Laurika Fourie | General Manager: Job Evaluation & Systems | 21st Century | mail me |
Job profiling is at the heart of all Human Capital practices. but the COVID-19 pandemic has brought around massive changes in the workplace across the board – so, are the current job profile standards still relevant? Before this important question is addressed, we cover the important foundations of Job profiling.
Unfortunately the job profiling process doesn’t always integrate quite so seamlessly with the various components of the HR value chain. It is used by many organisations to inform specific processes but consistent integration with other links in the HR process chain is often lacking.
A great amount of time is often spent on the once-off development and use of job profiles to either advertise a specific vacancy, to evaluate a role or to determine appropriate salary benchmarks. But after that, not much emphasis is placed on the ongoing review and integration of the job profile into the role, to ensure alignment, relevance and accuracy. This is a missed opportunity!
Up-to-date
Without a comprehensive, up-to-date job profile that describes the job, there’s no path or direction. You need a proper job description to provide direction for the employee so they are able to take on the right journey and have a bigger picture of where they fit in and where they may progress.
A job profile does not only serve as a guide for incumbents to identify with the requirements of the job. It aligns the business goals and strategy within all business units and departments, down to the individual job holder, and it has to be driven by business requirements and not written around an individual. This is the crux of the integration impact it can have.
More than a list
Job profiling has evolved over time and is far more than a list of responsibilities or tasks.
It typically includes job title, main purpose of the job, job grade, OFO (Organisation Framework of Occupations) code, location, reporting structure, qualifications, professional registrations, experience and other minimum requirements, as examples.
Results, responsibilities & outputs
Key result areas, responsibilities and outputs serving as broad success indicators are included, as well as details pertaining to job-related competencies, working conditions and job context. The successful drafting and review of job profiles is required for any organisation to operate to its full potential and is dependent on well executed job design practices.
A Job Profile must be verified and signed off by supervisors or line managers, again implying integration from a management perspective.
Purpose
It is hard not to, but you want to…
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Read the full article by Laurika Fourie, General Manager: Job Evaluation & Systems, 21st Century, as well as a host of other topical management articles written by professionals, consultants and academics in the December/January 2021/22 edition of BusinessBrief.
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