Position Justification Form Template

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Position Justification Form Template  + Accompanying Instructions for Managers  
 

What is a Position Justification Form?

The Position Justification Form example is used when opening a new position that does not currently exist – or was not included in the current year’s budget. It also justifies requests for additional headcount for the next fiscal period during budget reviews. This Position Justification Example form is usually attached to the Approval to Hire Form before the Hiring Process begins to satisfy Finance requirements and provides HR with recruiting and advertising information.

The information captured in this Position Justification Form is typically required by Finance and/or senior management to justify incurring the expense of additional headcount. It may be used by managers to:

• Create a business case for opening a new position that does not currently exist – or was not included in the current year’s budget
• Justify requests for additional headcount for the next fiscal period, during budget reviews
• Ensure approvals are obtained before recruiting begins, to satisfy Finance requirements
• Provide HR with recruiting and job posting information

Why it's used

Implementing a common form and process in your company to support justifying an expensive resource is critical, particularly if it's important to senior management that managers are fiscally responsible and held accountable for their decisions.  Having a process and tool for this is particularly critical for small business.

Use the Position Justification Form to: 

• Ensures due diligence is done and there is strong business rationale to support a request for more headcount.
• Provides food for thought for the manager to look at alternatives and to concretely defend the need for a new position. 
• Ensures that the process around incurring additional headcount costs are just as rigorous as incurring any significant capital expense.
• Fosters a strong culture of business acumen for managers and ensures they view adding headcount through a business lens. 

What you risk by not using it

• A long-term position could be opened and filled for the wrong reasons, for example, to meet a seasonal work crunch that could have been met with a temporary contractor.
• The costs associated with an unnecessary hire go well beyond the salary of the new hire--they include recruiting costs, learning curve, and staff time to interview and train. Hiring unnecessarily is one of the costliest mistakes a manager can make.