Job and work instructions are organizational documents of a company that define the tasks, responsibilities, rights, and accountability of employees while performing their duties in a specific position or profession.
Job instructions are developed for managers, professionals, specialists, and technical staff of the company, while work instructions are for employees belonging to the category of workers (working professions).
Job and work instructions are created for specific positions listed in the company’s staffing schedule, not for individual employees holding those positions. That is, a job (work) instruction is always an impersonal document that does not contain the names of employees in its text or title.
When new positions appear in the company’s staffing schedule, appropriate job or work instructions should be developed for them.
The requirement for job instructions is defined in Issue 1 of the Directory of Qualification Characteristics of Employee Professions, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy dated December 29, 2004 No. 336 (rada.gov.ua) (hereinafter – DQCEP).
Job and work instructions are formatted on the company’s general letterhead (preferably with corner placement of details in the header) or on standard A4 paper sheets.
Unified forms of job and work instructions and explanations for their formatting are defined in the Collection of Unified Forms of Organizational and Administrative Documents, developed by the Ukrainian Research Institute of Archival Affairs and Documentation and approved by the Normative-Methodological Commission of the State Archival Service of Ukraine (protocol dated April 8, 2025 No. 1).
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Composition of Requisites for Job and Work Instructions
According to the National Standard of Ukraine “Unified State System of Documentation. Unified System of Organizational and Administrative Documentation. Requirements for Document Formatting” (DSTU 4163:2020), job and work instructions must include the following requisites:
– full name of the company;
– full name of the company’s structural unit;
– approval stamp;
– document type name;
– document title;
– document text;
– signature;
– visa;
– approval stamp (only in work instructions);
– note of employee acknowledgment.
Text of Job (Work) Instruction and Its Title
The title of the text in the genitive case indicates the name of the position (profession) of the employee, which must match the name specified in the company’s structure and staffing schedule. For example: “marketing manager,” “chief economist,” “cleaning attendant.”
The name of the position or profession must comply with the Classifier of Professions DK 003:2010, approved by the Order of the State Committee of Ukraine for Technical Regulation and Consumer Policy dated July 28, 2010 No. 327 (rada.gov.ua).
The text of the job (work) instruction should be directive in nature, using clear formulations with words such as: “must,” “is obliged,” “has the right,” “necessary,” “required,” “prohibited.” Formulations with words like: “may,” “may not,” “preferable,” “not preferable,” “recommended,” etc., are not allowed.
The text consists of sections that, if necessary, are divided into subsections, paragraphs, and subparagraphs and are numbered with Arabic numerals.
Mandatory sections for job instructions:
– General Provisions
– Tasks and Responsibilities
– Rights
– Accountability
– Must Know
– Qualification Requirements
– Relationships (Connections) by Position
Mandatory sections for work instructions:
– Tasks and Responsibilities
– Rights
– Accountability
– Must Know
– Qualification Requirements
Thus, the structure of job and work instructions differs slightly. Work instructions do not include the sections “General Provisions” and “Relationships (Connections) by Position.”
The “General Provisions” section of the job instruction contains basic information about the position, the employee’s field of activity, the name of the unit where the employee works, the procedure for appointment and termination of duties, direct subordination, presence of subordinates, a list of legislative and other regulatory acts, standards, local regulations guiding the employee’s work, the procedure for substituting other employees during their temporary absence (vacation, illness, other valid reasons), and who substitutes them.
The “Tasks and Responsibilities” section characterizes the content of the employee’s activities. It defines an independent work area according to the Regulation on the company’s structural unit. The work area may be defined by grouping issues from relevant areas or assigning a list of management objects to the employee, or as a list of relatively independent issues. It specifies the types of work that make up the functions performed.
When defining types of work, they should be identified by organizational and legal characteristics (manages, approves, implements, organizes, reviews, performs, ensures, controls, participates, prepares, etc.).
The employee’s tasks and responsibilities must correspond to the tasks and functions of the structural unit and the qualification characteristics of the respective position.
The “Rights” section defines the delegated powers that enable the employee to fulfill assigned tasks and responsibilities. For example, making proposals on relevant issues, making decisions, approving document drafts, representing the structural unit on certain issues, participating in meetings, receiving necessary information from other employees, including from other units, etc.
The “Accountability” section includes performance evaluation indicators and the scope of personal responsibility for results and task execution. Indicators include the quality and timeliness of task execution. For example, the employee is responsible for failure or improper execution of tasks, violation of internal labor rules, occupational safety regulations, corporate ethics code, etc.
The “Must Know” section includes requirements for specialized knowledge and knowledge of legislative and regulatory documents necessary for performing duties.
The “Qualification Requirements” section includes standards related to education, qualification levels, and experience sufficient for full and quality job performance.
The “Relationships (Connections) by Position” section defines the main interactions of the employee with colleagues from their own and other units, as well as with external companies, including timelines for information exchange, document approval procedures, etc.
The procedure for developing job and work instructions is not regulated by law, so each company determines it independently and documents it in local regulations (e.g., in the company’s document management instructions, structural unit regulations, job instructions of employees responsible for developing such documents).
Typically, the draft job (work) instruction is prepared and signed by the head of the structural unit where the position or profession is planned. However, this task may be assigned to HR specialists.
In a small company without a formal structure, all job (work) instructions may be developed and signed by a single official, such as the deputy director or the person responsible for HR.
Internal approval, including visaing, of job and work instructions occurs at the draft stage, i.e., before they are approved by the company’s management.
Work instructions and amendments must be approved by the trade union committee or another authorized body of the labor collective. This requirement is stated in paragraph 6 of the General Provisions of Section 2 of Issue 1 of DQCEP (rada.gov.ua). No such requirement exists for job instructions.
The approval stamp, according to DSTU 4163:2020, includes:
– the word “APPROVED” in uppercase letters without quotation marks or punctuation;
– the title, signature, first name, and surname of the head of the primary trade union organization or authorized representative of the labor collective;
– the date of approval.
The approval stamp is placed in the lower left corner of the last page of the work instruction or the title page (if available).
If necessary, job and work instructions are visaed by competent company officials. Who should visa these documents must be defined in local regulations, such as the company’s document management instructions.
Most often, job (work) instructions are visaed by:
– the deputy director responsible for the relevant structural unit;
– the head of the structural unit to which the employees (workers) are subordinate;
– heads of HR, legal, and other relevant departments.
Each official’s visa, according to DSTU 4163:2020, includes:
– the title of the person visaing the document;
– their personal signature, first name, and surname;
– the date of visaing.
Visas are placed on the front side of the last page of the job (work) instruction below the “Signature” requisite.
Job and work instructions are approved directly by the company’s director or one of their deputies, authorized by a directive document.
There is no need to issue an order to approve or implement job and work instructions.
The approval stamp, according to DSTU 4163:2020, includes:
– the word “APPROVED” in uppercase letters without quotation marks or punctuation;
– the title, signature, first name, and surname of the company’s director or their deputy;
– the date of approval.
The approval stamp is placed in the upper right corner of the first or title page of the job (work) instruction.
Job and work instructions become effective from the date of approval.
On the day of approval, job and work instructions must be registered in the internal document registration journal and presented to employees for acknowledgment.
Employee acknowledgment of job and work instructions is confirmed by a note on the front or back of the last page of the instruction.
The acknowledgment note, according to DSTU 4163:2020, includes:
– the phrase “I have read and understood the job (work) instruction:” without quotation marks;
– the signature(s), first name(s), and surname(s) of the respective employee(s);
– the date, handwritten by each employee during acknowledgment.
Each new employee must be familiarized with their job or work instruction before starting work in the position or profession.
Changes and/or additions to job and work instructions may be made only based on a company director’s order and with the employee’s consent.
Reasons for updating job and work instructions may include:
– changes in the company name, structural unit, or job title;
– redistribution of duties due to staff reduction;
– expansion or change in the scope of tasks and responsibilities;
– changes in educational or qualification levels and corresponding requirements;
– clarification of professional terminology, etc.
The number of such changes and additions per year is not limited by law.
Retention Periods and Storage Locations for Job and Work Instructions
The retention period for job and work instructions is defined in Article 43 of the List of Typical Documents Created During the Activities of Government Bodies, Local Authorities, and Other Legal Entities, with Indicated Retention Periods, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated April 12, 2012 No. 578/5 (rada.gov.ua) (hereinafter – List No. 578/5).
For most employees, the retention period is temporary – 5 years, calculated from the year following the expiration of the instruction and its replacement.
Let’s examine this with a specific example.
Let’s assume that the job description for the company’s Chief Accountant was approved in 2020, and in September 2025 it will be replaced with a new one. The retention period for the job description that becomes invalid in 2025 should be calculated starting from 2026. Since the retention period is 5 years, this job description must be kept until the end of 2030. Only at the beginning of 2031 can it be included in the disposal act for the destruction of documents not included in the National Archival Fund.
Because temporary storage documents are not transferred to the company’s archive, the job description will be stored for all 5 years after its expiration at the location where it was originally filed, according to the file classification index. If the company has a dedicated HR department, the originals of job descriptions and work instructions are stored there.
Special Long-Term Retention Period – 75 Years
According to the note to Article 43 of List No. 578/5, a special retention period of 75 years applies to:
– job descriptions of scientific personnel;
– job and work instructions for employees working in hazardous or harmful conditions.
It is important to note that a scientific employee is a person who has the appropriate qualifications and education (at least a second-level, i.e., master’s degree) and, under an employment contract, carries out scientific (scientific-technical, scientific-organizational, or scientific-pedagogical) activities at a research institution, higher education institution, or scientific division of a company.
Since long-term storage documents must be transferred to the company’s archive with proper documentation, one year after the job or work instruction becomes invalid, it must be included in the HR department’s file inventory. Another year later, it should be transferred to the archive in accordance with paragraph 1, chapter 4, section VI of the Rules for Document Management and Archival Storage in Government Agencies, Local Authorities, Enterprises, Institutions, and Organizations, approved by the Order of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine dated June 18, 2015, No. 1000/5 (rada.gov.ua).
Thus, within a single company, job and work instructions may be stored in different files depending on their retention periods.
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