Sample job descriptions at HR.BLR.com make human resources administration easier

Old Saybrook, CT, If your company has not updated its job descriptions lately, it might be an unpleasant surprise to compare them with the actual work performed by employees today. With job descriptions essential to so many human resource functions, itís particularly important that companies take the time to update their organizationsí descriptions.

ìIíve never run into anyone who has admitted liking to write job descriptions,î says Martin Simon, legal editorat HR.BLR.com, State HR Answers and Tools Online. ìBut these tools, sometimes called position descriptions, are critical to effective and legal human resource administration.î

Sample job descriptions can drive recruitment campaigns, set expectations for new workers, establish salary grade levels for groups of jobs, and align individual goals and activities with an organizationís strategic objectives. A good job description follows a simple but consistent format that describes key roles played by that job, as well as ìessential functions.î A job description should not set physical tasks that would run into compliance problems with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

ADA compliance is one standard when creating job descriptions, ìbut itís in the area of compliance with the FLSAís new overtime regulations where job descriptions have increased in importance,î Simon stressed. ìIf written correctly, the job description should clearly list the skills required. Using the duties in that document, along with salary data and knowledge of the new overtime regulations, it should be easy to substantiate to the Department of Labor (DOL) that a job be considered exempt or nonexempt from overtime.î The DOL goes further on this point: ìThe exempt or nonexempt status of any particular employee must be determined on the basis of whether the employeeís salary and duties meet the requirements of the regulations.î