In order for an organization to achieve high goals, they must first be defined, and then communicated to employees. Each employee involved must understand what the organization wants to achieve and what their individual contribution is to the achievement of common goals. A job description is a tool that helps employees do the right thing by setting clear goals and setting understandable requirements.
The job description is one of the most important elements in the company's personnel management system, as it creates a detailed description of the company's functions and processes in various departments, the resources required for their performance and workload. The job description is vital for organizing the company's work, analyzing and evaluating work performance, the employee selection process (helps to formulate requirements for the applicant and introduce the new employee to the duties), as well as training planning.
What is stipulated in the regulatory acts?
The legislative base of Latvia is quite democratic regarding the procedure for developing a job description for the needs of private business. The term "job description" is not used at all in the Labor Law (DL). Only Article 40, Part 2, Clause 5 of the DL stipulates that the employee's trade, position, specialty (according to the Classifier of Professions) and a general description of the hired work must be specified in the employment contract.
On the other hand, for state administrative institutions, regulatory acts strictly define how to develop a job description. Section 20, Part 1 of the State Civil Service Law states that the duties of a civil servant are determined in the job description. The Cabinet of Ministers (MK) determines the procedure for developing the civil servant's job description.
Until January 1, 2017, the MK instruction No. 5 "Procedure for development of the civil servant's job description" was in force, which quite precisely indicated the procedure for developing the civil servant's job description in state administrative institutions. After that, the development of the job description of the state administrative institution was guided by the regulations of the MK No. 1075 "Catalogue of positions of state and local government institutions", which expired on July 1, 2022. Currently, state and local government institutions are developing job descriptions in accordance with MK regulations No. 262 "Catalogue of positions of state and local government institutions, the procedure for developing job classifications and job descriptions".
Although the Regulations of the MK No. 264 "Regulations on the Classifier of Professions, basic tasks corresponding to the profession and basic qualification requirements" (updated on April 8, 2022) were issued with the aim of ensuring the accounting and comparison of the workforce in line with international practice, in practice it can be observed that in business, the creation of a job description for the basis is the guidelines from the Classification of Professions and the rules for developing job descriptions of state and local government institutions, adapting them accordingly to the needs of the specific company.
The profession classifier provides an idea of the basic tasks and qualification requirements of a profession (occupation, position, specialty): what the employee must know and understand, what the employee is responsible for and what the desired education is.
Where to start?
A well-crafted job description creates a realistic picture of the work to be done and answers the question "What does the person in this role actually do?" The job description not only describes the responsibilities of the position, it sets the basis for what kind of employee the company needs. The job description must accurately reflect the duties and responsibilities of the position.
An ideal environment should start by identifying the "cornerstones" of the position: why does the position exist, what are the main areas of responsibility for the position, and why are all the individual tasks performed? It is important to answer these questions briefly, concisely, without analyzing them in more detail, but defining the main responsibilities. The main responsibilities are not competence - the emphasis in defining responsibilities is on the outcome, not the process of doing the work. After the main job duties have been defined, the standards for their performance should be defined: the expected result and performance evaluation. It is also an important element in maintaining a fair compensation system and ensuring legal compliance.
Key job duties provide the information necessary to classify the position, not the person; thus, they must be "historically neutral" and must not be based on the knowledge, skills, abilities or performance of any particular previous employee.
In the section on education, experience and qualifications, it is necessary to list the minimum level required to fulfill the duties of the specific position/job. If the employer believes that the employee needs a specific qualification to perform his duties, it is absolutely necessary to indicate this.
A job description is a job summary that defines the duties, activities, and qualifications associated with a specific position in an organization. Typically, the HR manager (or specialist) conducts a job analysis process, often with the employer, to determine the responsibilities of each position and create clear job descriptions according to the company's needs.
What to avoid?
The document should not include all the details of how and what work is done, so that it is useful even if there are minor changes. In such a case, the employer is entitled to use the rights provided for in Article 56, Part 1 of the Labor Code - with his orders, he can specify the employee's work duties within the framework of the employment contract. On the other hand, if the employer wants to significantly change what is stated in the job description, it is important to follow the procedure for amending the employment contract mentioned in Chapter 25 of the Labor Code.
It is most often observed in practice that the job description is added to the employment contract as an appendix. The information included in the job description can also be included in the basic version of the employment contract. However, there are cases when employers indicate the information included in the job description in other internal documents of the organization, for example, in the internal rules of the work order. In my opinion, such a practice is not in accordance with DL norms, because the condition contained in Article 40, Part 2, Clause 5 of the DL, to indicate a general description of the hired work in the employment contract, is mandatory, therefore it excludes the possibility of including this condition in other documents, unless they have been drawn up as annexes to the employment contract.
This is not a formality!
Job descriptions play a vital role in the hiring process. An employer or recruiter uses job descriptions in this process to encourage the right candidates to apply for a vacant position. A job description helps recruiters reach the best candidates, and the points in the job description are usually used as a basis for interview questions. The job advertisement basically also consists of the basic conditions of the job description, thus already at the first stage it allows the candidates to understand what is expected of them.
In my opinion, employers do not appreciate the true meaning of the job description, so in practice it can be observed that the job descriptions are written formally, the duties are unclear, mutually contradictory, without identifying the areas and scopes of responsibility.
In the case of labor legal relations disputes, a vaguely created job description hinders the employer's right to hold the employee accountable for non-fulfilment of direct work duties and termination of labor relations, based on DL Article 101, Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and paragraph 7. Also, the job description is of great importance in the event of a reduction in the number of employees, allowing the employer to clearly distinguish similar or different positions and to clearly evaluate which of the employees has the advantage of continuing the employment relationship.
Therefore, it can be concluded that a qualitatively developed job description is a basic document in achieving the company's strategic goals, as well as plays an important role in providing evidence in case of labor legal disputes.
Source: iTiesibas