Creating specific descriptions for every job in your company helps set expectations so employees understand their duties and responsibilities. Job descriptions provide a framework for measuring performance, too. By spending time creating job descriptions, you’ll see how every role in the business fits together like a patchwork quilt—and you’ll identity potential gaps where responsibilities must be assigned. For example, perhaps enhancement sales need improvement but only the salesperson is assigned the duty of selling enhancements. If crew leaders are encouraged to suggest enhancements—and this duty is included in the job description—could you improve sales in this category? Probably.
You don’t have to start from scratch when creating job descriptions. We’re including a helpful library here with descriptions for most positions in a landscape firm. These position descriptions have been carefully crafted to identify:
- Job duties by position, task and level
- Responsibilities that relate to the company’s overall objectives
- A basis for developing performance reviews and holding employees accountable
- Training and development opportunities
- Compensation guidelines (you will set these)
We recommend using these job descriptions as a foundation and customizing them to suit your organization. Also, enlist in an attorney to review your final job descriptions to assure compliance.