Work design

Organise and deliver work for employee and business success.

Clearly define how your employees’ tasks are structured and organised.

• Do they have the right resources to do their jobs?
• Have they provided input to how their work is organised?
• Can the work be meaningful and give people the opportunity to build their skills?
• Can you promote autonomy and foster positive relationships?

What you can do

When designing individual job roles and responsibilities, seek a balance between meeting your organisational goals while considering the demands you place on your employees.

Well-defined and consistent systems, processes and procedures are the backbone to workplace design.

1. Roles and responsibilities

Clarify employee tasks, work methods and priorities. Make sure they’re aware of their role within the organisation.

• Maintain role clarity – check your employee understands their role within the organisation
• Make sure employees have access to position descriptions that include role purpose, reporting relationships and duties
• Regularly review and update job descriptions (in consultation with your employees)

2. Workload and job demands

Aim for a balanced and motivational approach to workload. Encourage employees to shape their work to suit their style.

• Make the review of workload a regular thing – during team meetings or informal chats
• Encourage employees to offer input into how tasks are done, including pace and order
• Make work more meaningful and stimulating

3. Resources

Make sure your people have what they need to do their job well, including equipment and support.

• Check your employees have the information they need to make decisions
• Ensure activities have the financial, human and information resources to meet business goals
• Introduce support during times of high demand

4. Systems, processes and procedures

Clearly define processes and procedures and review your systems regularly (together with your employees) for optimal results.

• Have a formal information-sharing system or program, such as an intranet
• Define processes and procedures for things like rostering and performance reviews for consistency
• Make it easy for employees to speak up early if their job demands are peaking

Resources

Please note: These are only suggested resources. Organisations should consider their own needs when selecting resources to use.

Work design

• Comcare: Good work design – Information about good work design, including the principles and how to imbed good work design into your workplace. 
• Safe Work Australia: Principles of Good Work Design – A handbook that provides guidance on good work design. It includes 10 principles relevant to any workplace, business or industry. 
• Smart Work Design: What is Smart Work Design? – outlines five key themes to consider when creating or developing work. 
• WorkSafe QLD: Good work design – Details what good work design is and provides examples of good and unsafe work design. 
• Comcare: Benefits of safe and healthy work – Details the benefits of safe and healthy work and how to create it. 

Roles and responsibilities

• Comcare: Your role – Find out the role you play and your responsibilities under work health and safety, and workers’ compensation laws.
• Safe Work Australia: Worker and other person duties – Summary of duties for workers and other persons.
• WorkSafe ACT: Workplace rights and responsibilities – Summary of health and safety duties. 
• Safe Work Australia: Lack of role clarity – How to identify and control lack of role clarity. 
• Fair Work Ombudsman: Template job description– Word document template of a job description. 

Workload and job demands

• Comcare: Job demands – Details what job demands are, the impact and risk factors, and how to manage and control. 
• Comcare: Managing work demands checklist – A work demands checklist for employers, managers and workers. 
• SafeWork Australia: Job demands – Details how to identify and control high and low job demands. 
• Comcare: Work demands – Practical guidance for employers, managers workers around work demands. 

Resources

• SafeWork Australia: WHS duties – Work Health and Safety duties around providing personal protective equipment (PPE). 
• WorkSafe QLD: Worker’s rights and responsibilities – Details what a worker is, and their rights and responsibilities. 
• WorkSafe QLD: Business and employer responsibilities – Details business and employer responsibilities and where to start to ensure your providing a healthy and safe workplace.
• ATO: Equipment, tools and other assets – Describes when an employer is responsible for equipment, tools and other assets, and when a worker is. 
• SafeWork Australia: How personal protective equipment helps to manage risks – Discusses possible problems with PPE and duties around maintaining PPE.

Systems, processes and procedures

• SuperFriend: Mental health initiatives – Practical and evidence-informed strategic support, workplace training and resources.
• Harvard University: The Work and Well-Being Initiative – An Employer Toolkit to help employers create workplace conditions which foster the health and wellbeing for all workers in an inclusive manner.
• Safe Work Australia: Principles of Good Work Design – A handbook that provides guidance on good work design. It includes 10 principles relevant to any workplace, business or industry. 
• Smart Work Design: What is Smart Work Design? – outlines five key themes to consider when creating or developing work. 
• Comcare: Good work design – Information about good work design.