A job description should provide a concise overview of duties and a clear understanding of expectations to effectively support recruitment, retention and personal development.
The following information aims to support managers with developing roles and writing or amending job descriptions.
What is the HERA framework and why do we use this at Oxford Brookes?
The HERA framework provides an evaluation methodology that ensures equal pay for work of equal value.
It provides Oxford Brookes with a consistent framework that enables fair internal comparison, and the ranking of roles according to levels of responsibility in order to identify appropriate pay.
The framework contains 14 competencies, 50 questions and acknowledges a breadth of professions from Academic roles, Professional specialisms such as Finance, through to Estates.
It also acknowledges permanent role requirements and responsibility.
Performance and progression are therefore recognised via other means including recognition awards, ACE and Academic promotions.
How can the HERA framework competencies help managers to create or review roles?
The framework competencies and questions provide commonly encountered responsibilities across a range of professions.
These questions therefore offer a strong starting point in identifying duties and writing effective job descriptions.
The HERA Competencies guidance document details some of these considerations, and offers suggestions on areas that could be considered, for example problem solving or analysis and research. We therefore advise that managers use this as a starting point when reviewing or creating roles.
How do I capture duties and responsibilities successfully within a job description?
All roles at Oxford Brookes should hold an up to date job description that details the required duties and responsibilities.
A quality job description not only supports a successful recruitment campaign, but also ensures that staff understand the role requirements, meet objectives, and can develop their career at Oxford Brookes in the longer term.
We therefore encourage managers to access our Job Description Writing guidance, which provides useful information on what to include, and how to write duties, as well as a person specification.
Please also use the Oxford Brookes Job Description template to ensure consistency:
The job title guidance document also provides further information on the titles typically associated with each grade.
Utilising existing job descriptions to create or amend roles is also recommended. This will help to ensure that the common role requirements at a particular grade are successfully captured and consistent across the University.
Please note: managers are responsible for ensuring job descriptions are up to date and for liaising with the People Managers team should there be any changes to duties. This will enable us to ensure fair remuneration based on the work completed.
Do I need to reflect the language and terminology used by the HERA framework within the job description?
Roles are evaluated using the information provided by the job description and the concrete examples gathered via the HERA interview.
Using a certain level of terminology will help to ensure that role requirements are clearly communicated, however will only be acknowledged within scoring if there is evidence to substantiate responsibility.
Brief definitions of the key terminology are provided within the HERA Language Guidance.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion considerations
The language used within a job description, person specification and job advert plays a crucial role in whether or not a candidate chooses to apply for a vacancy.
Gender
Consideration therefore should be given to the inadvertent use of “subtly gender coded” language, which may deter a specific gender from applying.
If a description contains a large quantity of masculine words, this could lead to a reduction of female applicants. Masculine words include ‘ambitious’ ‘confident’ or ‘capable.’
The use of a gender decoder is therefore recommended to ensure that a job description and job advert appeals to everyone. The decoder will scan a description, provide a summary of the language used and highlight if it is, for example, too masculine.
Experience Quantified by Periods of Time
Using a time period to quantify experience can also be discriminatory to certain age groups, for example requesting “ten years marketing experience” may discriminate against younger individuals. It is also important to note that the length of experience does not guarantee a good skill set or behaviour.
Disability
All assessments throughout the recruitment and selection process are subject to reasonable adjustments and candidates with impairments must be allowed to undertake an assessment in a suitable alternative manner.
As a disability confident employer, we are committed to interviewing all candidates who have declared a disability and meet the essential criteria.
Following these guidelines will enable a job description to effectively promote our equality and diversity values, as well as encourage a wider, more diverse talent pool of candidates to apply for roles at the University.
How do I identify indicative grading and remuneration?
Job evaluation processes will identify the appropriate grading for the role to ensure pay parity. This may differ from the indicative grade provided.
Profiles will be published shortly to support managers with identifying the typical responsibilities and duties associated with each grade.
Prior to identifying a suggested grade, managers should also consider:
How does this post align with the team and wider directorate/Faculty structure?
Where do roles with a comparative level of responsibility sit on the pay scale?
Further information on job evaluation can be accessed via the evaluating roles at Oxford Brookes webpage.