It’s hard to manage employee and management expectations without having a written and communicated guideline of the responsibilities for a position. Job descriptions don’t have to be an elaborate checklist of daily duties timed to the minute, especially for laid-back entrepreneurial cultures in the Kansas City area. Writing a job description simply means providing direction and a clear understanding of the expectations that come along with the position. Role responsibilities and duties may change day to day or over time, but without a foundation it’s common for employees to feel like chickens running around with their heads cut off. No company can be successful with a staff of employees that don’t know exactly what their jobs are.
Even if you have one employee, you need a job description
Job descriptions focusing solely on employees’ responsibilities are doing your company a disservice. Use them to tout your company values. If you want your employees to follow your vision for the company and get involved through leadership, teamwork and promoting a great culture, you need to communicate it like you’re the Pied Piper. Adding your values to your job description lays out the expectation that part of the role of the employee is to believe in the greater picture that you have.
For example, let’s say you’re writing a job description for
an office coordinator in your KC Metro home office. Don’t stop at “Answer phones.” Sprinkle in your culture by adding “Answer phones with unique greetings and our company slogan.”
Measure employee job performance against the job description
Without job descriptions you have no tools by which to measure your employees’ performance. That’s a problem come annual review time. How can
you determine if your employees are meeting the expectations if no clear written and communicated guidelines were established. You can’t, and it makes it extremely difficult to craft disciplinary actions or terminate employees when you don’t have documentation to base their lack of performance against. Lawyers love employers who don’t document disciplinary action or performance because they make for an easy win for the employee.
Role descriptions aren’t there just to point out shortcomings, they are also great tools to help develop your employees and attract the right candidates to your company. Job descriptions set a standard that promotes accountability by the employees and the employer. It’s the communication that lays the foundation for your employees’ growth in your company.
Need help setting expectations for your employees or creating job descriptions to set guidelines for your Kansas City area office team? Talk to us about our HR StartUp Toolkit™, the common-sense HR solution with a culturally specific approach that gives you all the tools you need to create a solid foundation for your company’s human resource practices.