Practicality of job analysis in today’s world of work

[...]those judges will interpret job descriptions that are often written by employers to serve employees who might be doing a variety of things listed that are not always a part of every employees’ role in that defined job’s requirements.1 Job content is much more important today than a job’s listed requirements, as content addresses what you actually do rather than what you could be called to do.2 Additionally, wage discrimination lawsuits are typically far less likely to be successful than the average tort claim.3 Roughly 50% of tort cases are successful, whereas cases filed with the EEOC that have illustrated a finding of wage discrimination have hovered only between 4.5% and 7.5% percent over the past 10 years, despite a steady pace of filed cases.4 The majority of these “successful” cases will result in consent decrees, or legal settlements that typically are not published legal precedent that can be relied upon for future filings. (2021) also suggest that organizations can use existing inventories such as the Position Analysis Questionnaire, the Job Element Inventory, and O*NET GWAs for use in determining generalized work activities, as they may be more cost effective than the in-house development of tasks, these tools also rely on subject-matter-expert ratings. [...]the potential for bias and use of stereotypical heuristics when making decisions are not the only issues with respect to the use of job analysis in the context of job classification. (2021) suggest that although job duties may remain the same, the nature of how the job is done will vary (e.g., task interdependence, task frequency, communication, etc.) perhaps more frequently than with other nonremote work. [...]although job duties appear equivalent, the nature of the job has become more dynamic making job analysis a less amenable choice. [...]we call for a rethinking of the focal article contribution in this area relative to such work arrangements.

Not Your Parents’ Organization? Human Resource Development Practices for Sustainable Flex Work Environments

The Problem.Everything we know and understand about flexible work arrangements (FWAs) revolves around extant research exploring the effects and effectiveness of FWAs based on samples in which organizations and/or employees freely adopted their use. In a post COVID-19 world, organizations implemented FWAs and employees who may not have been prepared for or desired such arrangements. This has resulted in implementing FWAs in situations where the job, culture, or person does not ?support? FWAs.The Solution.We suggest the economic uncertainty of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic should shift Human Resource Development (HRD) attention to managing the organizational climate of work and work expectations, specifically with regard to FWAs. We discuss how HRD practitioners can help, specifically by preparing managers for enhanced communication and feedback, as well as through supporting employee development via proactive job crafting, to better prepare managers and workers to accept and flourish in FWAs both short and long term.The Stakeholders.The stakeholders for this article include decision-makers in organizations interested in driving success through long-term initiatives rooted in developing human capital. In addition, this article should resonate with HRD professionals interested in working with managers and employees to systematically build sustainable FWA systems.

Employer-Sponsored Benefits in the United States: The Past, Present, and Future.

In early 2020, the COVID-19 virus caused a global pandemic, threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions across the globe. As of this writing, 40 million Americans had filed first-time unemployment claims U.S. Department of Labor (2020, March 26). Employment and Training Administration. https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/eta. The United States, with its historical reliance upon employers to cover many basic benefits, must overcome unique challenges in its recovery from this global crisis. In this article, we briefly describe the initial federal response; we then present the history of US benefits along with recent yet prepandemic benefit trends, and we conclude by presenting a potential path forward that may allow for both employers and workers to recover in a postpandemic society.