Job Descriptions Are a Joke

by Kelly Riggs

Corporate leaders wonder why employees aren’t more engaged.

Or committed. Or bought in. Or more accountable.

However you want to describe it.

And they should care about the problem, since disengaged employees cost U.S. companies a truckload of money. Over $450 billion annually, according to Gallup.

However, instead of assessing the real causes of the problem, leaders often just look for excuses or things to blame – something they despise, by the way, when employees do the same.

• “You just can’t find good people.”
• “Nobody wants to work anymore.”
• “Some people just don’t get it.”
• “Millennials just think they’re owed everything.”

Blah, blah, blah.

Blaming your employees for disengagement is like blaming your customers when they complain and don’t return. And the problem in both situations is exactly the same: you don’t look for – and certainly don’t find – any solutions to the real problem.

And the real problem is the things you do (or don’t do) that lead to disengagement.

Just for grins, let’s start with something very small that has a VERY large impact. Let’s talk job descriptions.

OK, so you’re wondering what in the world job descriptions could possibly have to do with engagement, right? As you grow up, you don’t imagine yourself making optometry practices successful, sitting in an office writing emails, taking work calls when your out for dinner. As a kid, you want the cool jobs. The helpful, swanky jobs that provide an exceptionally amazing uniform and make you want to get out of bed in the morning. Unfortunately, once you hit your late teens, you realise that’s not the case. Job hunting can be a struggle to say the least. Even when you use a brilliant company such as ARC Resumes to help you write your resume, it can be challenging to decipher the requirements that companies write in their job posting. To be perfectly honest, job descriptions are more of a legal tool than anything. They are put in place to provide a legal buffer in the hiring process (“So sorry, you’re not qualified”). They are put in place to provide legal protection in the case of employee dismissal (“And any other duties that may be assigned to you”). They are put in place to provide legal notice that you comply with federal hiring regulations (“We don’t discriminate on the basis of…”).

And, truth be told, with the exception of a cameo role in the hiring process, the standard job description is rarely used anywhere else! Which means they are simply a way to filter resumes by comparing needed skills sets with what is presented by the candidate.

Legal assistance and candidate filtering. That’s it.

However, HR professionals suggest that they provide other benefits (and they will if you actually decide to use them properly):

“Aside from any legal reasons to have job descriptions, practical reasons weigh strongly in favor of having them. For example, job descriptions can be useful communication tools to tell employees exactly what tasks you expect them to perform. Job descriptions may also address quality or quantity of performance standards, or even work rules that apply to a particular job. Without such clear communications, employees may not perform to your expectations.”

[Source: “Why You Should Have Job Descriptions.” SHRM.]

TIME OUT!

Really? Job descriptions provide “clear communications?”

I’ve got news for you – that’s almost comical. When a job description says, for an executive assistant for example, that he/she, 1) must have good written and verbal communication skills, 2) know how to use Microsoft Word, and, 3) be responsible for business correspondence, is that really the clear communication we think it is?

For example: How accurate must they be? What is the expectation for speed? Editing skills? Will they need advance Word skills, or do they just need to know how to start the software and type? How “good” must those “good written and verbal” skills be? I mean, like, have u checked out how some of these kids, like, write today?

So, you hire someone that passes the resume filter process and interviews fairly well, only to be sorely disappointed when they don’t seem to understand what you are really looking for in an Executive Assistant.

You’re disgusted with their lack of initiative. They don’t come to work on time. They do the bare minimum and no more (imagine that). They spend all their times on a cell phone. Sound familiar? How many times do we blame employees for those failures?

What’s Missing in Your Job Description

Here is the problem: What the typical job description does is create a functionary. It produced someone who executes a function (or series of functions). And a functionary disengages very fast, especially if they have talent.

They disengage because a job description does not create meaning; it only describes tasks.

It does not create purpose; it provides legal protection.

And it most certainly does not describe the INTENT of the position. How can it when it only lists the tasks that the functionary is expected to perform?? And any others you may assign, of course.

Here are six things that are almost always missing from the standard job description:

1. General expectations of the manager. They’re not found in the policy manual, either. In fact, they are no way to be found, but somehow we expect employees to know what we’re thinking.

2. Performance standards for the position. We gripe about how people work, but clear standards don’t exist. No wonder employees don’t “get it”.

3. Mission Statement of the organization. And I’m not talking about one of those monstrosities that don’t even say what we do, but sound mighty important at a board meeting.

4. Cultural values of the organization. Used effectively, these values provide the boundaries that ensure employees fit well in the company.

5. The customers that position serves, both internal and external. And the expectations for the way in which we will serve them. Because, for some odd reasons, customers tend to be important.

6. How this position functions in the “Big Picture.” How does this position contribute to the company’s success? Why does this position matter? What is the value to the organization as a whole.

First, all of these items need to be communicated during the hiring process. Depending on the industry concerned, there might be other prerequisites to the recruitment process that should also be highlighted. For example, for jobs in healthcare, candidates must often pass a 9 panel drug test. Any pre-employment screening processes should, therefore, be highlighted in job advertisements. There are different types of employment screening. For example, some employers may require that candidates undertake a background check to ensure they’re safe for members of the public and other staff members to be around. These checks can be carried out by companies like national crime check. This helps employers significantly in the hiring process. Then, they need to be referenced and reviewed in standard performance reviews.

But, come to think of it, don’t even think about getting me started on performance reviews.

Holy cow. Talk about “a joke.”