IT Manager's Handbook: Getting Your New Job Done (19 page)

Table 3.3.
Pros and Cons to Using Full-Time Employees

Along those lines, it is important to note that IT is a strenuous world and that IT projects are often complex, multi-person, multi-year adventures. you'll need to get buy-in from everyone on your team for many of the issues you address; contractors may or may not be there for you in the crunch.

Determine Which Type Is Best for Your Job

To best determine whether you should hire a consultant or a full-time employee, think about why you're seeking new staff. Do you need someone for a few months in an area of technology that your team has no expertise in and probably won't need in the future? If so, you should hire a contractor. Do you need someone to fill a gaping hole in your team or replace an employee who is leaving? If so, you should hire a full-time employee.

Financial considerations may also play a role here. Not only does the actual cost enter into it, but, as mentioned before, sometimes an organization doesn't want to add head count, and would prefer you bring someone in as a consultant instead of as a full-time employee.

Consultant or Employee: You Can't Have It Both Ways

Regardless of whether you decide to hire an independent contractor or a full-time employee, make that determination
before
you open the req. In the past, several companies have tried to have it both ways. That is, even though individuals were brought on as contractors, the employer was essentially treating them as full-time employees. These companies have lost lawsuits as a result of this kind of situation. As such, the individuals were entitled to those things that true full-time employees enjoy, like participating in stock purchase plans (
www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2000/12/11/daily7.html
).

Worker status is a tricky issue with many potential legal ramifications. If you have any concerns about the status of your workers or potential employees, take them up with your HR and Legal departments as soon as possible.

Timing Considerations

The circumstances and requirements of the hire will often help you with this decision; if you're looking to fill an entry-level position, the spring is a good time to get this semester's graduates. And if your company follows the academic calendar (for example, textbook publishing and school supplies companies), you'll be on a more defined schedule. Summertime (due to vacations) and the holiday period at the end of the year are generally quieter times for staffing. This is because people aren't generally looking to make potentially career- or life-altering changes during these times. Similarly, at the end of the year, some companies will defer all hiring until the following year, simply for the benefit of making this year's financial numbers look better.

When is the best time to hire? The correct answer to this question is
at least one month before you need to hire
. Hiring people takes time, often more time than you expect, and it's not a decision you should leave until the last minute.

How long before this employee is producing? Bringing people up to speed takes time, too. Since you brought them on because they had a specific skill set that you needed, contractors often need less training than full-time employees. (You should think twice about paying for a contractor's training expenses. It happens, but it should be when you've exhausted all other options.)

Full-time employees that you have hired may or may not have the specific skill sets you need. Regardless, everyone needs some time to get acclimated. In addition to the logistical issues involved (the person needs a desk, a computer, a network ID, e-mail account, etc.), you need to plan for time for employees to get settled. And don't forget that their coworkers need to adjust to a new team member, too.

Why Do Some Organizations Refuse to Increase Full-Time Head Count?

There are reasons why a company may not want to increase its full-time head count that, strangely enough, have nothing to do with money.

•
Official Size Limits.
Companies may want to stay a certain size to qualify for specific government contracts. There is a 500-employee limit, for example, to qualify as a small business in certain industries (
www.sba.gov/content/determining-size-standards
). Hiring consultants or part-time employees does
not
affect this limit, but hiring full-time employees does.

•
Business Model.
Some companies are little more than middlemen, facilitating the flow of business from one sector to another, from one group of companies to another. (eBay is a such a company.) Companies like this grow or shrink quickly based on their immediate needs; they want to remain very flexible and not be burdened with a lot of overhead. Not only do they not hire full-time workers, they often lease office space on a very short-term basis.

•
Impressing Investors.
When times are tough, investors like to see a company reducing costs, and that includes staff reductions. Nonetheless, it is all too common to see individuals laid off as employees, only to be brought back very quietly as consultants.

•
Nature of the Market They Are in.
One author calls it the “Ben and Jerry's vs. Amazon” model. Does your company operate in a market with lots of well-established competitors (like Ben and Jerry's)? If so, slow, organic growth may be your best method of succeeding. On the other hand, if your company enters a new field (like Amazon was doing when it started), getting as much market share as soon as possible may be the best way to approach things. (Venture capitalists sometimes call this the “First In Wins” type of market.) In that case, adding as many employees as soon as possible may be required.

•
Seasonal Impact.
Many industries are directly impacted by the calendar. Retailers are busiest in December, beach resorts are busiest in the summer, ski resorts are busiest in winter, and florists have peaks around key holidays. In cases like these, it may not make sense to bring on full-time employees for jobs that may last only a few months.

3.2 Write a Position Description

Most likely you're going to have to prepare a Position Description (PD), sometimes called a Job Description (JD). A PD is a relatively detailed description of a specific role.

Your HR department may ask you to write a PD so that it can be posted internally within the company or it may be used to relay the pertinent details to agencies and recruiters. HR may also use the information in PDs to help prepare an ad for the newspaper or for a job-posting site. HR often insists that every employee have a PD so that every individual's responsibilities, accountabilities, and so on are clearly spelled out. In many organizations, the content of the PD is the basis for determining the grade, title, salary range, bonus eligibility, and so on for a position.

Even if you aren't required by your company's procedures to prepare a PD for the hiring process, it's a good idea to do so. Every member of your staff should have a PD of their own job. That way, there is little doubt as to what their responsibilities are.

A PD can also be used for performance evaluations, salary considerations, and staffing justification. If an employee becomes a problem employee, it's good to have a hard-and-fast description of what their official duties are supposed to be. HR can use this information to help resolve difficult personal situations.

Position Descriptions versus Contracts

Along these lines, it's important to remember that the PD is just that—a description. It is
not
a contract. There are several reasons this distinction is important, but the most important ones are:

•
Many companies have formal contracts with some of their employees (particularly at the senior levels), and a PD is not designed for that purpose. Some companies have formal, legal contracts that they require employees to sign upon joining the organization. These contracts are generally strong legal instruments with very specific terms. They aren't good methods for determining what a person should do; they are often a list of things a person should not do (such as using company resources for personal needs, or revealing confidential information). A PD doesn't serve this legal function.

•
Goals, responsibilities, and expectations are things that should be listed in a PD. These aren't legally enforceable items, but nonetheless are critical components of the position.

•
Things change. Although your staff may or may not appreciate change, it's still incumbent on you as a manager to maintain your flexibility. Your boss will demand a wide variety of things from you, often adding or subtracting duties the same week. you'll need to adapt quickly to those new challenges and be able to turn your staff in the new direction. A PD that details exactly what an IT professional can do severely limits that individual's flexibility and radically constrains the manager and the department. You want the PD to be general enough to cover all aspects of the job. (You don't want to be in the position of assigning someone a task and hearing them say “that's not in my job description.”)

The format of the PD can vary. Your HR department may have a standard format that it likes to use. It's often similar to an outline and is usually kept to one or two pages.

General Requirements

While PDs vary from company to company, there are many similarities. The following are common elements of a PD (see
Figure 3.1
):

•
Job title.
The title should be descriptive about the job and also be one that an employee will be proud to have on his business card. Something along the lines of “IT Associate II” has little meaning; “Senior Software Developer” is better. Use industry standard titles and descriptions so that both you and the potential employees can readily do comparisons of qualifications versus salary and benefits.

•
Position summary.
A high-level, two- or three-sentence description of what the job entails.

•
Scope of responsibility.
This provides more detail about the job. It may cover the number or types of systems, requirements for being on call, budgeting responsibilities, personnel responsibilities (hiring, management, performance reviews, etc.), requirements for doing high-level presentations or low-level documentation, etc. This section usually has the most information about the job and what is expected of the employee.

•
Immediate supervisor or manager.
Identify the title of the individual the person will be reporting to. This will help give some perspective to where the position is in relationship to the entire IT organization.

•
Number of direct reports.
Indicate the size of the staff that reports to this position. It might even help if you provide some simple description of the staff (operators, programmers, other managers, etc.).

•
Minimum versus specific requirements.
For all critical issues, list the minimum requirements (and name them as such), as well as any specific requirements. If you must have a programmer with at least three years of development experience, say so clearly. If you need someone with SAP in their background, be clear about that.

•
Education, training, and certification requirements.
If these are a requirement for the job, specify what they are.

•
Experience required.
If formal training isn't required, companies often ask for a minimum number of years of “real-world” similar experience in a given field. Sometimes you may want to identify the type of experience that is required. For example, you may want someone with experience in a similar industry or with very large organizations.