well, you could start with their job description written in a results-oriented manner that distinguishes between accomplishing something, and doing something.