Drafting Job Descriptions: The Human Resources guide for small to medium-sized businesses in Wollongong
An accurate job description is an integral document for any business’ onboarding procedure. The job description lists essential job functions and skills, knowledge, abilities and other characteristics needed for satisfactory performance of the job.
A job description should not be drafted once. Each time your employee’s responsibilities change, their job description should be updated. Keeping job descriptions updated prevents workplace disagreements where employees may argue that they were unaware that something was their responsibility.
Whilst job descriptions should be accurate, it is not necessary to list every specific responsibility which an employee will be tasked with. Such detail will only serve to lengthen the document unnecessarily and may become confusing. Additionally, if the job description is too detailed, it is possible that you may miss something out.
For example, instead of stating that an administrative assistant in a physiotherapy practice must:
- Calculate payments to NDIS client
- Draft invoices to NDIS client
- Confirm the details of invoices
- Send NDIS invoice to client
- Confirm payment of NDIS invoices
The position description can simply list:
- Invoicing NDIS clients and other clients as required
In addition to the duties and responsibilities, a job description should include:
- Job Title
- Employment Type
- Award Classification
- Rate of Pay
- Location of place of work
- Qualifications necessary
- Skills necessary
As stated earlier, a job description must not be too lengthy and detailed, but should inform your employees of their duties and other details required in order to complete the job.
Accurate job descriptions are an integral part of any HR package in your business and should be formatted correctly. Talk to John Morrissey about a job description or an onboarding package for your small or medium sized business in Wollongong.
