Hiring and Retention: A Detailed Job Description Could Save You from a Nasty Lawsuit * Incedo Group

Hiring and Retention: A Detailed Job Description Could Save You from a Nasty Lawsuit

Hiring good people for your company may be the single most challenging part of building your business. This entails long hours of filtering through applications, sitting through interviews, and then deciding and choosing the best person for the position. Hiring and retention should be a top priority for your business because your people are your investment, and they are the ones who will steer your organization to the top.

You will definitely agree that hard working, skilled employees are like gold. They are not easy to find but once you do find one, you need try hard to retain them. They are worth every investment you make on training and building them, and I’m sure you will not think twice of compensating them according to their skills.

Now to ensure an effective and efficient hiring process, you need to get the essentials right. Creating job descriptions for each open position is important. It will not only help you spot the best fit and save you money from hiring and rehiring, but it will also help safeguard you against job discrimination lawsuits. Yes, you may not have realized it, but failure to prepare job descriptions may lead to some major problems, even legal problems that may be costly to your business.

Below are some possible scenarios, where a properly written job description will come in handy. Study them to help you create a fool-proof hiring and retention process.

Scenario 1:

An applicant files a case against you for rejecting his application based on his race or gender. These discrimination claims really do happen. Now in the absence of a properly written job description, you may not stand a chance of defending yourself but if you do, then you can simply argue that the applicant did not meet the job requirements and qualifications.

Scenario 2:

A newly hired employee demands for overtime pay. Now without a properly written job description, this employee may file a case with the labor department. However, if you have a duly written job description that clearly shows his duties do not merit overtime pay then you are off the hook.

Scenario 3:

An employee hopes to prove in court that he is legally disabled, yet can perform the functions of the job, and maybe get extra benefits in the process. Of course, you would rather have a healthy and perfectly capable employee to do the task quicker. However, without a properly written job description that details all essential functions it will be hard for you to prove otherwise. The court can rule in the employee’s favor.

Hiring and retention can be very costly. You spend money on the hiring process, spend more on employee training, and then spend even more once the staff resigns. The worst part is, you need to go through the entire process again and again every time a position opens. So do not take a shortcut. Go through the process properly. Draft the job descriptions, send out the job ad, conduct your interviews properly, and find the best person for the position. By going through the correct process, you will end up saving money on the recruitment process.