Workforce Training: Productivity

Job Duty Analysis

The use of various instructional strategies for training employees with disabilities has been well documented, including the use of job duty analysis. Before the worker with a disability begins working, the human resource specialist and or the employment specialist must analyze the job and organize the daily routine. This analysis includes:

• Identifying the areas in which various job tasks are performed,
• Determining the essential and non-essential job functions, and
• Establishing a work routine.

Observing the job gives the human resource specialist and or employment specialist the opportunity to note the major duties and estimate the amount of time required for task completion. A sequence of Job Duties Form can be used to record this information, including movement required between workstations. If the sequence of job duties varies from day to day, this should be noted on the form.

Once the sequence of major job duties has been determined, the next step is to analyze the skills required to perform each major duty. Usually, each duty in the sequence of job duties will have several associated skills. For example, in the sequence of job duties for a stock clerk position, one of the duties is "setting up the work station". This job duty includes several tasks:

• Locate stock for pricing
• Open and empty boxes
• Obtain inventory sheets and day's price tickets from the supervisor
• Collect equipment: price gun, pencil, and inventory stamp

The human resource specialist and or employment specialist should concentrate on identification of each job duty and how workers perform it. The following guidelines are helpful when completing a job duty analysis.

• Interview the direct line supervisor for her/his input.
• Observe a worker completing the job duty.
• Identify the skills that must be completed successfully to perform the job duty.
• Identify all tools and machinery that are required.
• Determine the most efficient procedure to complete each skill.

Once the sequence of duties and the corresponding tasks for each duty have been identified, the human resource specialist and the employment specialist should consider how the task can be organized or modified specifically for the worker with a disability who will be employed to do the job.