The job description is a critical document that defines the duties and responsibilities of an employee in a specific position in the company. It provides a clear definition of employees’ functions and the requirements for their work in Belarus. In this article, experts explain what a job description is, how it is used for the successful functioning of a company and what difficulties are associated with it.
What does the job description look like?
Job descriptions are developed in those companies that accept staff as employees (not working staff).
This is one of the local documents of the company – a local legal act which defines:
- The duties of an employee – his work function.
- The tasks of the employee.
- Rights and responsibilities for a particular position.
- The employee’s work schedule.
For which employees no need to develop a job description
There are two categories of company personnel: employees and workers. Companies that have not only working staff or only employees are required to develop job descriptions for the categories of employees who belong to employees:
- Managers: deputy directors, chief accountant, chief engineer, heads of legal and human resources, manager, foreman, and others.
- Specialists: legal adviser, HR specialist, accountant, engineer and others.
- Other employees: secretary, driver, assistant and others.
Developing job descriptions in practice for the head of the company and heads of structural divisions is unnecessary. The company itself determines the need to develop job descriptions for such managers.
In what form does the job description exist
The job description can be a separate document or an appendix to an employment contract concluded with each employee. What are the features of each of the forms of this document:
1. The job description is a separate document
When the job description is adopted as a separate document, it applies to all employees who work in positions with the same name. The employer can unilaterally change such a job description. When changes relate to employees’ performance of work functions, it is necessary to warn employees two months in advance about changes in essential working conditions.
2. Job description – appendix to the employment contract
When the job description is attached to the employment contract, it forms part of the employment contract. In this case, you cannot change the job description without the employee’s consent.
What sections does the job description include?
The minimum requirements for the content of the job description have been established. The content of the job description can be expanded in comparison with the minimum standards or limited to the minimum necessary content. In total, the minimum required content of the job description includes 5 sections:
- General provisions.
- Job responsibilities.
- Rights.
- Relationships (connections by position).
- Job evaluation and responsibility.
General provisions
This section of the job description includes:
- The category and the full title of the position.
- Qualification requirements. They usually indicate the level of education, sometimes the direction of education, specialty, and the length of service required to perform the work.
- The procedure for appointment to a position (hiring).
- Employee’s subordination.
- The tasks of the employee.
- What documents an employee is guided by when doing work.
- The section can include clarification of the conditions of the employee’s activity.
Job responsibilities
This section lists the responsibilities of an employee for a specific position.
Rights
This section lists the rights that an employee has when performing his duties.
Relationships (connections by position)
This section describes the processes by which employees interact with other employees, clients, and other companies in the performance of official duties.
Job evaluation and responsibility
This section of the job description prescribes the procedure for evaluating the employee’s performance and his responsibility for the unsatisfactory performance of official duties.
How to define an employee’s job responsibilities
The content of an employee’s job responsibilities should usually correspond to the qualification characteristics of that employee’s position. Such attributes of positions are given in the Unified Qualification Directory of Positions of Employees.
You can include the responsibilities provided in the directory of positions for several positions in the job description. In this case, you need to follow the rules:
- The work performed is similar in content.
- The work performed is equal in complexity.
- The jobs correspond to the employee’s qualifications: they do not need to change their qualifications to complete the job.
The employee will fulfil the requirements for different positions – additional work without additional payment for combining and without separate consent.
In addition to work functions, job responsibilities include:
- Compliance with labour protection requirements.
- Compliance with fire safety requirements.
Job responsibilities of employees who process personal data
The work performed by an employee may be mainly related to the processing of personal data in information resources. For such employees, the National Center of Personal Data Protection recommended providing the following obligations to comply with the procedure for processing personal data:
- Explain the rights related to processing personal data to personal data subjects.
- Obtain consent to the processing of personal data when necessary.
- Take measures to update personal data.
- Monitor the processing period of personal data and its compliance with the purposes of processing.
- Delete or block personal data when there is no reason to process it.
- Provide access to personal data, including to third parties, and keep records of access and the cases in which it was provided.
- Involve the DPO in case of controversial issues related to the processing of personal data.
How job descriptions are developed
Usually, the company allocates employees who develop job descriptions or turns to third-party outsourcers to develop job descriptions. The job description is coordinated by the company’s divisions and approved by the head. In the company, we recommend appointing:
- An employee responsible for organizing the process of developing, approving and accepting job descriptions.
- Employees responsible for this business process. These are usually line managers.
Step 1. Approval of the project
After the company has decided on the content of the job description, the document exists in the form of a draft. The project can be sent for approval to:
- A specialist or a labour protection service.
- A lawyer.
- The head of the department for whose employees the job description is being developed.
Step 2. Actions based on the results of project approval
If the employees who agreed on the text of the job description had comments, the job descriptions are finalized by the comments. Further, those who made adjustments approved the result after the changes.
Step 3. Approval of the job description
Usually, job descriptions are sent to the head of the company for approval through an employee responsible for organizing the process related to the development of job descriptions.
Approve the job description in one of the ways:
- The approval stamp is at the top of the document’s first page.
- First, an order for approval is issued, and then an approval stamp is affixed to the document.
Step 4. Registration of the job description
The job description is usually recorded in the job description log developed in the company.
Step 5. Storing the job description
The job description has been kept for 50 years. It is not defined who should keep job descriptions. The head of the company can issue an order determining where to store them, for example, in the personnel department, at a human resources specialist, or at the heads of departments.
How to contact us
For more information or advice on issues related to the development of job descriptions, do not hesitate to contact us. We are here to help and support you.
Phone and e-mail communication options are available for your convenience:
- +375293664477 (WhatsApp/Telegram/Viber);
- info@spex.by.
