BrazilWhy job design should be part of any future HR strategy
The workplace of the future is set to be fundamentally different from what most leaders are accustomed to today, leading many to rethink their operating models for human capital. Paul Lalovich, a partner at Agile Dynamics, explains why exploring a fit-for-purpose job design and architecture should be part of any future human capital strategy.
Key human capital developments emerging from the Covid-19-era include hybrid working, more focus on agility in team setup and job roles, increased digitization of activities, and a more data-driven decision-making process. In a bid to successfully navigate these trends and design a future-proof talent model, it is important to consider one of HR’s fundaments: job design and architecture.
Job design and architecture are the bedrock for a total rewards system and fully integrated talent management. Without this foundation, it will be hazardous to venture into complex talent management interventions as you are likely to do more damage than good. Furthermore, job architecture is also essential for creating and revealing career pathways by creating career frameworks that unlock human resource potentials while also increasing the skills and competencies of the employees.
More precisely, with job architecture and job coding, the organization is ensuring that jobs align with the specific type of work performed in an organization, outlining job families, sub-families, job titles, nature of work, and career levels, among others. This step will ensure allocating value to jobs across the enterprise and basing employee rewards on the value of their jobs.
In addition, this enables organizations to refine job codes while also comparing jobs with external and labour market factors, increasing organizational competence and dynamism, both in the long and short run.
Job design and competency architecture are also essential towards clarifying the distinctions between various levels, an imperative aspect that promotes career development. Clarifying the distinctions is essential towards enabling employees to understand and reinforce their specific roles and duties and the reporting criteria, which is vital towards ensuring that organizational goals and objectives are collaboratively met.
Clarifying these distinctions is also necessary towards identifying employee efforts, and hence ensuring that employee rewards are matched or aligned to their efforts, as a crucial employee satisfaction aspect.
Further, job design and competency architecture will increase employee mobility across the international labour market by creating a common language across international boundaries for the labour market.
Ultimately, job design and architecture, if done correctly, contribute to increased organizational agility. At a time when businesses are facing disruption across their frontiers, and hence the need to adopt significant changes in an effective (= agile) manner to remain competitive, this is a key benefit.
