Position Description Questionnaires
Updated November 20, 2012
Please check back frequently, as responses to many of the questions will expand as additional information becomes available. We expect to add new questions approximately twice a week. Please use the online feedback/questions form to continue contributing to this study.
No. We are currently working on how to make this as simple as possible for you. Watch for further communications.
We understand how important job titles are to people and their role in recruiting and in representing a position to both internal and external audiences. Ultimately, each position will end up with a “systems” title, sometimes called a classification title. This is what will tie it to the classification system. Managers can retain the flexibility (within how their department or division administer such things) to determine a “position” title for other uses.
The AAC should contact Kathryn Leavitt in Human Resources. We will secure a dummy Vandal number which will allow the department to complete the PDQ. The manager can determine how best to accomplish this. In most cased, the supervisor will complete PDQs for those positions that are not represented by a person doing a similar job.
Yes, within reason. Managers will have a feel for how long each task should take and have the responsibility to manage the workload and this project. Discuss the time you need with your supervisor in advance.
University of Idaho staff and faculty work very hard, are extremely busy and make a difference in people’s lives every day. The classification study, however, is not designed to measure workload, work quality, work effort and work performance.
The beauty of the position description questionnaire is that for the most part, it is just asking questions. There will be a section or two to include a narrative and you will be asked to include your major duties. We do not want a long list of responsibilities – just the major ones. We will have more information on our website about how to complete the PDQ, how long it will take and of course, more frequently asked questions and answers. We recommend having your most recent job description nearby to help with this. It’s not required but will be helpful. If your manager or Affirmative Action Coordinator don't have the most recent copy, HR might. Email Amber Wilson. If we have it, we will get it to you.
It should take between 60 and 90 minutes.
This is our best opportunity to answer questions about our jobs and describe the duties. If you don’t do the PDQ, you will leave it up to somebody else to represent what you do – and they may not do so as well as you would.
Supervisors will have the opportunity to review and participate in the development of the PDQ. HR will move the information from the PDQ into revised job descriptions. At the moment, we anticipate a further review of the job descriptions by the employee and the supervisor in the spring once we have additional classification-related information to add to it. There will be that opportunity before job descriptions are finalized.
We hope that the two of you will have a good dialog about that and come to a consensus. Ultimately, the supervisor gets to decide what the job is and what goes into the description.
The online PDQs should be available approximately October 31. All non-faculty staff members will have two weeks to complete and submit for review to their supervisor(s). Supervisors will have a week to review, make any reconciliations and submit to Sibson consulting.
Yes, you just have to go to the next page after you have completed one and then hit save (bottom of the page) to capture the work from the previous page back.
It should happen automatically after you submit it but you should check with your supervisor to see if it is received.
We are still working on the mechanics of this.
HR will offer sessions in Moscow. The remaining group session is in the Borah theater on November 7 from 9:30 – 11:00 in the Borah theater. These sessions are open through calling in and gotomeeting for our statewide colleagues. See the HR resource page for more information. Individual departments are scheduling session through their business partner in HR.
You will get an email with the subject line “PDQ Edit Link for (your employee’s name).
It will come from an address of “IDAHO PDQ Survey jchen@segalco.com”
Have your AAC notify Kathryn Leavitt in HR. Sibson Consulting will assign a dummy Vandal number. HR will get it to your AAC for you or someone you designate to complete the PDQ.
At the moment, Sibson knows of only the primary supervisor. When an employee “submits” their PDQ, it goes to that primary supervisor. Toward the end of the PDQ, the employee can add email addresses for additional supervisors and those supervisors should also receive a notification but should not submit their changes. The primary supervisor is responsible for working with the additional supervisors, or additional levels of review within your organization, to coordinate and capture any changes to the PDQ. Only the primary supervisor can submit the final PDQ to Sibson.
Embellishment – Embellishing or exaggerating a position’s duties, responsibilities or decision-making won’t work. It will prompt further discussion between HR and the supervisor/employee which will slow down the process.
Completeness – Make sure enough information is captured to provide the reviewers enough information to assess and classify the position. Incomplete or “thin” PDQs will make it harder to accurately classify a job.
Balance and Consistency – Especially between your reports and among other similar positions in your department. Although not required, we know some departments will have a department-wide review to check for this consistency. The timelines are very tight so it is up to you how you manage this.
100% Participation – We need them all. I would hate for any position or employee to fall through the cracks.
We will make a paper copy of the PDQ available to AACs or other designated coordinators who request one. It will be up to the AAC or other designee to input that information into the online system by the required deadlines.
Use a capital “V” and once you get in, go to the second or third page and save it. If you exit before saving it, you will be locked out and will need to email jchen@sibson.com.
Again, once you log in for the first time, they MUST save it one time BEFORE you log out the first time – otherwise the system thinks the PDQ is complete and Sibson has to reset the employee PDQ
If you have a “9” as the first of 9 digits in our employee ID, replace the first digit with a “V.”
At the end of the PDQ, there is a place to put in additional supervisor emails. Please see questions on technology and approving PDQs in this section.
The technology presents unique challenges.
If you make a change, you must go to the next page for it to “save”
Supervisors and other reviewers should not hit save or submit. If you do so, it will go to Sibson Consulting and access will have to be re-established by contacting jchen@sibson.com. This is not true for employees. They can go to the next page and save and they will be prompted to enter an email address. A new email will pop up with the link to return them to the same place.
The primary supervisor can send the link to additional people but again, don’t hit save. The system save the work of multiple people and we strongly suggest you coordinate any changes and then discuss them with your employee. Once the primary supervisor is satisfied, he or she can hit submit at the end of the PDQ.
No. PERSI rules allow for title changes without the loss of seniority. Service points are not tied to changes in titles.
This is a hard question to answer because “demoted” means so many different things. Nobody’s pay will be reduced. If you can ask a more specific question, send it to Greg Walters via the feedback form on HR’s website.
No. That is not what this study is designed to do.
Make a note of that in the additional comments in the education section.
Yes and they should just go to the next page and NOT save the document. It will happen automatically.
If we are absolutely sure it will not return in the next year, we do not need to do a PDQ. We recommend sending a note to your business partner to this effect.
Unfortunately no. Ultimately, HR will get a spreadsheet with all of the captured information and will build it into a draft new job description.
Yes, work with your AAC. Ultimately, someone in your department will have to enter the information into the system.