Document the physical requirements and essential functions of every role
Customize requirement tables from templates, as many types as the organization needs, and apply each one to the whole organization or to specific job families. Career Bird suggests each role’s answers, and a manager or HR approves them.
| Requirement | Never | Occasionally | Frequently | Constantly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lift up to 25 lb | ||||
| Lift 26–50 lb | ||||
| Stand on a hard surface | ||||
| Climb stairs or ladders | ||||
| Work in temperatures below 40°F | ||||
| Exposure to noise above 85 dB |
Requirement tables for every job family
Career Bird suggests the answers. A manager or HR reviews and publishes them.
Physical requirements are hard to document consistently.
Essential functions documented for ADA compliance
- Under ADA Title I, employers need to document the essential functions of each role and the fundamental duties a person must be able to perform.
- A written job description prepared before a role is advertised is evidence of its essential functions.
- Every change to a requirement is saved with the date and the person who made it, so the record exists before an accommodation request arrives.
Multiple requirement tables, each applied to the right job families
- Run several types of tables side by side: physical demands, work environment, travel, on-call duty, licenses and background checks.
- Apply each table to the whole organization or only to specific job families, such as physical demands for Operations or travel for Sales.
- Each role keeps its own answers on one scale, so roles can be compared instead of read one at a time.
| Requirement | Never | Occasionally | Frequently | Constantly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lift up to 25 lb | ||||
| Lift 26–50 lb | ||||
| Stand on a hard surface | ||||
| Climb stairs or ladders | ||||
| Work in temperatures below 40°F | ||||
| Exposure to noise above 85 dB |
Start from a template and customize every table
- Templates cover physical demands, work environment, and yes/no requirements such as travel, on-call duty, licenses and background checks. A blank table works too.
- Rename the answer columns, add requirements and categories, group them, add help text and reorder them.
- Organizations measure differently. Some count hours per shift, some percentage of the day. The table adapts rather than forcing one form on everyone.
Nothing publishes without a review
- Career Bird suggests an answer for every blank requirement, drawn from each role’s own description and responsibilities.
- It fills blanks only — it never overwrites an answer somebody already set, and it never publishes on its own.
- Suggestions land in the role’s draft. A manager or HR reviews, adjusts, adds a short explanation where one helps, and publishes.
Job requirements stored with each role and shared from one place
- Published answers appear in the role’s Requirements tab, next to its responsibilities, skills and competencies.
- Managers open the role and see what it requires, without asking HR to dig out a form.
- Because every role answers the same requirements, roles can be compared side by side instead of read one at a time.
Fits the HR stack you already run
Career Bird pulls employee data from your HRIS and sends job descriptions to your ATS. Your HRIS stays the system of record for people; Career Bird for roles and skills.
+150 moreBuilt for employee data
SOC 2 Type II audited, with a GDPR-aligned data processing agreement and role-based access for every user. Your data is never used to train AI models.
Questions buyers ask
What are essential job functions under the ADA?
Essential job functions are the fundamental duties of a role, the ones a person must be able to perform, with or without reasonable accommodation. Under ADA Title I, evidence includes the employer’s judgment, a written job description prepared before advertising or interviewing, the time spent on the function and the consequences if it is not performed. Career Bird records each role’s essential functions and physical requirements in a dated, versioned table.
What is the difference between essential and marginal functions?
Essential functions are the core duties a role exists to perform. Marginal functions are minor or occasional tasks that could be reassigned to someone else. A requirement table records how often each requirement occurs, from Never to Constantly, which is one of the factors HR and Legal weigh.
What should physical requirements in a job description include?
Lifting and carrying, posture and movement, environmental conditions such as temperature and noise, and how often each occurs, rated on a scale such as Never, Occasionally, Frequently or Constantly.
What is a requirement table?
A structured way to document the physical, environmental and other requirements of each role on one scale. Each table starts from a template or a blank table, and every role in its scope answers the same requirements, so roles can be compared.
Can we have more than one requirement table?
Yes. An organization can run as many requirement tables as it needs, such as physical demands, work environment and travel, each built from a template or from scratch. Each table applies to every role by default or only to selected job families, and a role can carry answers from more than one table.
How is this different from a physical demands analysis?
A physical demands analysis is usually an on-site study of one job. A requirement table documents what every role requires on one scale, and it can hold the results of an analysis where one exists.
Can we use our own physical demands form?
Yes. Rename the answers, add or remove requirements, group them into categories and add help text so the table matches the form in use today.
Does this make us ADA compliant?
It helps document the essential functions of each role, which supports ADA compliance, but it is not legal advice and does not make an organization compliant on its own. Check with legal counsel.
See what your roles require.
Upload five job descriptions. Career Bird suggests the requirements for each, ready for your review.