Join us as Don Berman, an industry thought-leader in the area of Job Descriptions, shares state-of-the-art best and next practices to consider when creating and maintaining effective Job Descriptions.

1. Best/Next Practices in Job Description Design and Management
About Don Berman
Professional Services Leader - HRTMS
 Since 1989, Don Berman has spearheaded the introduction and
adoption HR and talent management applications and technology
driven best practices at large and mid-sized companies throughout
the U.S. As co-founder and Professional Services Lead, Don has
helped guide HRTMS Talent Management solutions toward a new Job
Description-centric model that resulted in HRTMS Jobs--the leader in
Job Description Management.

2. Best/Next Practices in Job
Description Design and
Management
presented by Don Berman

3. Why Job Descriptions Lag Behind
• People think of them as documents/paper
• No one person can complete them
– HR/Comp knows how to write them
– Managers/Stakeholders know the
details of the job
• People don’t know where to start
– Especially for new Jobs
– Lack of content
• No Structured way to go about it
– Different formats/focus
• Everything else is more important
– Recruiting, Performance Reviews,
Compensation, Market Pricing
Despite the fact that none of these can be done well without an effective Job Description
• No Urgency (until you need to hire someone)

4. About this presentation
• Although we provide recommendations -- Not an Ivory Tower
• Based on what our clients are doing
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Components they are using
What they are using them for
Samples/Guidelines
Statistics
Screenshots/document snippets for context

6. We see Job Descriptions differently
• Job Descriptions
– Cater to the lowest common denominator
– Consist of blocks of dense, opaque text
• Job Repository
– Leverages conversations with Stakeholders
• Collects all the info you need
• Controls who can see what
– Provides information to those that need it
• Folks in other roles, hiring managers, recruiters, Compensation, OD
• Other systems: ATS, Performance Management, HRMS
– Turn blocks of text into Data Points
• That you can search/query/interface with other systems
• Change the way you think about Job Descriptions

7. Looking for a cookbook?
- Not One Size Fits all
- What’s in your Job Description depends on:
ADA/Accommodation
FLSA Determination
Career Pathing
Succession
Compensation Plans
Salary Structure
Training
Performance
Management
Corporate Culture
System/Process
ATS/Recruiting
Process
Job
Description
Future Plans

8. The Agenda
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General Guidelines
Legal Consideration
Job Description Elements– What/How/Why
Competencies, Skills, and Essential Functions
Collaboration
Content
Job Descriptions and Job Posting
FLSA Determination
Reusable Components (Inheritance)
Organizing Job Descriptions
Similar JDs/Consolidation
Access
Historical Job Descriptions

9. General Guidelines - Job
• It’s about the Job
– Everything in your JD must be about the Job
– Resist using JD to describe an individual or personality
traits
• Upbeat personality
• Excellent customer services skills
– For ADA Include only relevant necessary requirements
• If the item is not absolutely necessary to do the job
– Leave it out
– Include it as a Non-Essential function
– Future of the Job
• Look forward to the what may be needed down the road

10. General Guidelines - Language
• Clear
– Avoid flowery overwritten and vague verbiage:
• “…responsible for communicating any internal issues of importance
to any of the constituencies involved in the company’s day-to-day
happenstances, in formats including, but not limited to daily
updates, weekly publications, annual reports.”
Vague, Confusing, Does not describe what the person will actually do
• “Handles internal communications regarding company decisions and
accomplishments on an as needed basis”
• Reasonable/Truthful
– Avoid Hyperbole “On call 24/7”
– Don’t Glamorize the JD

11. General Guidelines – Language (cont’d)
• Use language that points to desired results
• That indicates how success can be measured
• Without exaggeration uses powerful/influential
language
– “Through the use of direct marketing, candidates must be able to build
and measurably grow sales to a sustainable client base.”

12. Legal Considerations
• Don’t discriminate by:
Age
Race/Religion
Marital Status
Gender Specific
“…Youthful energy…”
“Must be able to work on Yom Kippur”
“Travel Requires unmarried…”
“Previous experience as a waitress”
• Don’t undermine at will employment
“This is a permanent Position”
“…prides itself on employee retention”
Don’t Mention unless Temp
Omit. Implies ongoing employment
• Don’t make promises you can’t keep
“…performance will be rewarded”
“…will lead to training opportunities”
“…supervises a staff of trained professionals”

13. Legal Considerations – cont’d
• Don’t violate Applicants Privacy
“…Ability to function without sleep…”
“…single able spend full energy on the job”
“…must have “blue state” mentality”
“…candidate must not have other work commitments”
• Don’t create FLSA Classification Problems
– JDs are not required but essential function are usually central in any dispute
“…Supervise 2 employees/can hire and fire”
“Eligible for overtime pay”
“This is an exempt position”
“…Salaried position”
“…Will supervise department”
Omit.
Don’t use these terms or
Discuss this topic

14. Legal Considerations – cont’d
• Protect against FLSA wage and hour lawsuit
In an article, Beware 'Misclassification Creep' in Employee Exemption, Littler Mendelson
shareholder and co-chair of the firm’s wage-and-hour practice group, Lee Schreter states, “It’s
easy enough for companies to ask their employees to sign off on their job descriptions during their
periodic performance reviews, so there is both mutual understanding and, for the employer, welldocumented proof that the employee knows where they stand. That kind of evidence, I believe
even the courts will be hard-pressed to dismiss.”
– Compliance - Job Description Acknowledgement
• Healthcare (Joint Commission)
• All Companies (FLSA)
• Bio Tech (CFR Part 11),

15. Job Description Elements
• Job Attributes
– Job Indicative Information
– Organization Information
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Description/Summary
Essential Functions
Qualifications
Physical Demands/Working Conditions
Competencies
Scope

16. Job Attributes
• Indicative Information Typical Elements
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Job Code
Job Title
FLSA Classification
Grade
Date Created/Revised
Reviewed by

17. Job Attributes
• Organizational Information –
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Business Unit/Region/Division, etc.
Reports To
Locations
Departments
Supervision Exercised/Received
Managers/Employees

18. Description/Summary
Overview of Job, used as a synopsis, for market pricing and
recruiting. Used as a hook to draw in the reader.
• Sample Guidelines
– Short statement that states why the job exists
– Short statement that describes the role and how it supports the
company’s key objectives using specific measures of success
– Elevator Pitch for the job

19. Description/Summary
Concerns for Description/Summary
• Blank Page Syndrome
• War and Peace Syndrome
Remedies
• Feedback/Revision Process
• Text Limits (75 words)
• Spell Check
• Leverage Content

20. Definition of terms:
Essential Functions, Skills and Competencies
• You have competencies (measurable/acquired over time)
– Knowledge, behavior, characteristics, aptitudes and/or strengths that
are needed to perform and excel.
– e.g., Problem solving
• That allow you to learn Skills (acquired quickly)
– Something tangible you can know or learn
– e.g., Event Planning
• That you can apply to accomplish Essential Functions
– Daily tasks that need to be performed.
– e.g., Manages logistics for major corporate events. These include :
“town hall” meetings and webcasts, investor relations…

21. Essential Functions
• AKA Duties, Responsibilities, Accountabilities…
• Used for:
– Performance appraisal.
– ADA – Can an employee with a disability perform these functions; if
not, what accommodation can be made?
– Recruiting/posting
– Less so, for FLSA, Affirmative Action and Joint Commission

22. Essential Functions
• Sample Guidelines
– What they do, not how they do it. If it’s less than 5-10%, should not
include unless it is a highly critical function
– Statements that describe the main areas in which the role holder must
produce results in order to achieve the purpose of the role. They start
with a verb and describe the end results rather than duties or activities
or broad, vague statements. These responsibilities should be limited to
the six or seven most important ones and put in descending order of
importance.
– Begin each task statement with an action word (verb), which describes
a specific kind of behavior. Then describe what, how and why each task
is performed.

23. Essential Functions
• Information captured
– Description of Essential Function
– Also
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Percent of Time
Frequency
Level
Weight
These can affect FLSA Determination

24. Essential Functions
Other options for Essential Functions
• Additional Responsibilities
– Used to generalize JDs
– Used to define responsibilities that may not be used for all employees
in a job
– e.g. Work Nights/weekends, perform a location/business unit specific task
• Entity Specific Functions
• Required Responsibilities
– For All Jobs
– Mission/Vision

25. Qualifications
• Used for recruiting, career pathing and compliance
• Sample Guidelines:
– “We educate our managers that they need to determine the minimum
and preferred education/certification, skills, and experience required
for the job so that HR can legally defend why an applicant is or is not
hired. ”

26. Qualifications
• Most Common Information captured
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Education
Experience
Skills
Licenses/Certifications
(Joint Commission)
• Also Captured
– Technology/Software Skills
– Languages

27. Qualifications
Category
Item
Details/
Other
Required/
Preferred
Proficiency
Other
% Using
Education
Level
X
X
~ 100%
Experience
Level
X
X
~ 100%
Skills
Skill
X
X
Lic/Cert
Lic/Cert
X
X
Technology
Tech Skill
X
X
X
~ 10%
Languages
Language
X
X
X
~ 10%
X
~ 90%
Timeframe
~80%

28. Physical Demands/Working Conditions
Used for ADA situations to determine if an employee is capable
of performing in the job
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In conjunction with Essential Functions
Used to determine what accommodations
can be made
Most Common Information captured
– Physical Demand/Working Condition
Description
– Frequency
– Weight (for weight related items)

29. Physical Demands/Working Conditions
Process for determining physical demands/working conditions
Items
• Industry specific
– Corporate/Healthcare/Manufacturing
• Often culled from disability claims over time
• Reviewed periodically to evolve over time with changes in job
equipment and ADA.

30. Physical Demands/Working Conditions
Category
% Using
Physical Demands
~ 100%
Working Conditions
~ 100%
Physical Demands with weight requirements
~80%
Coordination/Visual Acuity
<10%
Essential Physical Requirements
<10%
Bloodborne Pathogens
<10%
Cognitive Requirements
<10%
Emotional Effort
<5%

31. Competencies
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Measurable/score-able
Used for performance reviews
Most use in conjunction with Essential Functions
Corporate – Behavioral
Healthcare - task related due to regulatory requirements
Number Limited

32. Competencies
Category
% Using
Core Competencies
~20%
Departmental Competencies
~50%
Position Specific Competencies
~60%
Leadership Competencies
~40%
Customer Service/others
<10%

33. Scope
• Generally, help gauge impact of the job on an organization
• More specifically
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Job Evaluation
Grading
Compensation
Participation in bonus plan
Aid in FLSA determination

34. Scope
Some examples are:
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Freedom to Act
Problem Complexity
Impact
Supervision Exercised/
Received
– Financial Responsibility
– Budget Responsibility

35. Scope
• Job Evaluation - Factors used for leveling are dictated by the
leveling methodology various IPE(s), Hay or homegrown Excel
Point Factor System
• Some examples are:
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Nature/Area of Impact
Creativity
Internal/External Contacts
Project Management
Business Expertise
Leadership

36. Collaboration
• Collaboration is the key to effective job descriptions because the
knowledge needed is embedded in multiple Stakeholders.
• Typical participants are:
– Hiring Manager
– HR Generalists
– Compensation
• Track changes paradigm

37. Collaboration
• Collaboration must be flexible, allowing stake holders to reach out to
other contributors on the fly:
– Upper-level Managers
– Department/Entity/Location Leaders
– Other SME’s
• Ad hoc Reviews Provide simplicity/flexibility

38. Collaboration Best Practice – Stake holders
Keep it Simple
• Allow managers to make requests simply from their perspective
• Empower HR Business partners to route for further approval

Manager
Selects Descriptions
Mark-up Process
© 2013 HRTMS, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.hrtms.com
HR/HR Business Partner

39. Collaboration Best Practice - Oversight
Step 1 Reviewer(s)
Step 2 Reviewer(s)
HR/Compensation
Final Approval
© 2013 HRTMS, Inc. All Rights Reserved www.hrtms.com
Step 3 Reviewer(s)...

40. Content
• Sources of Content
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Stakeholders
Client Job Descriptions
HRTMS Content Library
Client libraries/data from other systems
• Content Applied to
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Summary
Essential Function
Competencies
Skills
Less often, Qualifications

41. Content-Search
• Search Content
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By Job Description
By Job Family/Function
By Occupation
By Saved List
Standard Statements

42. Job Descriptions and Job Posting
• Low hanging fruit for integration
• Automate or cut and paste
• Attended/background integration

43. FLSA Questionnaires
• DOL Questionnaires
• State or other Questionnaires

44. Inheritance
Inherit Data from Parent Job Descriptions
• Typically Essential Function, Skills, Certifications, Competencies
• But could be any Job Description Element
Changes to Parent auto populate to children

45. Inheritance - Uses
• Generic Jobs
– Nurses, Accountants, etc.
• Entity
– Department, Division, Business Unit, Location etc.
• Job Classification
– Job Family/Function
– Exempt/Non-Exempt, EEO
– Arbitrary Classification

46. Organizing Job Descriptions (View)
• Filter JDs By Entity/Other attributes
– Business Unit, Department, FLSA/EEO Classification, Job with openings, etc.

47. Organizing Job Descriptions (Job Families)
• By Job Family/Function
• Career Paths
• Related Jobs
• Side-By-Side Views
– Career Matrix
– Qualifications Comparison
– Scope Factor Analysis

48. Organizing Job Descriptions (Analysis)
• Best Practice – Matrix Explorer

49. Organizing Job Descriptions (Consolidating)
Relationship between Job Codes(HRMS) to Job Descriptions
• Many (Job Codes) to one Job Description
– Often Driven by concerns due to Legacy JD Management
– Facilitated by entity specific Elements
• One (Job Code) to One Job Description
– Best Practice for Repository

50. Similar Jobs/Identification
• Identify jobs that are similar enough to be candidates for
consolidation

51. Similar Jobs/Consolidation
• Consolidate Job Descriptions/Create Parent Job Descriptions

52. Access
• Provide access to:
– HR/Compensation
– Managers
– Employees
95%
40%
HR/Comp
5%
Only
Managers
Managers
Stakeholders
Stakeholders
Employees
Employees
Employees

53. Keep a Record of Historical Job Descriptions
• Defend Hiring Decisions
• Protect yourself against Regulatory Audit

54. Wrap up
If you stop thinking of a Job Description as being limited by the
restrictions imposed by documents:
– You’ll see that a Job Description Repository can:
• Drive Performance, Compensation, Recruiting, Succession, and Training
• Job Descriptions are the logical centerpiece of your Talent management
Landscape
Most of the content in this presentation was drawn from client implementations of HRMS Jobs
Content for General Guidelines and Legal Consideration was drawn from
The Job Description Handbook by Margie Mader-Clark

55. What did we miss?

56. Questions

57. How To Contact Us
Don Berman
don@hrtms.com
Ashley Robinson
ashley@hrtms.com
919.351.JOBS (5627)
www.hrtms.com