Understanding Job Analysis and Its Legal Implications
Job Analysis and the Law
Fair Labor Standards Act: Employees are categorized as exempt or non-exempt, and job analysis is basic to this determination. Non-exempt workers must be paid time and a half when they work more than 40 hours per week. Overtime pay is not required for exempt employees.
Equal Pay Act: If jobs are not substantially different, employees performing them must receive similar pay.
Civil Rights Act: Job descriptions may provide the basis for an equitable compensation system and an adequate defense against unfair discrimination charges in initial selection, promotion, and all other areas of HR administration.
Occupational Safety and Health Act: Job descriptions are required to specify elements of the job that endanger health or are considered unsatisfactory or distasteful by the majority of the population.
Competencies refer to an individual’s capability to orchestrate and apply combinations of knowledge, skills, and abilities consistently over time to perform work successfully in the required work situations.
Competency Modeling specifies and defines all the competencies necessary for success in a group of jobs that are set within an industry context.
Job Design is the process of determining the specific tasks to be performed, the methods used in performing these tasks, and how the job relates to other work in the organization.
Job Enrichment: Consists of basic changes in the content and level of responsibility of a job to provide greater challenges to the worker. Job enrichment provides a vertical expansion of responsibilities.
Job Enlargement: Is defined as increasing the number of tasks a worker performs, with all of the tasks at the same level of responsibility.
Job Rotation: (cross-training) moves employees from one job to another to broaden their experience.
Reengineering: Is “the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.”
Recruitment
Recruitment is the process of attracting individuals on a timely basis, in sufficient numbers, and with appropriate qualifications to apply for jobs with an organization.
Employee Requisition: Document that specifies job title, department, the date the employee is needed for work, and other details.
Recruitment Sources: Where qualified candidates are located.
Recruitment Methods: Specific means used to attract potential employees to the firm.
Job Posting: Procedure for informing employees that job openings exist.
Job Bidding: Procedure that permits employees who believe that they possess the required qualifications to apply for a posted position.
Employee Referral: An employee of the company recommends a friend or associate as a possible member of the company; this continues to be the way that top performers are identified.
Human Resource Databases: Human resource databases permit organizations to determine whether current employees possess the qualifications for filling open positions.
Recruiting Technology: The use of mobile (smartphone) technology and online methods has revolutionized the way companies recruit employees and job seekers search and apply for jobs.
Self-Employed Workers: May be true entrepreneurs who are ingenious and creative. For many firms, these qualities are essential for continued competitiveness.
Ex-Offenders: 60 to 75 percent of ex-offenders are unemployed.