Best Practices Jdb eBook
Content
Job Descriptions
Not just a hiring tool anymore
Why job descriptions are
foundational to your talent
management programs.
Table of contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Job descriptions
Job description analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Recruiting and onboarding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Performance management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Learning and succession planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Job description resources
Key questions for your organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Job description resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
About Halogen Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
2 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Introduction
What’s in a job description?
According to businessdictionary.com, job descriptions are “broad, general and
written statements of a specific job, based on the findings of a job analysis.”
Descriptions generally include duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope,
and working conditions of a job along with the job’s title, and the name or
designation of the person to whom the employee reports.
Job descriptions done right…
Are a critical foundational component that supports all your
talent management programs.
Job Description
Analysis
But formal definition aside, job descriptions are more than a document to be
created, filed away and forgotten. They are (or should be) living, breathing
documents foundational to all your talent management programs from
recruitment and learning to performance evaluations to compensation and
succession planning.
The bottom line is that effective job descriptions will help you hire the
right people for the job and successfully manage the performance and
development of those already in the job. Additionally, job descriptions help
support and justify decision-making and compliance requirements under
laws and guidelines from legislative and regulatory bodies.
Compensation
Performance
Learning and
Succession
Recruiting
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
3 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
A reluctance to get the job done
How job descriptions define culture
Despite the importance of job descriptions, many organizations currently do
not link them to most of their talent management processes.
Organizational culture encompasses values and behaviors that contribute to
the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.1
The reasons are varied, including:
How do job descriptions relate to culture – if at all? Although the role of job
descriptions is to articulate the minimum requirements – not necessarily the
mission, vision and values that define a culture – many organizations choose
to include core competencies or values on their job descriptions. This helps
to articulate the culture and define what it means to be a “fit” within the
organization. These are common elements that may be transferred to a job
posting because they help attract the right candidates to the organization.
People are overwhelmed at the thought of
updating hundreds of job descriptions
Job descriptions are perceived as lacking
in validity (so why bother?)
There’s no central system in place to
maintain job descriptions
Leaders don’t see job descriptions as a
key component of an integrated talent
management strategy
But the fact is that ignoring job descriptions or not giving them the
attention they need is not a good talent management practice. That’s
because they form a strong foundation for recruitment, performance
evaluations, compensation, learning and succession planning.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
Case Studies
4 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
1
The Business Dictionary. Organizational culture. – Accessed June 22, 2015
Introduction
What you’ll learn in this book:
This eBook contains six sections:
• Discover why job descriptions play a fundamental role across your talent
management programs
• Find out how you can adopt job description practices in your organization,
using the Halogen TalentSpace™ suite
Section 1: Job description analysis: Getting the job
done right from the start
• Read about companies who’ve adopted job description best practices
Section 2:
Recruiting and onboarding
If a job description is valid, it:
Section 3:
Performance management
Defines clarity of the role both for the organization and
the employee
Defines relationships within an organization
Section 4:
Compensation
Section 5:
Learning and succession planning
Helps settle grievances
Prevents misunderstandings
Section 6: Case studies – Three companies that follow
best-practice job description management
Offers insight into the company’s structure
Provides a basis to determine whether or not a person
may perform the job
Now, let’s get started...
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
5 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description analysis
Job description analysis
Getting the job done right from the start
If your organization doesn’t have job descriptions or they’re out of date,
a critical first step in the process is to do a job analysis.
Job analysis is a process for collecting information to help everyone in your
organization to fully understand and describe the duties and responsibilities
of a position as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the
job. The goal of a job analysis is to get a complete picture of the position
(i.e., what is done and how).
When done effectively, this analysis provides the information
needed for writing job descriptions. Types of data collected will
vary by organization, however here are some examples:
Summary of duties (essential
and non-essential)
Experience
Details of most common duties
}
duties
Supervisory responsibilities
Educational requirements
Special qualifications
Equipment/tools used
Frequency of supervision
Decision-making authority
Working conditions
Physical demands of the job
responsibilities
knowledge
skills
abilities
Introduction
The job analysis process isn’t just about establishing job requirements – it’s
also the basis for your compensation strategy and critical to defensibility
around physical/mental requirements of the job. For example, some industries
have challenging working conditions, extreme physical requirements or
unusual requirements. Being able to articulate these requirements is critical.
Getting it wrong could be catastrophic in terms of workplace mishaps – and
potential accidents down the road.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
6 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description analysis
How to conduct a job analysis
Typically, there are three methods for conducting a job analysis:
Questionnaires
Interviews
Observation
Although questionnaires are the most popular, they can be difficult to
respond to, resulting in a lesser quality of information or not enough
information to build a solid, detailed job description.
Interviews can provide good insight into what’s required for the job, but
it’s best to interview more than one individual to get a pool of responses so
information is not skewed.
The observation method can yield good information as well, but there is a
danger of personal bias, and likes and dislikes getting in the way of delivering
genuine results.
Often, a combination of methods can be particularly effective by bringing out
important hidden or overlooked information.
Who’s responsible for creating
job descriptions?
The best job descriptions are created not by HR alone, but in collaboration
with the various stakeholders who have a deep understanding of the
requirements for the role. This collaborative approach helps ensure
job descriptions accurately communicate roles, responsibilities and
accountabilities.
5 steps for conducting a job analysis
1. Identify the job(s) to be analyzed.
2. Determine the procedures to be used (methods)
in collecting job data.
3. Implement the job analysis methods.
4. Review the data collected through job analysis.
5. Summarize and document the data collected.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
7 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Recruiting and onboarding
Recruiting and onboarding
Use job descriptions as a source of information for all of your talent acquisition activities.
When it comes to making important recruiting decisions, your mission is clear:
You want to ensure you have the right person for the right job.
Job descriptions help articulate the knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies
or other relevant job requirements that are necessary to find the right people.
As mentioned in the previous section, the best place to start is by conducting
job analysis.
A job analysis will help you understand the difference from one job from the
next and what is required in order to search and find the ideal person for the
role. Without collecting and capturing these details in a job description your
organization runs the risk of putting square pegs in round holes. This can
result in low productivity, job dissatisfaction, increased turnover, high training
costs, low engagement – all those effects of not having clarity of role or the
right people in the right role.
Introduction
Smoother recruiting
Job descriptions identify the knowledge, skills, experience and certifications,
and essential functions for a job that should be included in a job requisition.
This means that your job requisition/posting can more accurately reflect the
requirements of a role, and your recruiters can more easily identify suitable
candidates.
Further, job descriptions provide
a more solid foundation for
interview questions and clear
criteria for evaluating and
selecting the right candidate for
the job. Finally, job descriptions
can help assure selected
candidates that the job they’ve
been interviewed and hired for
is the one that they’ll do. They
also know, right from the start,
what they need to do to succeed
in the role, which takes some of
the uncertainty out of accepting
a new job.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
8 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Recruiting and onboarding
Clarity of role and accelerated
onboarding
During the onboarding process, job descriptions facilitate that all-important
conversation between the manager and the employee, making sure that the
manager can explain the role, its connection to the business, expectations for
the role, and ultimately, from an acknowledgement standpoint. This clarity
of role ensures the new employee can become a valuable contributor to the
business faster.
Tip: Use best-practice templates
The best way to create and manage consistent, concise
and effective job descriptions is to start with bestpractice job description templates. A well-designed
template ensures employees, managers, HR and the
organization overall get all the information they need,
while making the associated tasks easier for everyone.
View and download these example job description
templates to help you and your organization create
best-practice job descriptions.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
9 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
Halogen Job Description Builder™ is designed to help you with
your talent acquisition process, but also benefits new employees
by providing them a job description when they start with the
organization. Additionally, the solution keeps a record of
sign-off/acknowledgement from the employee confirming,
“Yes, I get my job. I understand what these requirements are,
and I have talked about them with my manager.”
Using Halogen Job Description Builder with the rest of the
Halogen TalentSpace modules allows you to automatically
generate appraisals, assessments, and job requisitions based on
your job descriptions. Job requisitions can kick off onboarding
programs and learning paths for new employees.
With Halogen’s Job Description Builder you’re never forced to
compromise and use one or more static templates for your job
descriptions. It allows you to configure as many custom job
description templates as you want and need. Include any –
and all – sections important to your organization.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance management
Performance management
One of the keys to having an effective and valid employee performance
management process is to tie reviews directly to job descriptions
Job descriptions define the criteria that an employee will be evaluated
against. They should be used as input when creating performance appraisal
forms, establishing goals and assessing performance. The clarity they provide
managers and employees helps drive alignment, productivity, performance,
satisfaction and engagement.
Job descriptions help
provide a benchmark
that managers can use
to evaluate performance
and determine
appropriate learning
activities (training,
mentoring, etc.) to help
employees close any skill
gaps and ultimately drive
higher performance.
Introduction
Eliminating unwelcome surprises
at annual review time
One of the more common complaints managers hear at annual performance
review time is that an employee is surprised – maybe even completely blindsided – at the feedback or the ratings they receive. However, when done
effectively, performance management ensures that employees always know
exactly what’s expected of them and that, when annual review time rolls
around, it will be without those surprises that can quickly turn a motivated
worker into a disengaged one.
Ongoing performance management along with a detailed job description
can help eliminate the surprises by articulating the duties/tasks an
employee is accountable for and the required behaviors to perform those
duties successfully.
These behaviors are defined, ingrained and measured in the organization
through competencies – the observable and measurable knowledge, skills,
abilities and attributes that lead to high-performance and success in a role or
in the organization. In other words, competencies are a way to describe “how”
work gets done.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
10 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance management
Driving higher performance
Throughout the performance management process, which should be an
ongoing year-round activity, managers can compare job descriptions against
performance and goal progress to determine where skill/competency
shortfalls exist. With this insight, they can determine appropriate learning
training activities (training, mentoring, etc.) to help employees close those
gaps and ultimately drive higher performance.
To get a broader, fairer view of individual performance, try using 360-degree
feedback or multirater reviews. As part of the performance review process,
job-essential duties and competencies can be incorporated into 360-degree
feedback reviews. And important thing to remember that competencies
or duties included in the peer-to-peer evaluation be consistent with what’s
being evaluated from a manager and employee perspective.
As part of the performance
review process, job-essential
duties and competencies
can be incorporated into
360-degree feedback reviews.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
11 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, you can ensure that every job
description you create contains key core competencies that reinforce
your winning culture, align with your organizational values and drive
continued business success.
You can also automate the process of updating position descriptions
using a configurable workflow, and ensure your descriptions
include competencies, capture essential details and are current and
consistent across the organization. You can even have employees
regularly review and sign off their position descriptions, so they
clearly understand expectations.
Competency management lays the foundation for talent
management and is required for effective and successful
performance of a job or task. Halogen Job Description Builder
leverages a common competency library. You can link specific
sections in the job description to your employee performance
appraisal and competency assessment forms to create a common
language around performance.
When a change is made to a job description in Halogen Job
Description Builder, the corresponding performance appraisal
forms are automatically updated and when changes are made to
competencies, the job description is automatically updated. This
reduces work for HR and ensures employees are always evaluated on
the right skills and competencies.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Compensation
Compensation
Use job descriptions to ensure your organization fairly and accurately
manages job classifications, merit matrix, pay decisions and benefit allocations.
Job descriptions make it easier for compensation teams to compare and
grade jobs fairly and consistently, and define appropriate salary scales,
making compensation more transparent and equitable.
A job description serves as a foundation for job evaluation, which is the
process of understanding the relative worth of jobs based on qualification
requirements, skills, knowledge and any other requirements. This underscores
the importance of conducting a job analysis. See section 1: Job description
analysis: Getting the job done right from the start.
Without job analysis and a
well-crafted job description,
organizations can compromise
their total compensation
strategy, resulting in the
inability to maintain a
competitive edge in the labor
market (i.e., attracting, recruiting
and retaining top talent).
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
12 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, you can establish a strong
Job Family and Job Level classification system that supports
your pay-for-performance program. Then, using Halogen
Compensation™ and Halogen Performance™, you can suggest
compensation adjustments that adhere to the job classification
system and tightly link merit-based pay to accurate performance
evaluation and ratings.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
Learning and succession planning
Use job descriptions to define the competencies relevant to your
talent pools and as a basis for learning and development
Having solid job descriptions can support stronger learning and development
programs in your organization. From a learning perspective, if you understand
expectations for a role – and identify what gaps or different levels of
performance exist within – you can determine suitable learning activities for
these competencies.
When it comes to employee learning and development,
job descriptions benefit everyone across your organization:
Learning and development teams can define and
develop a learning offering that meets the needs of the
organization, as well as learning paths for development
and progression in a specific role and/or area
Managers can better identify and address their
employees’ performance gaps and learning needs
Employees can see what knowledge/skills/experience/
certifications they require for success in their current
role or need to develop to move into a new role
Introduction
Closing gaps and making moves
Job descriptions and competencies provide clarity on what is required from
one role to another. For example, if communication is a key competency but a
skill gap exists, the next step should include determining training activities or
kinds of learning paths that will help the employee build greater strength in
that competency.
From a leveling prospective,
if you know which communication
skills are required for an individual
contributor versus a supervisory
level, learning and development
can be focused on making those
connections and how to close
gaps in the current level and
move employees to the next level.
Activities for developing employees
could include formal training, onthe-job training, mentoring and
other informal learning activities.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
13 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
Onwards and upwards – or outwards
Job descriptions also play an important role in succession planning. Because
job descriptions identify what a person needs to be successful in a key role/
area, they can help define the proficiency requirements for a talent pool.
For example, if you’re looking to fill a specific position, having well-defined,
job-specific criteria in place will help you identify the strongest candidate.
Using job descriptions as your foundation enables you to build bench
strength and the have the talent ready – via talent pools – to jump into any
role at any time.
For learning and development teams,
job descriptions can be used to create
curricula or learning paths that support
career advancement. Job descriptions
also help employees and managers
with career and development planning
and decisions about role changes
and/or promotions.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
14 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
The benefit of transparency
When it comes to job description management, having a certain level of
transparency can be very important – especially from a career development
perspective. Employees who are interested in another job within the
organization can see the requirements for the position, determine what
skills they lack, see what a learning path might look like and then have a
discussion with their manager.
It’s essentially the same from a succession planning and talent pool
standpoint. Job descriptions that are comprehensive, transparent and
up-to-date, provide employees with insight into different areas of interest
they might want to explore further, and
even areas that they didn’t know they
were interested in. Transparency in job
descriptions can help organizations gauge
employee interest or lack of interest in other
roles, which can lead to more effective
succession planning.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
15 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, providing job
transparency is simple. You can give employees and managers
online access to current and previously assigned job descriptions
– and also make job descriptions accessible to the entire
organization through the Job Description Repository. For career
management purposes, Halogen Job Description Builder can
help employees uncover internal opportunities and encourage
internal mobility, resulting in more motivated and engaged
employees.
Halogen Job Description Builder integrates seamlessly with
Halogen Performance and Halogen Learning, which enables
you to link performance and learning management, measure
effectiveness and the impact on your organization’s bottom line.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Read the full Bank
of Oakridge story »
Bank of Oakridge
Creating an environment that promotes learning and professional
development is central to the corporate culture at Bank of Oak Ridge, a
community bank with locations across North Carolina. To foster those
values, the bank uses Halogen TalentSpace – a cloud-based talent
management suite that links performance and development, and helps
them meet regulatory requirements.
For Ladd, Halogen Job Description Builder provides true value. “When
a job description is created or updated, competencies are immediately
reflected in the employee’s appraisal form. It’s seamless, centralized and
we don’t have to think about it. We know it works, and the benefit is that
we know our job descriptions and talent management processes reflect
the culture and values of our organization as well as the critical job
specific competencies for each role.”
An integral part of this solution is leveraging Halogen Job Description
Builder, a solution that ensures every role has a job description that
reflects the competencies needed to succeed in the role – and also
be mapped to the bank’s performance and learning management
processes.
This means if there are performance gaps or training requirements that
need to be met, managers can discuss them with employees during
their meetings to review the employee’s performance and immediately
assign learning and training as needed.
Further, the ability to manage and update job descriptions from one
central, shared online repository provides consistency to the process.
And because employees always have access to the latest version of their
job descriptions, the system helps to ensure they are aware of their job
responsibilities.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
16 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
“With Halogen Job Description Builder,
we can ensure employees and new hires
have the right skills to succeed because the
associated competencies written into each
job description are automatically integrated
into our performance and learning
management processes.”
Wanda Ladd, Director of Human Resources.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Case Studies
Read the full Methodist
Hospitals story »
Methodist Hospitals
Methodist Hospitals is one of the best hospitals in Indiana, ranking 13th
overall out of 175 hospitals in 2013–14 (U.S. News & World Report Best
Hospitals). It’s a not-for-profit, community-based healthcare system that
provides services to individuals who may not be able to pay for them.
As a “safety net hospital,” they’re always looking for ways to improve
efficiencies, while maintaining patient satisfaction.
additional 380 evaluation forms. I shudder when I think of the work
involved,” says Klein.
A few years ago, Methodist Hospitals had hundreds of different
job descriptions stored in independent documents. There was no
consistency between the terminology used to describe job families or
competencies. This made searching job descriptions impossible, and
maintaining and updating them very time consuming.
The seamless connection between many job descriptions and the
organization’s performance management process has helped the hospital
maximize its use of ongoing performance management processes.
Methodist Hospitals turned to Halogen Job Description Builder and
Halogen Performance to help digitize and manage their existing job
descriptions and seamlessly link them to appraisal forms.
“There’s a big cost in terms of overhead and administrative burden
for every additional job description,” says Ed Klein, Director of
Compensation, Benefits and HRIS.
Since the job descriptions were used as the basis for employee appraisal
forms, the team at Methodist Hospitals found creating individual
appraisal forms for each job description overwhelming.
“Back in the dark ages, we had to create an appraisal form for each of
our job descriptions — so our 380 descriptions converted into an
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
17 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
“Now I have one form that automatically pulls
in correct job descriptions, and through the
magic of Halogen, takes care of weighting and
scoring and aggregating important performance
management data.”
Ed Klein, Director of Compensation, Benefits and HRIS
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Cabell Huntington Hospital
Located in Huntington, West Virginia, Cabell Huntington cares for patients
from more than 29 counties throughout West Virginia, eastern Kentucky
and southern Ohio. Opened in 1956, it is also a teaching hospital and is
affiliated with Marshall University Schools of Medicine and Nursing.
When a new Vice-President of HR came on board, he reviewed existing
processes and identified areas for improvement. First, performance
appraisal rates need to be improved and the whole process re-evaluated.
Furthermore, most of the Hospital’s paper-based job descriptions and
evaluation tools were outdated and, in most cases, not connected to
each other.
Halogen has enabled the Hospital to achieve on-time employee
appraisal completion rates that meet or exceed Join Commission
requirements. The Hospital has also experienced significant savings as a
result of reducing time, effort and paper.
Once the performance review process started, multiple hands had to
touch each paper appraisal form. With multiple copies of each appraisal
circulating, there was the potential for privacy and security issues.
As soon as appraisals were completed and approved they needed to be
archived. “Our files were getting monstrous; we were simply running out
of space,” said Michelle Getter, HR representative.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
18 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Read the full Cabell
Huntington Hospital story »
Since implementing Halogen TalentSpace for healthcare, Cabell
Huntington Hospital has been able to regulate which forms are used.
Before Halogen, the Hospital had six different forms in use. Some
appraisals contained goal sections or tied back to the job descriptions
while others did not.
HR would send the necessary documents to managers who had
employee appraisals due. Often managers expressed how overwhelming
it was to deal with the piles of paper. Complaints aside, the HR team had
to keep unhappy managers on track, costing the hospital considerable
time and money.
Introduction
Case Studies
“The main difference between what we were
doing on paper and what we are now doing
online is consistency. Everyone is using the same
basic form, though each of the 300 different forms
has been configured for a specific job.”
Michelle Getter, HR representative
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description resources
Key questions for your organization
Do your job descriptions clearly communicate the minimum role requirements and expectations for each role?
Do all your employees have up-to-date job descriptions?
Do your job descriptions clearly identify what is required for employees to move from one role to another?
Do your job descriptions include the core, leadership and job-specific competencies that lead to high performance in your organization?
Are job descriptions considered a fundamental resource to aligning your talent management programs for recruitment, learning and
development, performance management, compensation and succession planning?
Do you review your jobs descriptions on a regular basis to ensure they reflect current job requirements? Do you do this after major
organizational change, a shift in the marketplace or other major business events that impact your jobs?
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
19 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description resources
Job description resources
Here are some additional resources that might be of interest to you:
To learn more about job descriptions,
visit the Learn section of the Halogen website.
Job description templates: Use these templates as inspiration to help
you and your organization create better job descriptions.
You’ll find “How-To” articles, webinars, whitepapers, forms and
templates, at the job descriptions center of excellence.
Article: The pivotal role job descriptions (should) play in your talent
management programs. Dr. Gordon Medlock explains the pivotal role
that job descriptions should play in your talent management programs.
And become a regular reader of our TalentSpace blog.
Introduction
Infographic: Mission possible infographic. Get the visual on how you
can develop job descriptions that help drive performance.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
20 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
About Halogen Software
About Halogen Software
We hope you’ve found this resource valuable in your talent
management journey. At Halogen, our vision is to help
organizations like yours build a world-class workforce that is
aligned, engaged and delivering exceptional results. We know that
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Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
21 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
O
HJt�!�t�E EN'
Strategic Talent Management
Be Brilliant:
Not just a hiring tool anymore
Why job descriptions are
foundational to your talent
management programs.
Table of contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Job descriptions
Job description analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Recruiting and onboarding. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Performance management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Compensation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Learning and succession planning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Job description resources
Key questions for your organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Job description resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
About Halogen Software. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
2 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
Introduction
What’s in a job description?
According to businessdictionary.com, job descriptions are “broad, general and
written statements of a specific job, based on the findings of a job analysis.”
Descriptions generally include duties, purpose, responsibilities, scope,
and working conditions of a job along with the job’s title, and the name or
designation of the person to whom the employee reports.
Job descriptions done right…
Are a critical foundational component that supports all your
talent management programs.
Job Description
Analysis
But formal definition aside, job descriptions are more than a document to be
created, filed away and forgotten. They are (or should be) living, breathing
documents foundational to all your talent management programs from
recruitment and learning to performance evaluations to compensation and
succession planning.
The bottom line is that effective job descriptions will help you hire the
right people for the job and successfully manage the performance and
development of those already in the job. Additionally, job descriptions help
support and justify decision-making and compliance requirements under
laws and guidelines from legislative and regulatory bodies.
Compensation
Performance
Learning and
Succession
Recruiting
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
3 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Introduction
A reluctance to get the job done
How job descriptions define culture
Despite the importance of job descriptions, many organizations currently do
not link them to most of their talent management processes.
Organizational culture encompasses values and behaviors that contribute to
the unique social and psychological environment of an organization.1
The reasons are varied, including:
How do job descriptions relate to culture – if at all? Although the role of job
descriptions is to articulate the minimum requirements – not necessarily the
mission, vision and values that define a culture – many organizations choose
to include core competencies or values on their job descriptions. This helps
to articulate the culture and define what it means to be a “fit” within the
organization. These are common elements that may be transferred to a job
posting because they help attract the right candidates to the organization.
People are overwhelmed at the thought of
updating hundreds of job descriptions
Job descriptions are perceived as lacking
in validity (so why bother?)
There’s no central system in place to
maintain job descriptions
Leaders don’t see job descriptions as a
key component of an integrated talent
management strategy
But the fact is that ignoring job descriptions or not giving them the
attention they need is not a good talent management practice. That’s
because they form a strong foundation for recruitment, performance
evaluations, compensation, learning and succession planning.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
Case Studies
4 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
1
The Business Dictionary. Organizational culture. – Accessed June 22, 2015
Introduction
What you’ll learn in this book:
This eBook contains six sections:
• Discover why job descriptions play a fundamental role across your talent
management programs
• Find out how you can adopt job description practices in your organization,
using the Halogen TalentSpace™ suite
Section 1: Job description analysis: Getting the job
done right from the start
• Read about companies who’ve adopted job description best practices
Section 2:
Recruiting and onboarding
If a job description is valid, it:
Section 3:
Performance management
Defines clarity of the role both for the organization and
the employee
Defines relationships within an organization
Section 4:
Compensation
Section 5:
Learning and succession planning
Helps settle grievances
Prevents misunderstandings
Section 6: Case studies – Three companies that follow
best-practice job description management
Offers insight into the company’s structure
Provides a basis to determine whether or not a person
may perform the job
Now, let’s get started...
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
5 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description analysis
Job description analysis
Getting the job done right from the start
If your organization doesn’t have job descriptions or they’re out of date,
a critical first step in the process is to do a job analysis.
Job analysis is a process for collecting information to help everyone in your
organization to fully understand and describe the duties and responsibilities
of a position as well as the knowledge, skills and abilities required to do the
job. The goal of a job analysis is to get a complete picture of the position
(i.e., what is done and how).
When done effectively, this analysis provides the information
needed for writing job descriptions. Types of data collected will
vary by organization, however here are some examples:
Summary of duties (essential
and non-essential)
Experience
Details of most common duties
}
duties
Supervisory responsibilities
Educational requirements
Special qualifications
Equipment/tools used
Frequency of supervision
Decision-making authority
Working conditions
Physical demands of the job
responsibilities
knowledge
skills
abilities
Introduction
The job analysis process isn’t just about establishing job requirements – it’s
also the basis for your compensation strategy and critical to defensibility
around physical/mental requirements of the job. For example, some industries
have challenging working conditions, extreme physical requirements or
unusual requirements. Being able to articulate these requirements is critical.
Getting it wrong could be catastrophic in terms of workplace mishaps – and
potential accidents down the road.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
6 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description analysis
How to conduct a job analysis
Typically, there are three methods for conducting a job analysis:
Questionnaires
Interviews
Observation
Although questionnaires are the most popular, they can be difficult to
respond to, resulting in a lesser quality of information or not enough
information to build a solid, detailed job description.
Interviews can provide good insight into what’s required for the job, but
it’s best to interview more than one individual to get a pool of responses so
information is not skewed.
The observation method can yield good information as well, but there is a
danger of personal bias, and likes and dislikes getting in the way of delivering
genuine results.
Often, a combination of methods can be particularly effective by bringing out
important hidden or overlooked information.
Who’s responsible for creating
job descriptions?
The best job descriptions are created not by HR alone, but in collaboration
with the various stakeholders who have a deep understanding of the
requirements for the role. This collaborative approach helps ensure
job descriptions accurately communicate roles, responsibilities and
accountabilities.
5 steps for conducting a job analysis
1. Identify the job(s) to be analyzed.
2. Determine the procedures to be used (methods)
in collecting job data.
3. Implement the job analysis methods.
4. Review the data collected through job analysis.
5. Summarize and document the data collected.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
7 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Recruiting and onboarding
Recruiting and onboarding
Use job descriptions as a source of information for all of your talent acquisition activities.
When it comes to making important recruiting decisions, your mission is clear:
You want to ensure you have the right person for the right job.
Job descriptions help articulate the knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies
or other relevant job requirements that are necessary to find the right people.
As mentioned in the previous section, the best place to start is by conducting
job analysis.
A job analysis will help you understand the difference from one job from the
next and what is required in order to search and find the ideal person for the
role. Without collecting and capturing these details in a job description your
organization runs the risk of putting square pegs in round holes. This can
result in low productivity, job dissatisfaction, increased turnover, high training
costs, low engagement – all those effects of not having clarity of role or the
right people in the right role.
Introduction
Smoother recruiting
Job descriptions identify the knowledge, skills, experience and certifications,
and essential functions for a job that should be included in a job requisition.
This means that your job requisition/posting can more accurately reflect the
requirements of a role, and your recruiters can more easily identify suitable
candidates.
Further, job descriptions provide
a more solid foundation for
interview questions and clear
criteria for evaluating and
selecting the right candidate for
the job. Finally, job descriptions
can help assure selected
candidates that the job they’ve
been interviewed and hired for
is the one that they’ll do. They
also know, right from the start,
what they need to do to succeed
in the role, which takes some of
the uncertainty out of accepting
a new job.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
8 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Recruiting and onboarding
Clarity of role and accelerated
onboarding
During the onboarding process, job descriptions facilitate that all-important
conversation between the manager and the employee, making sure that the
manager can explain the role, its connection to the business, expectations for
the role, and ultimately, from an acknowledgement standpoint. This clarity
of role ensures the new employee can become a valuable contributor to the
business faster.
Tip: Use best-practice templates
The best way to create and manage consistent, concise
and effective job descriptions is to start with bestpractice job description templates. A well-designed
template ensures employees, managers, HR and the
organization overall get all the information they need,
while making the associated tasks easier for everyone.
View and download these example job description
templates to help you and your organization create
best-practice job descriptions.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
9 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
Halogen Job Description Builder™ is designed to help you with
your talent acquisition process, but also benefits new employees
by providing them a job description when they start with the
organization. Additionally, the solution keeps a record of
sign-off/acknowledgement from the employee confirming,
“Yes, I get my job. I understand what these requirements are,
and I have talked about them with my manager.”
Using Halogen Job Description Builder with the rest of the
Halogen TalentSpace modules allows you to automatically
generate appraisals, assessments, and job requisitions based on
your job descriptions. Job requisitions can kick off onboarding
programs and learning paths for new employees.
With Halogen’s Job Description Builder you’re never forced to
compromise and use one or more static templates for your job
descriptions. It allows you to configure as many custom job
description templates as you want and need. Include any –
and all – sections important to your organization.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance management
Performance management
One of the keys to having an effective and valid employee performance
management process is to tie reviews directly to job descriptions
Job descriptions define the criteria that an employee will be evaluated
against. They should be used as input when creating performance appraisal
forms, establishing goals and assessing performance. The clarity they provide
managers and employees helps drive alignment, productivity, performance,
satisfaction and engagement.
Job descriptions help
provide a benchmark
that managers can use
to evaluate performance
and determine
appropriate learning
activities (training,
mentoring, etc.) to help
employees close any skill
gaps and ultimately drive
higher performance.
Introduction
Eliminating unwelcome surprises
at annual review time
One of the more common complaints managers hear at annual performance
review time is that an employee is surprised – maybe even completely blindsided – at the feedback or the ratings they receive. However, when done
effectively, performance management ensures that employees always know
exactly what’s expected of them and that, when annual review time rolls
around, it will be without those surprises that can quickly turn a motivated
worker into a disengaged one.
Ongoing performance management along with a detailed job description
can help eliminate the surprises by articulating the duties/tasks an
employee is accountable for and the required behaviors to perform those
duties successfully.
These behaviors are defined, ingrained and measured in the organization
through competencies – the observable and measurable knowledge, skills,
abilities and attributes that lead to high-performance and success in a role or
in the organization. In other words, competencies are a way to describe “how”
work gets done.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
10 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Performance management
Driving higher performance
Throughout the performance management process, which should be an
ongoing year-round activity, managers can compare job descriptions against
performance and goal progress to determine where skill/competency
shortfalls exist. With this insight, they can determine appropriate learning
training activities (training, mentoring, etc.) to help employees close those
gaps and ultimately drive higher performance.
To get a broader, fairer view of individual performance, try using 360-degree
feedback or multirater reviews. As part of the performance review process,
job-essential duties and competencies can be incorporated into 360-degree
feedback reviews. And important thing to remember that competencies
or duties included in the peer-to-peer evaluation be consistent with what’s
being evaluated from a manager and employee perspective.
As part of the performance
review process, job-essential
duties and competencies
can be incorporated into
360-degree feedback reviews.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
11 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, you can ensure that every job
description you create contains key core competencies that reinforce
your winning culture, align with your organizational values and drive
continued business success.
You can also automate the process of updating position descriptions
using a configurable workflow, and ensure your descriptions
include competencies, capture essential details and are current and
consistent across the organization. You can even have employees
regularly review and sign off their position descriptions, so they
clearly understand expectations.
Competency management lays the foundation for talent
management and is required for effective and successful
performance of a job or task. Halogen Job Description Builder
leverages a common competency library. You can link specific
sections in the job description to your employee performance
appraisal and competency assessment forms to create a common
language around performance.
When a change is made to a job description in Halogen Job
Description Builder, the corresponding performance appraisal
forms are automatically updated and when changes are made to
competencies, the job description is automatically updated. This
reduces work for HR and ensures employees are always evaluated on
the right skills and competencies.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Compensation
Compensation
Use job descriptions to ensure your organization fairly and accurately
manages job classifications, merit matrix, pay decisions and benefit allocations.
Job descriptions make it easier for compensation teams to compare and
grade jobs fairly and consistently, and define appropriate salary scales,
making compensation more transparent and equitable.
A job description serves as a foundation for job evaluation, which is the
process of understanding the relative worth of jobs based on qualification
requirements, skills, knowledge and any other requirements. This underscores
the importance of conducting a job analysis. See section 1: Job description
analysis: Getting the job done right from the start.
Without job analysis and a
well-crafted job description,
organizations can compromise
their total compensation
strategy, resulting in the
inability to maintain a
competitive edge in the labor
market (i.e., attracting, recruiting
and retaining top talent).
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
12 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, you can establish a strong
Job Family and Job Level classification system that supports
your pay-for-performance program. Then, using Halogen
Compensation™ and Halogen Performance™, you can suggest
compensation adjustments that adhere to the job classification
system and tightly link merit-based pay to accurate performance
evaluation and ratings.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
Learning and succession planning
Use job descriptions to define the competencies relevant to your
talent pools and as a basis for learning and development
Having solid job descriptions can support stronger learning and development
programs in your organization. From a learning perspective, if you understand
expectations for a role – and identify what gaps or different levels of
performance exist within – you can determine suitable learning activities for
these competencies.
When it comes to employee learning and development,
job descriptions benefit everyone across your organization:
Learning and development teams can define and
develop a learning offering that meets the needs of the
organization, as well as learning paths for development
and progression in a specific role and/or area
Managers can better identify and address their
employees’ performance gaps and learning needs
Employees can see what knowledge/skills/experience/
certifications they require for success in their current
role or need to develop to move into a new role
Introduction
Closing gaps and making moves
Job descriptions and competencies provide clarity on what is required from
one role to another. For example, if communication is a key competency but a
skill gap exists, the next step should include determining training activities or
kinds of learning paths that will help the employee build greater strength in
that competency.
From a leveling prospective,
if you know which communication
skills are required for an individual
contributor versus a supervisory
level, learning and development
can be focused on making those
connections and how to close
gaps in the current level and
move employees to the next level.
Activities for developing employees
could include formal training, onthe-job training, mentoring and
other informal learning activities.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
13 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
Onwards and upwards – or outwards
Job descriptions also play an important role in succession planning. Because
job descriptions identify what a person needs to be successful in a key role/
area, they can help define the proficiency requirements for a talent pool.
For example, if you’re looking to fill a specific position, having well-defined,
job-specific criteria in place will help you identify the strongest candidate.
Using job descriptions as your foundation enables you to build bench
strength and the have the talent ready – via talent pools – to jump into any
role at any time.
For learning and development teams,
job descriptions can be used to create
curricula or learning paths that support
career advancement. Job descriptions
also help employees and managers
with career and development planning
and decisions about role changes
and/or promotions.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
14 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and succession planning
The benefit of transparency
When it comes to job description management, having a certain level of
transparency can be very important – especially from a career development
perspective. Employees who are interested in another job within the
organization can see the requirements for the position, determine what
skills they lack, see what a learning path might look like and then have a
discussion with their manager.
It’s essentially the same from a succession planning and talent pool
standpoint. Job descriptions that are comprehensive, transparent and
up-to-date, provide employees with insight into different areas of interest
they might want to explore further, and
even areas that they didn’t know they
were interested in. Transparency in job
descriptions can help organizations gauge
employee interest or lack of interest in other
roles, which can lead to more effective
succession planning.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
15 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Halogen Solution
With Halogen Job Description Builder, providing job
transparency is simple. You can give employees and managers
online access to current and previously assigned job descriptions
– and also make job descriptions accessible to the entire
organization through the Job Description Repository. For career
management purposes, Halogen Job Description Builder can
help employees uncover internal opportunities and encourage
internal mobility, resulting in more motivated and engaged
employees.
Halogen Job Description Builder integrates seamlessly with
Halogen Performance and Halogen Learning, which enables
you to link performance and learning management, measure
effectiveness and the impact on your organization’s bottom line.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Read the full Bank
of Oakridge story »
Bank of Oakridge
Creating an environment that promotes learning and professional
development is central to the corporate culture at Bank of Oak Ridge, a
community bank with locations across North Carolina. To foster those
values, the bank uses Halogen TalentSpace – a cloud-based talent
management suite that links performance and development, and helps
them meet regulatory requirements.
For Ladd, Halogen Job Description Builder provides true value. “When
a job description is created or updated, competencies are immediately
reflected in the employee’s appraisal form. It’s seamless, centralized and
we don’t have to think about it. We know it works, and the benefit is that
we know our job descriptions and talent management processes reflect
the culture and values of our organization as well as the critical job
specific competencies for each role.”
An integral part of this solution is leveraging Halogen Job Description
Builder, a solution that ensures every role has a job description that
reflects the competencies needed to succeed in the role – and also
be mapped to the bank’s performance and learning management
processes.
This means if there are performance gaps or training requirements that
need to be met, managers can discuss them with employees during
their meetings to review the employee’s performance and immediately
assign learning and training as needed.
Further, the ability to manage and update job descriptions from one
central, shared online repository provides consistency to the process.
And because employees always have access to the latest version of their
job descriptions, the system helps to ensure they are aware of their job
responsibilities.
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
16 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
“With Halogen Job Description Builder,
we can ensure employees and new hires
have the right skills to succeed because the
associated competencies written into each
job description are automatically integrated
into our performance and learning
management processes.”
Wanda Ladd, Director of Human Resources.
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Case Studies
Read the full Methodist
Hospitals story »
Methodist Hospitals
Methodist Hospitals is one of the best hospitals in Indiana, ranking 13th
overall out of 175 hospitals in 2013–14 (U.S. News & World Report Best
Hospitals). It’s a not-for-profit, community-based healthcare system that
provides services to individuals who may not be able to pay for them.
As a “safety net hospital,” they’re always looking for ways to improve
efficiencies, while maintaining patient satisfaction.
additional 380 evaluation forms. I shudder when I think of the work
involved,” says Klein.
A few years ago, Methodist Hospitals had hundreds of different
job descriptions stored in independent documents. There was no
consistency between the terminology used to describe job families or
competencies. This made searching job descriptions impossible, and
maintaining and updating them very time consuming.
The seamless connection between many job descriptions and the
organization’s performance management process has helped the hospital
maximize its use of ongoing performance management processes.
Methodist Hospitals turned to Halogen Job Description Builder and
Halogen Performance to help digitize and manage their existing job
descriptions and seamlessly link them to appraisal forms.
“There’s a big cost in terms of overhead and administrative burden
for every additional job description,” says Ed Klein, Director of
Compensation, Benefits and HRIS.
Since the job descriptions were used as the basis for employee appraisal
forms, the team at Methodist Hospitals found creating individual
appraisal forms for each job description overwhelming.
“Back in the dark ages, we had to create an appraisal form for each of
our job descriptions — so our 380 descriptions converted into an
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
17 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
“Now I have one form that automatically pulls
in correct job descriptions, and through the
magic of Halogen, takes care of weighting and
scoring and aggregating important performance
management data.”
Ed Klein, Director of Compensation, Benefits and HRIS
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Three companies that follow best-practice job description management
Cabell Huntington Hospital
Located in Huntington, West Virginia, Cabell Huntington cares for patients
from more than 29 counties throughout West Virginia, eastern Kentucky
and southern Ohio. Opened in 1956, it is also a teaching hospital and is
affiliated with Marshall University Schools of Medicine and Nursing.
When a new Vice-President of HR came on board, he reviewed existing
processes and identified areas for improvement. First, performance
appraisal rates need to be improved and the whole process re-evaluated.
Furthermore, most of the Hospital’s paper-based job descriptions and
evaluation tools were outdated and, in most cases, not connected to
each other.
Halogen has enabled the Hospital to achieve on-time employee
appraisal completion rates that meet or exceed Join Commission
requirements. The Hospital has also experienced significant savings as a
result of reducing time, effort and paper.
Once the performance review process started, multiple hands had to
touch each paper appraisal form. With multiple copies of each appraisal
circulating, there was the potential for privacy and security issues.
As soon as appraisals were completed and approved they needed to be
archived. “Our files were getting monstrous; we were simply running out
of space,” said Michelle Getter, HR representative.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
18 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Read the full Cabell
Huntington Hospital story »
Since implementing Halogen TalentSpace for healthcare, Cabell
Huntington Hospital has been able to regulate which forms are used.
Before Halogen, the Hospital had six different forms in use. Some
appraisals contained goal sections or tied back to the job descriptions
while others did not.
HR would send the necessary documents to managers who had
employee appraisals due. Often managers expressed how overwhelming
it was to deal with the piles of paper. Complaints aside, the HR team had
to keep unhappy managers on track, costing the hospital considerable
time and money.
Introduction
Case Studies
“The main difference between what we were
doing on paper and what we are now doing
online is consistency. Everyone is using the same
basic form, though each of the 300 different forms
has been configured for a specific job.”
Michelle Getter, HR representative
Case Studies
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About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description resources
Key questions for your organization
Do your job descriptions clearly communicate the minimum role requirements and expectations for each role?
Do all your employees have up-to-date job descriptions?
Do your job descriptions clearly identify what is required for employees to move from one role to another?
Do your job descriptions include the core, leadership and job-specific competencies that lead to high performance in your organization?
Are job descriptions considered a fundamental resource to aligning your talent management programs for recruitment, learning and
development, performance management, compensation and succession planning?
Do you review your jobs descriptions on a regular basis to ensure they reflect current job requirements? Do you do this after major
organizational change, a shift in the marketplace or other major business events that impact your jobs?
Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
19 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
Job description resources
Job description resources
Here are some additional resources that might be of interest to you:
To learn more about job descriptions,
visit the Learn section of the Halogen website.
Job description templates: Use these templates as inspiration to help
you and your organization create better job descriptions.
You’ll find “How-To” articles, webinars, whitepapers, forms and
templates, at the job descriptions center of excellence.
Article: The pivotal role job descriptions (should) play in your talent
management programs. Dr. Gordon Medlock explains the pivotal role
that job descriptions should play in your talent management programs.
And become a regular reader of our TalentSpace blog.
Introduction
Infographic: Mission possible infographic. Get the visual on how you
can develop job descriptions that help drive performance.
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
20 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
About Halogen Software
About Halogen Software
We hope you’ve found this resource valuable in your talent
management journey. At Halogen, our vision is to help
organizations like yours build a world-class workforce that is
aligned, engaged and delivering exceptional results. We know that
your people can be a sustainable competitive advantage.
If you’d like to access the latest thinking on each of the talent
management facets discussed here, check out Halogen’s
TalentSpace Blog.
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Halogen Software offers an organically built cloud-based talent management suite that reinforces and drives higher employee performance across all talent
programs — whether that is recruiting, performance management, learning and development, succession planning or compensation. With over 2,100 customers
worldwide, Halogen Software has been recognized as a market leader by major business analysts and has garnered the highest customer satisfaction ratings in
the industry. Halogen Software’s powerful, yet simple-to-use solutions, which also include industry-vertical editions, are used by organizations that want to build a
world-class workforce that is aligned, inspired and focused on delivering exceptional results.
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Introduction
Analysis | Recruiting | Performance | Compensation | Learning & Succession
21 | Job descriptions – Not just a hiring tool anymore
Case Studies
Resources
About Halogen Software
©2015 Halogen Software Inc. All rights reserved.
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