Job descriptions are a waste of time
Do you have a job description?
If you do, when was the last time you looked at it?
Do you even know where the latest version is saved?
Our guess, it’s probably stored on a hard drive somewhere, collecting virtual dust.
We wonder whether job descriptions are fit for purpose in the current world of work. Whilst there is a big list of things wrong with job descriptions, these are our top 5 for today.
Our 5 top things wrong with job descriptions:
1) Old news / Instantly out of date
Our jobs are constantly changing, yet our descriptions stay the same. Once written job descriptions remain frozen in time, untouched until they are needed for a recruitment, promotion or performance process.
We believe: Job descriptions should constantly evolve and change in the way that our work does yet they seldom do.
2) Unrealistic
Job descriptions are a little like many social media profiles. They tend to show the best bits but deliberately hide or obscure the day-to-day realities of our lives. Similarly, job descriptions tend to paint a positive picture of a role without truly representing what it looks and feels like to do a job on a day-to-day basis.
We believe: Job descriptions should give readers a true sense and representation of what it feels like to do a particular job.
3) Too much or too little
There tends to be no in-between with job descriptions. They are either pages long, crammed with endless responsibilities and activities, that you rarely actually do.
On the other hand, job descriptions are far too sparse and focus on a specific number of responsibilities without reflecting the broad range of tasks and activities the job actually entails. Either way they often don’t reflect the reality of the job role.
We believe: Job descriptions should be carefully curated to give a representative picture of what a job entails.
4) Exploring and explaining why the job exists
Job descriptions often focus on tasks, competencies or responsibilities without clearly defining and explaining why the job exists in the first place. Jobs exist to provide value and a service to others yet this is infrequently captured in the job descriptions. Consequently, many job holders fail to understand or focus on the core purpose and value of the job.
We believe: Job descriptions should clearly state and explain the purpose of the role and the value it creates to others.
5) Costly to create
A survey looking into job descriptions uncovered that more than 50% of respondents found that it takes 2 or more hours to write a job description.
In terms of pounds and pence this would be a minimum of £32.00 per document assuming that only one person was involved in checking the document and they earned close to the average wage in the UK.
If you had 500 people working for your organisation that would be a cost of 1,000 people hours and £16,000. This figure ignores the fact that in many organisations job descriptions need to be reviewed and checked by senior and HR managers or the cost would be much more than this.
The reality is that job descriptions don’t provide a return on investment for organisations in terms of the value they create compared to time taken to write and produce them.
We believe: Our time at work is precious and job descriptions and role profiles should be able to be produced in a time efficient and cost effective way.
Doing things differently
In short we don’t think many job descriptions are worth the time and effort . We believe that job descriptions should:
Constantly evolve and and change in the way that our work does.
Give readers a true sense and representation of what it feels like to do a particular job.
Be carefully curated to give a representative picture of what a job entails.
Clearly state and explain the purpose of the role and the value it creates to others.
Should be produced in a time efficient and cost effective way.
Creating a job canvas
At Tailored Thinking we think that job descriptions are boring, outdated and out of touch.
We’ve created a job canvas which is easy to complete and update and captures the core elements and essence of a job rather than an infinite list of duties and tasks.
We’re currently testing the canvas with a few selected clients. If you want to be at the front of the queue to find out more, then you can enquire here.
