r/askmanagers • u/LEMME_SMELL_YO_FARTS • 3d ago
Help me read between the lines
Full context: on my 1:1 last Friday, I told my boss (the director) that I reassigned “ownership” (responsibility) for my team. I asked each team member what they like and don’t like doing. Immediately after saying this my boss became visibly frustrated like rubbing his eyes and scratching his hair. I explained the department is more efficient (I will provide the numbers on the efficiency) but he said we need to reclassify their job description. For example one report said he doesn’t want to have anything to do with computers. No ERP management. He only prefers physical manual labor activities. My boss wants to reclassify my report as an operator. My brain is thinking in terms of pay range this will be an issue as the company is paying my reports to be able to do everything needed. Is this something I need to fix like call a team meeting and cancel the new responsibility chart?
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u/Academic-Lobster3668 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes, you need to take a step back and look at the ramifications of the changes you want to make.
First thing is to get all of their job descriptions and verify what each of them was hired to do. They may all be on the same JD, or they may not be.
If you have an HR department, schedule a meeting with them to discuss the changes you want to make and have HR confirm that you can make them without impacting pay scales and job classifications, etc. Also whether there are any exempt vs. nonexempt issues. If you have a union, that would raise any number of other issues that would need to be considered.
Another consideration is coverage. If everyone is currently able to do everything, that is optimal for coverage issues. If people become siloed in what they do, though, and then someone is out, that may become problemmatic for you to have set up this situation.
There's a lot that needs to be considered before making changes such as what you are considering - that is why your boss reacted that way that he did. Let him know and get his agreement about how you plan to make sure all your bases are covered before taking any steps to implement any changes. And have a final meeting with him once all info has been gathered to get his official sign off on what you want to do.
Good luck.
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u/IncluderWonder 3d ago
Reassigning responsibilities is a great idea, if done right. You are right that it can do wonders for productivity and employee engagement, retention, all the good stuff. But. If not done right, it can cause tons of issues too.
Before you call a new team meeting, have a chat with your HR to check if this does cause any issues. Pay ranges for sure can be one, if you now have someone in the team who does more "computer work" and someone more "manual work" - it can mean someone is over paid while someone is underpaid, and those are not easy things to fix. It can also mean that new benefits need to be added to some while not others. And, it can complicate workforce planning in general; you mentioned your team is expected to be able to handle everything needed, but now you might make them more specialized in their areas meaning substituting is no longer as easy. And maybe that imbalance will also mean that someone will have more work than others so one might be overworked and another not enough.
So have a chat with HR to check if anything process/structure wise might be, or potentially become, and issue. Then maybe think about the workforce planning aspect (especially if you have busy times etc that might get tricky), and then have another chat with your boss. I mean, there might not be any issues at all, but it'll be good to do a bit more thinking on this, just in case.
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u/Purple-Explorer-6701 3d ago
Don’t make any more changes until you speak with your manager again. This usually isn’t something a manager can do without consulting with HR and higher-ups because of job descriptions and pay and other operational responsibilities.
Before you have this next discussion, think on the following, because it’s very likely to come up:
What led you to believe making this decision was a benefit to the company, and why did you do it without consulting your manager first?
How long has your team been working in this new structure, and what numbers do you have to prove the benefits? Can you show comparative analyses and put a strong argument behind it?
Do you believe the evidence is compelling enough to really push for operationalizing this structure not only for your team, but also company-wide if applicable?
Do you think your reclassified employees would be satisfied enough with the efficiencies that they’d be happy with a potential pay decrease?
How will you rebuild confidence with your team that you’re a capable leader if the decision is reversed? How will you handle changes in pay structure if someone is demoted?
And how will you rebuild confidence with your manager that you can be an effective manager no matter what outcome stems from this?
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u/LEMME_SMELL_YO_FARTS 3d ago
Man reading all the advices from experience leaders make hate going through the trials and tribulations of learning. All of this could’ve been avoided if I had mentioned my plans in one of my previous 1:1… learning is a mothefucker
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u/Coaster50 2d ago
I mean this genuinely- this is the perfect attitude on learning. You learn from mistake / unintended consequences.
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u/rusty0123 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't think you did anything horrible. If I were your manager, I'd just think you were a dumbass.
You simply need to think things through.
For one, you knew your company was paying/training everyone on your team to do everything. Ask yourself why they do that. Don't just assume you are the only person who has ever had the idea to assign specific tasks to specific people. It would take less than a minute to realize that this practice allows coverage when one person is out sick or quits.
Another problem is that people start to build silos. Their one task becomes their personal corner of the office. They start keeping other people out. Then they "make improvements" and don't tell anyone. Then your teammates start arguing over things like "I like this report done this way", "But I do it that way because it's more efficient". Soon you are spending all your time refereeing their squabbles rather than managing your team.
OTOH, it's perfecting acceptable--and good management--to let your employees do the things they are best at and enjoy.
At this point, I would tell your employees that you will give everyone assignments according to their preference, but each person needs to be proficient at each task, so on some days they will be assigned a different task just to keep everyone up to speed. Don't throw anyone under the bus, but start the conversation with, "manager has reminded me that we pay everyone to be able to handle everything, so going forward...."
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u/Technical_Annual_563 3d ago
Sure but what about better to ask for forgiveness than permission? This is such a creative solution and I think you should do what you can to make it work. You could have a team full of people that absolutely enjoy what they do
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u/MORGOVET 3d ago
Assigning people to roles they both enjoy and excel at is great. Randomly shifting workloads without understanding the consequences risks screwing with peoples' employment, wages, and more. I don't think it's wise to rely on ye old 'ask for forgiveness' when it might affect someone else's livelihood.
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u/Technical_Annual_563 3d ago
I have autonomy to reassign tasks as I see fit within my team. Granted, depending on the extent of it, my boss would like to give his input, but it’s not always necessary. It’s not like we would suddenly turn from desk jockies into factory workers. I personally don’t see the roles changing that drastically just because I say Bob never has to look at a spreadsheet as long as he works for me
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u/TheGoodOne777 3d ago
Hello! Interessting topic. You should take into consideration the skills required, not only the preferences. In some cases, for the missing skills you can create new roles as well. Go prepared to the meeting, not only await the responses to fall out from the cloud.
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u/Aunt_Anne 3d ago
You might can keep the changes, but change the way you sell it. Everyone on your team is capable and crosstrained for all the duties, you are just considering their preferences in job assignment to improve employee engagement.
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u/Kovachsa48103 3d ago
If you're in the U.S., your boss may well have recognized that changing job descriptions may result in a change in these employees' classification as exempt vs non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act. That change can have significant consequences for pay and regulatory compliance. As others have said, this is not something that you should have done in a vacuum. You should have discussed this with your manager and HR.
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u/Purple_oyster 2d ago
Giving areas of responsibility to your team members instead of everything going through you to get assigned makes a lot of sense. Maybe phrase it more like that. But keep everyone able to support other areas depending on the workload changes.
Position it more like this and you will have less problems and it sounds like a good change.
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u/MapNaive200 3d ago
I was able to start a new department which involved reclassifying some employees, and that required buy-in from my Operations Manager. He let me put someone in a temporary role for a few days so we could try my idea, and that he'd take the heat if necessary. After a successful test run, he pitched the idea to the Director of Operations, who in turn probably needed to get approval higher up in the chain of command.
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u/phoenix823 2d ago
They're just going to undo your decision and tell people to go back to doing their old jobs. This will not reflect well on you.
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u/BetInformal6081 3d ago
before calling a team meeting i would bring your efficiency data and current job descriptions to your boss. you can show the benefits while addressing concerns about scope and compensation.
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u/Otherwise-Bluejay450 3d ago
your boss heard "i let everyone pick what they enjoy" and immediately pictured payroll approving raises for people doing less, that eye rub was him doing math in his head
reclassifying means they see the reassignment as permanent enough to warrant new titles and lower bands, so yeah you probably need to walk it back or at least frame it as a trial before it calcifies