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Descriptions Now Case Studies
Advertising, Marketing
and Public Relations Firm Uses
Descriptions Now
Held Diedrich, Advertising Communications |
| Location: |
Indianapolis,
Indiana |
| Organization
Size: |
10
employees |
| Service: |
Founded
in 1981, Held Diedrich provides creative
marketing solutions |
| Contact: |
Norma
Hermerding,
Human Resources Representative |
| "We
aren't experts in human resources,
so we look to Descriptions Now
for answers — and get them." |
Held Diedrich is a marketing communications
firm in Indianapolis with a wonderful sense
of whimsy. Check out their Web site and you'll
see that the Office Manager is also known
as the Account Eyeballer, Staff Headmistress,
Juggler and Realist. The Vice President also
goes by Wordsmith and Porch Surfer! With
so many different roles to play, a job description
software program definitely seemed in order.
"We have been using Descriptions Now for
more than one year and it sure has made my
life easier," says Human Resources Representative
Norma Hermerding. "Since we are a small organization,
many of the employees have multiple duties.
Descriptions Now allows for modifications
in the descriptions to tailor them for a
particular position."
Prior to purchasing Descriptions Now, Hermerding
created job descriptions from scratch, and
found that researching and compiling all
the requirements for each position a challenge.
She looks forward to the continuous library
updates and is pleased at not having to "reinvent
the wheel" for each description. "It is a
timesaver. When I'm interviewing for a position
for which we already have a description,
all I need to do is add or delete certain
duties," explains Hermerding. "Knowing that
the language in Descriptions Now is legally
appropriate adds comfort to the process."
Hermerding is looking forward to the new
version of Descriptions Now, which will automatically
generate behavioral-based interview questions
based on the job description. "I
believe that will help me hire the right
people," she says. "And it will be helpful
to have an additional resource for questions
that I may not otherwise have thought to
ask."
"We aren't experts in human resources, so
we look to Descriptions Now for answers — and
get them," says Hermerding. |
Large Union Creates
More than 500 Job Descriptions
Using Descriptions Now
UFCW, United Food and Commercial
Workers Union |
| Location: |
Washington,
DC |
| Organization
Size: |
530
employees, including 100 managers |
| Service: |
Founded
in 1979, UFCW is a private sector
union |
| Contact: |
Marcia
Todd,
Assistant Director of Human Resources |
| "Having
their duties outlined has given
employees a self-esteem boost and
a sense of empowerment." |
The United Food and Commercial Workers Union
is the largest private sector union in North
America. Comprised of 1.4 million members
from the retail food, meatpacking, poultry
and other food processing industries, the
union employs more than 500 people at its
headquarters in Washington, DC. Planning
for a major compensation study prompted the
organization to develop job descriptions.
Over a span of just nine months, Assistant
Director of Human Resources Marcia Todd created
500 job descriptions for all current positions
at United Food and Commercial Workers using
Descriptions Now. "Now that everyone has
a job description, I can't imagine how we
survived without them!" she exclaims. "Descriptions
Now helped us provide clearly written descriptions,
so now there is no question what an employee's
duties are."
Since creating job descriptions for this
many positions was such an enormous task,
Todd included the employees in the process.
By having them outline their current responsibilities,
she was able to locate the competencies for
each particular job and then customize the
description with additional duties performed.
The fact that Descriptions Now creates descriptions
that comply with the Americans With Disabilities
Act was extremely important to her. "The
ADA-compliance feature helped me fine-tune
some of the language for the positions," says
Todd.
Since developing job descriptions, Todd says
she has noticed a positive change in a number
of employees. "Having their duties outlined
has given them a self-esteem boost and a
sense of empowerment," says Todd. "After
showing employees their everyday tasks outlined
using professional terms, I've received responses
such as, 'Wow, I do all that?'"
In addition, Todd has found another important
benefit to providing employees with written
job descriptions. "When they see how their
job complements others, it offers them a
view of how important they are to the whole," she
says. |
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Copyright © William Steinberg
Consultants Inc. 1988-2008 |
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