Training for Civil Servants in St. Vincent and the Grenadines

In February 2009, the Director of the Public Sector Reform Unit of the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines asked CARICAD to provide a Facilitator to conduct workshops in job description writing.  

The need for this training was identified by the Unit following a recently concluded reclassification exercise, when the Job Evaluation Task Team undertaking the exercise found that job descriptions were written in different forms.  Therefore, as part of its Work Plan for 2009, the Public Sector Reform Unit decided to conduct training sessions in Job Description Writing throughout the Public Service and asked CARICAD to design and deliver the training.

The requirements stated by the Public Sector Reform Unit for the workshop were:

1.         To give officers a better understanding of job description writing and the importance of job descriptions and organizational charts;

2.         For Officers to be able to write proper job descriptions; and

3.         To develop a cadre of job description writing trainers

CARICAD provided a Facilitator, Ms. Lynette Andrew, to design and deliver a two-day workshop.  The workshop was conducted March 30-31, 2009.  The overall training goal was to:

• To help participants to develop the skills and competencies required to develop job descriptions for use in performance management and appraisal, job evaluation and selection, recruitment and induction.
• To help participants to develop the skills required to be able to train others in how to write job

descriptions

Participants:  32 Officer with responsibility for HR issues in Ministries/Departments

The workshop content included:

What is a job description?

What are job descriptions used for? - performance management and appraisal, job evaluation and selection, recruitment and induction.

What is Performance Management and what are performance standards?

What is job evaluation?

Determining Detail Needed in Job Descriptions

What is job analysis?

Why is job analysis conducted?

The relationship between job analysis and job description

Determining job limits and worked performed

Methods for collection job information - job analysis questionnaire, observation, interviewing

Writing Job Descriptions; style and conventions for effective job descriptions

Language/verbs used in defining job functions

Learning Activities:           

Participants will engage in the following learning activities:

•          Examining the content of existing job descriptions
•          Sharing of ideas, knowledge and experiences
•          Group discussions, exercises
•          Individual reflection