Job Descriptions in Career Banding
Position Description in Career-Banding An accurate position description is even more critical in the career-banded position and pay structure than it has been in the past. The position description is the primary document leading to the list of critical functional competencies needed to accomplish the position's work. Since supervisory assessment of the functional competencies will determine an employee's eligibility for salary adjustment, the relationship between the responsibilities of the position description and the functional competencies being assessed must be made very clear.
Prioritize in order of importance or by a percentage of time spent on the duties associated with it in relationship to 100%. Importance should be considered in terms of value to or impact on the organization. The reason for prioritization or percentages should be apparent: in order to prioritize Functional Competencies so that relative value can be assigned as employees develop and are eligible for pay movement through the band, more weight will be given to development in the most significant Functional Competencies.
Bands The bands are assigned based on the work the department needs an employee to do, and the tasks they are given. The primary purpose of the position should assist in determining the position's band placement. A band assignment is not as important to career development and compensation progression as is the level at which the competencies are assessed. These bands are not to be confused with the old graded classifications; each band is based on distinct work roles for which different market comparisons can be made.
Hints on Completing the Job Description
Most significant job function(s) -Include numbers, where applicable, of total employees, clients/customers served; total operating/personnel/grants and contracts funds; total number of accounts managed, applications processed, etc; and unit's impact within the college or university. Information of this type is available from annual reports or institutional research.
Is this Position Description is being updated? Are the reporting relationships or distribution of labor changed with impact to this position? Has the work unit has expanded in scale or scope to impact more business activities, students, programs, or external constituencies? Please provide examples (numbers of and amounts in funds, increase in enrolled students or faculty, increase in research activity, new programs, new community development incentives, etc.).
Who are Customers? Customers can be external to the university, primarily internal, limited to employee's department, supervisor, peers etc. In administrative support positions, it is important to identify where the major customer focus lies on a regular basis: With students? With external business vendors or with CEO's? With faculty members? With prospective students? With prospective donors? With board members? With staff? With the general public? With representatives from other agencies or universities? Here, the supervisor must distinguish what types of communication with customers occur and whether the purpose of regular communication is to give out general information, to explain, to instruct, to interpret, or to persuade and negotiate. Responsibilities A good source to use for helping to determine Responsibilities is the employee's current work plan.
Functional Competencies The functional competencies have been identified as the knowledge, skills, abilities needed to successfully perform the responsibilities found in administrative support jobs. When career-banding is fully implemented, employees should be considered for movement within the band range based on their development of these competencies and how they are applied in the successful completion of their primary job factors. Prioitize the functional competencies when selected to be included in the position description form.