Only about half of HR professionals practice the science of job analysis—reducing a job to its elemental parts and identifying the skills and knowledge required to do it.
That's the implication that could be drawn from a survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management that queried 459 HR professionals about their familiarity with and use of job analysis to infuse their department's performance.
The survey revealed that a little more than half of those surveyed (51 percent) had participated in at least one formal job analysis activity. Less than half (45 percent) said they've used the information obtained from job analysis for some function other than identifying the skills and knowledge required to perform a certain job. Only 20 percent said they'd conducted a job analysis while working for their employer.
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Survey highlights include:
- 73 percent of organizations use information collected through job analysis activities for recruitment purposes including job listings;
- 72 percent use job analysis for performance management;
- 69 percent use it to help determine compensation;
- 61 percent use it to enhance employee training programs.
How do most HR professionals gather the information for a job analysis? Half said they used one-on-one interviews, a third said they used observation as their primary data gathering method, and 27 percent pointed to a structured questionnaire.
When asked what levels of jobs were used for the job analysis process, "management" topped the list at 87 percent, followed closely by "nonexempt" (84 percent) and "professional nonmanagement" (80 percent). Well behind was "executive level" at 60 percent.
"It is critical for HR departments to clearly understand how jobs are performed at all levels, so HR professionals can properly perform their own job duties," explained Bettina Deynes, vice president of HR and diversity at SHRM. "This is where job analysis is helpful. It is helpful not only in recruiting but in completing various performance management tasks as well."
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Dan Cook
Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.
