I need a jobby job (description)
October 10, 2011 10:09 AM Subscribe
Must they give me a job description after a restructuring?
I work for a large well-known company that is undergoing a major restructuring of its positions in their retail locations. My job of 5 years is changing, and my duties are changing, somewhat drastically. The problem is, nobody seems to know exactly what the changes are. This company has had the same positions in place for a few decades. My title will change within days. My (hourly) pay does not change. It's a part time job for some, but it's my career.
You're not my lawyer, but must my employers legally give me a written job description? Every position currently has a job description, and you receive one when you are hired at this company.
I understand that a major change like this will involve some tweaking along the way, but I'm not very comfortable with "we don't really know anything yet", when my position officially changes this week. If it matters, I'm in Massachusetts, but the company has locations in several states. Thank you.
I work for a large well-known company that is undergoing a major restructuring of its positions in their retail locations. My job of 5 years is changing, and my duties are changing, somewhat drastically. The problem is, nobody seems to know exactly what the changes are. This company has had the same positions in place for a few decades. My title will change within days. My (hourly) pay does not change. It's a part time job for some, but it's my career.
You're not my lawyer, but must my employers legally give me a written job description? Every position currently has a job description, and you receive one when you are hired at this company.
I understand that a major change like this will involve some tweaking along the way, but I'm not very comfortable with "we don't really know anything yet", when my position officially changes this week. If it matters, I'm in Massachusetts, but the company has locations in several states. Thank you.
Best answer: I don't think so - it'd be a matter of company policy, not the law, if anything does require it. I could be wrong and there might be some special requirements for hourly positions (since I think the definition of being exempt rather than hourly is more-or-less 'employee sets their own tasks' instead of having them assigned). But they can change your job description pretty freely.
What I would do is wait until things are starting to get settled - call it 3-6 weeks or a few months depending on the company, I think you'll be able to tell when things are getting under control - and then decide if you're still unclear on your own job description. If so, ask again. By then it's more likely that the new job descriptions will have been written up. Based on what you say about the company policy, they WILL write one and won't just leave it in limbo forever like all the jobs I've ever had (both hourly and exempt, although the hourly ones were for little shops and not big companies). So it's just a matter of getting a copy once it's been written.
posted by Lady Li at 10:41 AM on October 10, 2011
What I would do is wait until things are starting to get settled - call it 3-6 weeks or a few months depending on the company, I think you'll be able to tell when things are getting under control - and then decide if you're still unclear on your own job description. If so, ask again. By then it's more likely that the new job descriptions will have been written up. Based on what you say about the company policy, they WILL write one and won't just leave it in limbo forever like all the jobs I've ever had (both hourly and exempt, although the hourly ones were for little shops and not big companies). So it's just a matter of getting a copy once it's been written.
posted by Lady Li at 10:41 AM on October 10, 2011
No, but it would help both you and them come performance review time. I'd start keeping a log of things you're asked to do and a log of what you do end up doing all day until it's clear that you're doing what your managers think you're doing. And keep communicating about that.
posted by ctmf at 10:56 AM on October 10, 2011
posted by ctmf at 10:56 AM on October 10, 2011
Make the best of it. Take the opportunity to more/better than you have been doing, and maybe they'll see why they should keep you in mind for promotion. They'll very likely have new job descriptions soon. Your regional manager may be slow getting them out, legal may be approving them too slowly, or whatever. I hope your new title is spiffy.
posted by theora55 at 11:18 AM on October 10, 2011
posted by theora55 at 11:18 AM on October 10, 2011
Response by poster: I was just wondering of the legalities. If it was illegal to withhold job descriptions, I certainly wasn't going to call them on it, but I wouldn't mind knowing what is going on. It's a big enough company where the new job descriptions will eventually come out, but since I started with the new title this past Monday, I'd like to know what my responsibilities are. I'm a good employee so I'm not worried about anything, just wanted more information. Thanks everyone!
posted by santaliqueur at 10:39 PM on October 11, 2011
posted by santaliqueur at 10:39 PM on October 11, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
No. They're not obligated to do that. Even if they were, they could make it exceedingly vague, like "perform activities that will be beneficial to the company and its customers".
As far as I know my job has no official job description beyond the fact that my title is, "Senior Software Engineer".
posted by tylerkaraszewski at 10:41 AM on October 10, 2011