Mistake: No Job Description!

The conversation went something like this:

“Karen, my business partner hired his daughter’s boyfriend as an engineer and he isn’t working out so well. I’m going to fire him this afternoon and I thought I should let you know in case there’s something you want to tell me.” The President/CEO of the company said that to me and I was expected to do ... what exactly?

I took a deep breath and said, “I’m out of my area of expertise here." (Human resource laws vary by state and are complicated.) “Send me the job description, and his performance reviews up to this point and let me have our HR Principal take a look at them." He said, “Job description? We don’t have those.”

Let me help you learn from this mistake: Job descriptions provide architects, engineers and administrative personnel with the basic understanding of what is required of them in their day-to-day work. It is insufficient to assume that since someone was an engineer for your competitors, they know what to do when they work for you.

Without a job description, the best you can hope for is a poorly replicated performance of work done for a previous employer. Job descriptions do not determine an individual’s performance. That is addressed through performance reviews. While they may not fully define expectations, job descriptions do define roles and responsibilities for a position.

Back to my client: Since John (not his real name) was never given a job description (or a performance review), it was difficult to terminate him without sufficient documentation. Even in an “at-will” state, no firm wants to increase risk and exposure (financial and insurance) to a wrongful termination suit. So what could have been a Friday afternoon termination and a positive move forward for my client turned into a six-month process of documenting performance and racking up attorney’s bills for advice.

There are two lessons here:

1. Whether you have two employees or two hundred, develop job descriptions. They are not for your benefit, but for the benefit of those whom you employ.
2. If you find yourself in this quandary, seek legal advice. Despite the cost and frustration, it is likely to save you time and money in the end.

Karen Compton, CPSM. Karen Compton is principal of A3K Consulting (Glendale, CA), a business development and strategic planning firm specializing in the architecture, engineering and construction industries. Ms. Compton is also the founder of Industry Speaks™, a web-based business-to-business portal that connects AEC firms with experienced consultants, provides peer reviews of consultants, reports on key industry trends, and publishes expert reviews of professional courses and books. Contact her at kcompton@a3kconsulting.com.