Guide
to the
Use of the VSBA Job Descriptions
Regardless of the size or complexity of the school division, good job descriptions are vital management tools and important documents for many legal reasons. While they are not required by law, job descriptions are critical in supporting practically every employment action (hiring, compensation, promotion, discipline, and termination).
Job descriptions help employees understand exactly what their jobs require so they can focus their attention on the most important tasks first. Job descriptions give administrators and managers the guidelines to hire, promote, and supervise with maximum effectiveness.
Before hiring, you should write a job description to focus on the skills needed for the job as well as the duties. The job description can be the source for a printed advertisement, or an Internet/intranet job posting. It can be sent to recruiters and provided to applicants.
Before interviewing, use the job description as the basis for developing solid job-related interview questions that help you identify whether candidates have the knowledge, skills, and abilities you need. Since interviewing and hiring practices are affected by many government regulations, make sure you can defend the questions you ask as job-related and legally appropriate.
Dealing with performance problems is difficult for many administrators and managers and even a painful experience for some. However, with well-written job descriptions, you can be clear about performance expectations from the start.
Job descriptions serve as a yardstick against which you can measure how well an employee performs. Many administrators review the job description as part of each performance review cycle. They confirm that it still accurately reflects the employee's job and they measure the employee's performance against it.
If performance expectations are not met, the job description helps you focus squarely on the most important parts of the job, assess performance fairly, and discuss relevant issues objectively. If the performance problem is not resolved, your previous discussions, supported with a well-written job description, will put you on solid footing for taking the appropriate disciplinary action.
School divisions today must comply with a long and growing list of employment laws and regulations. If a hiring or employment decision is challenged by an employee or a government agency, one of the most important documents you will be expected to provide is a copy of the job description.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), many state workers' compensation laws, and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) have put a new spotlight on not just what people do (the essential job duties) but how they do it (physical demands and work environment). A well-written, thorough job description can help you make the critical decisions necessary to comply with these challenges.
A brief description of each part of the Job Description is provided below. One needs to carefully review each of the generic Job Descriptions provided by the Virginia School Boards Association. If any descriptor does not fit the job responsibilities it needs to be removed from the JD. If there are job responsibilities which are not included in this generic JD then the descriptor should be written and inserted.
The “exempt” and “nonexempt” information provided is a subjective determination based on the generic job title. The Virginia School Boards Association is not responsible for any incorrect information regarding the FLSA assignment to a particular job. You should review this “subjective” determination to see if the job is exempt or nonexempt under FLSA regulations.
The issue of Supervisory Responsibilities should be completed by the Personnel Department/Human Resources Department as to the supervisory responsibilities assigned to this job. VSBA would not have access to this information in development of a generic job description.
All other areas (Qualifications, Certificates and Licenses, Physical Demands, and Work Environment) should be reviewed for any necessary changes to the generic JD.
Information related to Terms of Employment (actual hours of the day the employee is at work, number of days employed (200/240/260, etc.), and (if available) the salary schedule/table/scale the employee is assigned for pay purposes should be included.
All questions related to the generic job descriptions should be addressed to Herb Cottrill, Director of Research and Information Services, Virginia School Boards Association, 2320 Hunter’s Way, Charlottesville, VA. 22911, telephone 804-295-8722, or email at .
Job Title: The job title should identify the job's content, purpose, and scope. It can also help define working relationships and the level of work performed. Historically, job titles often indicated steps within job families, such as Secretary I and Secretary II or Programmer I and II. More recently, there has been a tendency to attempt to personalize job titles by omitting numbers, codes, or terms such as junior. The emphasis on teamwork and flatter organizations has also influenced job title conventions.
WARNING: A poorly chosen title can lead to confusion about a job's level of responsibility, authority, and compensation. Including the word supervisor or manager in the title of a job that has no responsibility for managing other employees may lead to the assumption that the incumbent is exempt from overtime pay under the FLSA. Exemptions are not determined by job title but by essential job duties and pay level. See Fair Labor Standards Act for more details.
Department: School divisions have more than one management unit so it is important to use the Department fields. When a job title exists in multiple units, such as Programmer or Secretary, separate job descriptions will probably be needed unless the duties and qualifications are identical across units.
Reports To: Most job descriptions include the job title or name of the person to whom the job reports. It is useful for historical purposes, tracking reporting lines, as well as identifying compensation relationships between jobs. It is usually better to record the job title of the supervisor or manager rather than the name. In the event the supervisor changes, you won't have to update the job description.
FLSA Status: Job duties (and sometimes salary and qualifications) determine whether or not an employee is entitled to overtime pay under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (and sometimes state and local laws). Therefore, it is important that the job description show this status. To assist you in determining the FLSA status, use the Exemption Checklist provided by VSBA.
Enter the words exempt or nonexempt in this field.
Prepared By (&) Prepared Date: There are two Job Information fields to indicate preparation information: Prepared Date and Prepared By. It can be helpful to record who wrote a job description even if that person did not make the final approval. You can record both the preparer's name and title as well as the date it was written. By placing the Prepared Date on the job description, you can manage the job description process by running reports to identify "older" job descriptions.
Approval Information: There are two fields to indicate approval information: Approved Date and Approved By. The approving person should have sufficient knowledge of the organization and relevant legal issues to determine that the important aspects of the job have been accurately and fully covered and that the information such as salary level, FLSA status, and physical demands and work environment are correct. By placing the Approved Date on the job description, you can manage the job description process by running reports to identify "older" job descriptions.
Qualifications: The Qualifications sections should be used to define the specific knowledge, skills, and abilities needed for successful job performance. Qualifications are important in defining the job for hiring purposes as well as helping set compensation. They also are legally important in the event you are challenged under the ADA or other employment laws.
Job Responsibilities: The Duties and Responsibilities section is the place to describe the essential, fundamental functions and responsibilities of the job. (Less important, marginal functions should be shown in a separate section. ) The most commonly used and most effective style for this section is a list format. Each item on the list is called a duty statement. You should arrange the duty statements in some logical order such as:
Importance to the primary purpose of the job.
By the percentage of time performed.
In chronological order, such as in a typical day.
Grouped by function (particularly useful when there are many duty statements)
Physical Demands: The Physical Demands section describes the physical skills and abilities an employee typically must have to perform the job successfully. In completing this section, you will want to be sure that you can relate all physical demands to the essential job duties.
Work Environment: The description of the work environment shown in a job description gives important guidance to supervisors who interview candidates for a job. It also helps an applicant understand what the job is like regardless of whether a disability exists. For persons with disabilities, they will need to know any environmental conditions that might impact them in order to evaluate whether they may need a reasonable accommodation