Assigning Key Responsibility Areas (KRAs) to Employees

It is essential for management to know how to extract the maximum out of employees. Making employees deliver their level best is the biggest challenge faced by organizations in current scenario.

Individuals in most of the cases attend office just for the sake of it and are concerned only with their monthly salaries.

Let me ask you a question ?

How many of us really enjoy going to work? I would expect honest answers. Why do we feel lazy on a Monday? Such feelings arise only when people do not enjoy their work and find office the most boring place in the world.

Why do individuals treat their work as a mere source of burden? Management needs to understand that employees put their heart and soul in work only when work is assigned as per their skills and expertise.

Key responsibility areas (KRAs) refer to a detailed summary of what all an individual is expected to do at the workplace. Remember, if an organization is paying you a decent salary, it also expects you to perform certain tasks and activities which would eventually earn revenues for the organization. Such tasks and activities are nothing but their key responsibility areas or in short their KRAs.

It is crucial for the employees to understand their role in the organization if you expect them to perform as per your expectations. Assigning work to employees is one of the major responsibilities of the management.

Let us go through few parameters which play an essential role in assigning Key responsibility areas.

Key responsibility areas need to be assigned only after discussing with the employees. Employees need to be very clear as to what ought to be their contribution towards the overall profitability of the organization.

Let employees decide their own KRAs. Trust me, this way, not only they take active interest in work but also develop a strong bond with their organization. When they themselves decide their work, they never create problems later on and also strive hard to deliver more than hundred percent.

Management needs to assign job responsibilities as per the educational qualification, background, skill set, interest areas and expertise of employees. Such things are mentioned in the employee’s resume also. You need to go through the same very carefully. Never assign KRAs over the phone.

Doing the same leads to confusion and dissatisfaction among employees. It is always better to sit with the employee concerned and understand what they are good at and also what they have been doing prior to joining your organization.

Remember, face to face interaction is extremely crucial in assigning KRAs. Key responsibility areas need to be assigned as per the interest areas of individuals.

A recruiter or human resource professional needs to understand the strong points of an employee before designing his/her KRAs.Individuals tend to lose interest in work when responsibilities are imposed on them. Let them willingly accept the same.

Assign job responsibilities only when you feel the employee concerned is really capable of doing the same. Do not expect an accounts professional to do miracles in marketing department. Work needs to be distributed equally among the employees. Why should only one person do everything while others enjoy?

Make sure employees accept their key responsibility areas with a smile. Management’s job is not only assigning KRAs but also finding out whether employees are satisfied or not with their work responsibilities. Acceptance of key responsibility areas by the employees is important.

Remember, Verbal communication is irrelevant in today’s professional world. Everything needs to be documented.

One copy of key responsibility areas needs to be with the employee and the other with the organization duly signed by the individual for future reference.