Changes to Position Description

Overview

Occasionally an employee’s Position Description (PD) may need to be updated if the responsibilities have changed in the Standard Job Description (SJD). This document outlines best practices on when to update a PD and how to process the change in Workday.

Best Practices

Only make changes to the SJD if it’s a permanent change to someone’s responsibilities.
- Note: If the responsibilities have significantly changed, consider whether another SJD would be a better fit.
Responsibility language should not be modified; responsibilities can only be removed if that person will not perform it. If removing half or more essential responsibilities, consider a different title.
Consider not using percentages with responsibilities to reduce the need for an SJD update.
- Focus shifts to qualitative changes instead of quantitative changes.

Removing Responsibilities

People Management responsibilities that indicate an employee "may" perform a particular task can be removed from an SJD.
People Management responsibilities cannot be removed if the following standard language is used:
- “Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.”
Director title responsibilities of People Management, budget, and/or strategic authority cannot removed from an SJD.
With the exception of the People Management and Director title responsibilities noted above, all responsibilities can be removed for all SJDs at the discretion of local HR as long as the removal of the responsibilities does not significantly alter the overall job AND the SJD is still the most appropriate based on the position. Supervisors must consult with their local HR before making these determinations.

Examples when an SJD update may be needed

The employee’s unique responsibilities have been permanently added, changed, or removed.
- Note: Unique Responsibilities are limited to four or fewer responsibilities.
The school/college/division (SCD) chooses to include percentages for each responsibility listed in the SJD, and the percentages have permanently changed.
The work of the position has permanently changed and should be documented.

How to update an SJD

Who Can Initiate?

HR Partner (Local)
HR Partner (Supervisory)
HR Process Coordinator (Supervisory) UW
Recruiter (Local)
Recruiter (Supervisory)
Shared Services – Human Resources UW
Shared Services – Recruiting UW
Student Assistant Process Coordinator UW

Processing Change in Workday

The steps below outline how to process a change to an employee's Standard Job Description (SJD) in Workday. The SJD can be processed in Workday through the 'Edit Position Restrictions' business process.

Standard Job Description (SJD) Updates
Step 1: Find Employee	From the Workday landing page, search and select Edit Position Restrictions In 'Edit Position Restrictions' under ‘Position’, enter or select the employee’s position Click OK
Step 2: Edit Position Restrictions	In ‘Position Change Reason’ dropdown, select Edit Position Restrictions (Filled Position) > Change Job – Update Responsibilities Only Under the Position Details section, click on the Hiring Restrictions tab if the Job Description is being changed Under the Position Details section, click on the Qualifications tab if the responsibilities are changing
Step 3: Update Responsibilities	Scroll to the Responsibilities section and update responsibilities (i.e. remove, add unique responsibilities, etc.) based on best practices.
Step 4: Add Justification	Enter a Comment Add Attachment. Upload a justification for the SJD change. This could include a side-by-side comparison of responsibilities. Click Submit
Step 5: Enter Justification Documentation	Enter a Comment Add Attachment. Upload a justification for the salary adjustment. Upload an updated organization chart (if applicable) Note: Justification documentation is required for a temporary change in responsibilities. The justification documentation can be uploaded as an attachment and should include: A list of the current responsibilities with a comparison list of the proposed responsibilities; and Explanation of how the change in responsibilities came to be; and Evidence of truly new responsibilities - not just more of the same; and If interim responsibilities, must have evidence that the new responsibilities are only a portion of another position.
Step 6: Submit Compensation Change	Click Submit After the temporary change in responsibilities and rate change are approved in Workday, the initiator, and the manager receive notifications. The Compensation Partner (Supervisory) will: Review and Approve Generate and customize the Request Compensation Letter (memo to employee) Sample wording can be found in the Salary Notification Template Send memo to the employee for review in Workday Next the Employee logs into Workday to review and acknowledge the memo by checking the acknowledgment box and submitting Note: The Cost Center Accounting Specialist (CCAS) may review during this process in some scenarios. The CCAS can make an adjustment to the costing allocation, if applicable.