What is a Job Description?

A job description is a document that defines the duties, powers, and expected results of an employee’s work in a specific position. This is one of the documents according to which an employee performs his work duties. With the help of the job description, the employer structures work processes and ensures the effective fulfillment of business tasks. The job description must be clear and understandable to represent employees’ duties and responsibilities. The job description is essential to successful personnel management, which helps create a compelling and productive organization.

Job description – what kind of document is this?

The job description is an internal (local) document of the company. It is developed for staff who are hired for specialist and manager positions. Job descriptions are not required for the working staff.

Development and approval

Usually, the head of the department in which the employee is hired develops a job description.

The job description is coordinated by the company’s employee responsible for the personnel registration and approved by the head of the company. This ensures that the job description meets the needs of the company and the requirements for certain positions, which are prescribed in the Unified Qualification Directory of Employee Positions.

What information is included in the job description

The job description defines:

The duties of an employee are his work functions.
Tasks performed by an employee.
Rights and obligations related to a specific position.
The employee’s work schedule.

Why is it necessary to have a job description?

For an employer, a job description is an essential tool for personnel management for the following reasons:
1. Sets the employer’s expectations from employees
The job description helps to determine precisely what is expected of an employee in a given position. This prevents misunderstandings and conflicts since the employee knows what tasks he needs to perform.
2. Regulates work processes
Job descriptions help streamline and standardize work processes, improving the efficiency and quality of staff work.
3. Promotes the assessment and control of personnel
The job description serves as the basis for evaluating an employee’s performance. The employer can use it to monitor the completion of tasks and assign rewards or penalties depending on the results.
4. Promotes the professional development of employees
The duties and requirements listed in the job description help to identify areas in which an employee can improve and provide a basis for professional training and development.

Job description design options

The job description may be a separate document or part of an employment contract – an appendix. The specifics of the job description in each of these cases:

A separate document
When the job description is adopted as a separate document, it applies to all company employees who work in positions with the same name. The employer can unilaterally make changes to such a job description. When changes are related to employees’ work functions, for example, with the addition of job descriptions with functions that are not typical for a particular position, it is necessary to warn employees 1 month in advance about changes in essential working conditions. Employees who do not wish to continue working with the changed work functions can resign without waiting for the expiration date of the employment contract.
When the labour functions in the job description are clarified within the framework of the duties inherent in a particular position, the essential working conditions do not change. In this case, you do not need to warn the employee about changes in essential working conditions.
Appendix to the employment contract
When the job description is part of an employment contract, it cannot be changed without the employee’s consent.

Minimum requirements for sections of the job description

The bare minimum content of the job description includes the following 5 sections:
1. General provisions.
2. Job responsibilities.
3. Rights.
4. Relationships (connections by position).
5. Job evaluation and responsibility.

The content of the job description can be expanded relative to the minimum requirements or limited to the minimum required level.

The content of the section “General Provisions”

This section of the job description usually contains the following information:

The title of the position and the category.
Qualification requirements include the level of education, sometimes specialization and direction of education, and the required length of service.
The procedure for appointment to a position (hiring).
Subordination of an employee.
Tasks assigned to the employee.
Documents that an employee should follow in the performance of his duties.
If necessary, additional conditions related to the employee’s activities can be included in the section.

The content of the section “Job Responsibilities”

They list the employee’s duties and the employer’s needs according to the Unified Qualification Handbook. In addition to work functions, job responsibilities include compliance with labour protection and fire safety requirements. For managers, job descriptions provide for:

The obligation to create safe working conditions for subordinates.
The obligation to monitor compliance by subordinates with labour protection and fire safety requirements.

It is necessary to prescribe in the job description the obligation to comply with the established procedure for processing personal data for employees who work with personal data.

The content of the section “Employee Rights”

They list the rights that an employee enjoys while performing their work duties.

The content of the section “Relationships (connections by position)”

Describe the processes of employee interaction with the manager, colleagues, other departments, and clients.

The content of the section “Job Evaluation and Responsibility.”

This job description section contains the procedure for evaluating the employee’s performance and his responsibility for the non-fulfillment of work obligations. In this section, you can include liability measures for an employee’s violation of the trade secret regime established in the company for damage caused to the employer.
This section is linked to the “Job responsibilities” section, as the employer may hold an employee liable for non-fulfilment of the job responsibilities listed in this section.

Definition of job responsibilities

Determining the employee’s job responsibilities is essential so that he understands the processes in which he is involved and for which he is responsible.
The content of an employee’s work responsibilities should usually correspond to the qualification characteristics of this employee’s position, which is defined in the Unified Qualification Directory of Employee Positions.

Is it possible to include responsibilities for several positions in one job description?

The job description for one position can include the responsibilities for several positions, subject to the following conditions:

The work performed is similar in content.
The work performed is equal in complexity.
The jobs correspond to the employee’s qualifications without the need to change qualifications.

In this case, the employee will perform the duties of several positions without additional payment for combining and without separate consent.

It is often easier for an employer to update an employee’s responsibilities and include advanced functionality after a vacancy has been created since there is no need to obtain the employee’s consent.

Step-by-step process of job description development

Usually, the company prepares job descriptions itself or assigns them to third–party specialists—external experts. In any case, the job description is coordinated by the heads of the interested departments of the company and approved by the head of the company. It is recommended that an employee be appointed responsible for organizing the process of developing, approving, and accepting job descriptions.

This may be a line manager or another employee.

Step 1. Project development

You can entrust the development of a draft job description to:

The department head, which requires a specialist with specific functionality.
An employee who works with HR documentation.
To an external expert.

Step 2. Text Matching

After drafting the job description, the project is sent for approval to interested specialists and company managers:

a specialist or a labour protection department;
a lawyer;
to the head of the department for whose employees the job description is being developed.

Each of those who coordinate the text can leave their clarifications and comments. Next, the author aligns the instruction text with the comments or advises on its correctness and creates a final version, which is agreed upon by all interested parties.

Step 3. Approval

The job description is approved by the head of the company, to whom it is sent by the manager responsible for the job description development process. The supervisor approves the document on the first page in the upper right corner. The manager usually draws up the approval stamp, and the head gets acquainted with the text and puts his signature and date in the approval stamp.

Step 4. Registration and storage of the job description

Job descriptions are usually recorded in the job description log. The company’s responsible person develops the form of this magazine. After approval, the job description is stored for 50 years. You can store it with the manager responsible for developing and approving job descriptions or in the HR department or the department for whose employees’ job descriptions have been developed.