Has your role / tasks ever been changed without management asking you?

N2IT

I'm just curious if it has happened to you and what did you end up doing? Essentially being told and not asked. Thanks.

DevilWAH

Not sure how you mean. But I have always done more than the role I was employed to do.

These days management know better than to "tell" me to do any thing. we discuss what needs to be done and if I am the best person to do it I will if I can fit it in. My job role says I am the "network Systems Analyst". But if I get asked to project manage the IT for a £250mill site development I'll go with that.

I am always happy to do things out side my role, as long as its mutually beneficial to me and the company, and it does not distract from my long term focus of continuing as a routing/switching network engineer.

N2IT

What if it distracted you from your long term goals and wasn't something you wanted to do?

Qord

My duties and tasks have been changed without getting asked, but not because I was told. We allow for a certain amount of "project" time and are encouraged to learn and play. As a result of this freedom I have a lot more on my list than I otherwise would have. I decided it would be neat for us to have a chat server and made it happen, so guess who gets to be accountable/responsible for it? I decided some processes should be automated to save us time, and guess who gets to maintain that stuff? I'm in a very unique position where I get to implement something (with no added cost outside of time) if I want to, so I tend to take on side projects that eventually become part of my job. Unless I can pass them on...

EDIT: Wanted to clarify: This is in no way a complaint, I love what I do!!!

LeifAlire

We work in IT prepare for change...change is constant...and it all falls under "...other duties as assigned". If you don't like it give 2 weeks notice n get another job...

--chris--

Well timed thread. Yes this happened to me, and I left.

I was hired as a helpdesk intern but within 2 weeks I was doing basic accounting work, scheduling meetings, getting the VP's car detailed, disputing bills with vendors, reading magazines and picking out articles the VP might want to read, etc....

the_Grinch

It's happened to me everywhere and depending on the compensation (or at least the promotion potential) I'd do it. My last job after I was denied a promotion that was suppose to be a lock, I made it known each time extra duties were assigned. My current job has added all types of duties that are beyond the scope of my job, but I'm paid very well so I don't see an issue with it. Also, everyone is working extremely hard and no one wants to be the guy not giving everything they got.

Akaricloud

It's happened to me in every single one of my jobs. Instead of taking the whole "this doesn't match 100% of the job description" view I took at is "here's a good chance to take on more responsibility and show my worth to the company".

When it got to the point where it was way more than I signed up for then the plan was always either go to management about my new responsibilities to offload some, or to compensate me for the extra work that I was doing. In reality I almost always used the newly learned skill set to find a higher paying job.

The Technomancer

Every single one. Some you like, some you don't. If one one's you don't start really outnumbering the ones you like, polish the resume.

spaul8809

as we know that management is responsible for our work

spaul8809

We work in IT prepare for change...change is constant...and it all falls under "...other duties as assigned". If you don't like it give 2 weeks notice n get another job...

DevilWAH

N2IT wrote: »

What if it distracted you from your long term goals and wasn't something you wanted to do?

The I weigh it up in terms of can I fit it in. I have very strict rules these days about what I do at work and what I do in my own time out side of work. While at work I will mostl do as I am asked, even if not always that is want I want to do. I have to as most of my tasks do proper documentation but that is some thing I never want to do But I accept that to do the fun stuff I have to accept the boreing stuff to.

But for example if I was told that from now on I was to only do Microsoft servers and non networking at all, then I would look at finding a new job. Or if I was asked/told I needed to develop my Microsoft skills and study in my own time to get certified. Again I would be looking for a new job.

But on the other hand I understand that if every one only did the role there were employed for in an IT unit the size of my one then there would be lots of gaps, so we all need to branch out. But my jobs got to be 75-80% focused on my areas, and if they want me to do things that are not in my areas then its got to fit in that other 20-25% of time during my working hours. Out side of work time I do my own projects. They may be work related but I don't grantee I will do anything or put any time scale on completion.

So yes, let me mostly focus on the role I was employed for, give me opportunity to branch out, and be reasonable with the amount work that is not directly to do with my role and I will get on with it and work 100%. I work hard and the company get a lot out of me, but if I am not enjoying my role then I will leave. Work know that's my view, I don't say it in a rude or arrogant way. I have to spend 8 hours + a day at work and I am going to insure I am at a company where I look forward to coming in in the mornings. I don't pick my jobs based on how much they pay, but how much I think I will enjoy the job. I do remember starting out and having to do as I Was told and getting very frustrated, but now I have a few years of experience and have worked alongside some big players I have found a good balance and to be flexible but not let people walk over me.

N2IT

Being a team player is a big thing with me but when your role changes dramatically lets say night and day difference 90% of the time I get concerned. I wasn't clear it how I described the situation but there you have it. High level - changed dramatically (electrician is now roofing 90% of the time the other 10% of the time I am doing what I joined up to do) Makes sense?!

DevilWAH

Yep

I think you set the line you are happy with, and if it is crossed then ask, do i want to go down this route or not. If you are not happy you have two options.

1. talk to management and raise you concern and see if you can come to an agreement. This is heavily dependent on what Management are like and if you think they might listen.

2. if they don't or you don't think they will listen then the only option is to start looking for your next job.

there is a 3rd option, which is sit, keep quite, do what they ask and feel used by the company. If this is the option you chose and remain in a position you are not happy in, you career, job and sanity will suffer long term. And this can affect you home life as well as work.

BGraves

I would say that if you are in a position where you feel you were hired to do a certain job (that you wanted to do due to gaining experience/enjoyment) and are now doing something completely different...you may need to look at addressing that with your employer.

I would say keep in mind that things change and nothing lasts forever, perhaps this change would be a brief one and you could return quickly to your normal duties? If it's not like that though, dust off the ole resume and get it out there. Just my opinion, sounds like a sucky situation Hang in there!

--chris--

I think I should add too the job wasnt a bad gig (I mean really; driving a BMW 5 series around, reading magazines and pretending to get mad at vendors on the phone?). But it simply had zero IT work in it, which is not what I want right now.

N2IT

Yeah I think I will ride it out. At first I was just going to pinch in for a month which has passed. Now it has been extended 4 - 6 more weeks. I think I may wait 5 more weeks (1 week has passed) and then go the route WAH mentioned. Thanks for following up

paul78

I was curious how people would respond before I thought I would add my own 2 cents.

The reality is that this does happen - management can and will tell someone that their job has changed either permanently or even temporarily if there is a business need. And how it's communicated to the impacted individual is largely depended on the skill and talent of the manager.

I'm not sure that I can articulate it properly but this type of conversation occurs often at certain management level. Sometimes, the decision is made to shift someone's job function because it's believe that the individual can perform better at a new function. Sometimes, it because the existing job is being eliminated because there is no more business need and it's a way to find a new job for that individual because an argument has been accepted to not RIF the individual. And sometimes its to fill a more important gap and it's perceived that the individual can do it.

The actually happens to me regularly in my current job. It's part of my job charter so I accept it.

But I totally understand how it can derail your career plans. Sounds like hanging in there for a few weeks is the right thing to do if it's suppose to be only temporary.

mikejwhat

I was a Service Desk Analyst at BT and was made to take phone repairs calls. sacked them off straight away!

N2IT

@ Paul I know the reason at least I think so, that's because of poor resource planning (succession planning). Although it has never happen to me I have seen it happen to others and this seems to be the reason why. I think change is going to happen no matter what, however within in 6 months of hire I find it rather bizarre. I would be more inclined to agree as this being normal if months were extended out to years. I think we can agree on that (I think) As far as your position goes that is a lot different. Director and usually higher don't really have a choice especially if you want to move up in the same corporation. Business need plays a huge role on strategic positions. It's not uncommon to see executives moving around into each others position while some move up when seats become vacant. Also the shelf life of an executive in a large corporation is around 3 - 5 years with most of the time that executive having to find a lower level position to finish out their career. Going from CIO to CIO again in another company is rare but it can happen. BTW I appreciate you chiming in.

DevilWAH

Unexpectly doing another role can be good as we'll as bad.

My last role was sold to me as a technical role carting out network changers, and I thought it would be good for getting more varied hands on experience. When I started I found I was doing more paper work and almost no hands on configuration. The team was made up of 2 level 2 engineers and 5 level 1's, and I knew they were looking for a team leader. Within 5 weeks I had the team leader role and while it was not massively technical, it was working my mutiply global companies on there network change management. So I spent 2 years learning contract management, service delivery, staff management and how to deal with directors of IT for multi billion dollar companies. Not thing I every planned on doing but good things to have on a CV.

Before dismissing a change in path forced on you, do consider the long term benefits on your career. I am back to a more technical role, but I know the 2 years I spent managing and working with those big companies will and are a big benefit for me.

ciscouser8429

I was hired as tech support. Sometime last year I was asked to join interviewing new techs. They hired 3 more techs and 2 interns. My manger kept introducing me the as the lead tech support tech. After they were all hired I was asked to monitor them and give them tasks to do. I was never told or asked to be the leader, but I took it as a sign of "progress". For sure it was a lot more work and responsibilities. At the beginning of this year they made it official, including a juicy raise.

Good luck!

The Technomancer

If you're willing to be the guy/gal/other that'll do whatever it takes role-wise to get the job done, good employers will recognize that, and you'll have your pick of juicy projects down the road because they know they can come to you and stuff will get done.

On the flip side, companies with relatively inflexible titling and role-standards can end up with you having a ton of responsibilities, and you become the circular file for jobs nobody else wants to do, and you won't get promoted because if they promote you, you won't be available to do those crap jobs anymore.

At the end of the day, it really depends on the employer when you're trying to determine if the role change they have in mind for you is a good thing or a bad thing. If your employer has a track record of rewarding people who go the extra mile, put a smile on and slog through the crap work because that goodwill will equate to favors you can call in later. If the employer doesn't have that track record, take the bullet points on the resume they're giving you then GTFO ASAP.

paul78

@N2IT - I hear you. Unfortunately, succession planning even in big companies is a lot tougher to do than it seems. We're the middle of working out next year's budget and resource planning can be tricky when you are trying to predict what will be generating the top-line. It's possible that since you are the new guy, management may have made the decision move your role because the investment in your tenure has been lower.

And yes - you are correct - it's a bit different for me.

But @Technomancer said - the silver-lining could be that you could potentially use this change to show management that you are flexible and able to get the job done even if that's not your sweet spot in your career.

How different is the new role? Perhaps it's can be a stepping stone to bigger and better things? I tend to be an optimist.

N2IT

@ Paul - Succession planning within a company with good HR department and HRIS should be able to leverage forecasted talent based off of their historical employment records. While it's always easier talking about it than it is actually implementing it a fully functional capable HR department should be able to do this through solid business process and best practice. Of course you and I know that companies can ooze incompetency. With that said Tecnnomancer made a really good point, loyalty and strong efforts still pay off. I'll just keep my F 15 in a holding pattern and see what happens. I'll hope for the best. Have a nice evening.

elderkai

My current role has almost exclusively consisted of troubleshooting, deploying, configuring customer networks. Very nice role because it's diverse, however recently my last month has nothing but accepting shipments for a large customer, doing inventory, checking the equipment in, physically moving the boxes around and staging, then configuring plus packing/shipping. Happened all of a sudden and it's definitely not something that I like.

However, moving outside of what I normally do is totally fine. I have no problem with driving out of the office on-site to do something or helping run some cable every once in awhile. Keeps things interesting.

N2IT

Good attitude and approach EK. Like I said let's give it 5 weeks and see how things have changed. I am nowhere near the quitting point I just like job descriptions to align with responsibilities. If an employee doesn't know what is excepted of him how is he supposed to deliver? If it's always changing how are you supposed to evaluate your efforts? Just saying....

ThePrimetimer

Yep, this happened to me about a month and a half ago.
I was a field tech/engineer, going onto customer sites for almost anything IT related. Then came in one day, boss told me that I'm going to HelpDesk tomorrow and the HelpDesk guy was taking my place. Never was asked how I thought about it and was told that it was for "cross-training" purposes.
From what I've gathered, the HelpDesk guy was making a fuss that he got to sit and stay at the office all day.

I see it as they hired him for a specific job, as they did for me. If my performance in the field was not up to par, let me know, and I can turn that around. Plus, if it was for "cross-training", I would have thought maybe a transition period, but this was an overnight decision. So, given how fast the decision was made and implemented, I feel a bunch of politics played a roll.

At any rate, I'm looking for another position, as there is no advancement in the position that I'm in. I think management needs to handle their employees as they would anyone at their levels. The employees at the bottom are the people that run the show, to provide the boss/owner that wonderful house he has.

Sorry for the rant, but this thread speaks directly to me and my situation.

Gorby

I just recently had the same thing happen to me, except it was drastic and I didn't see the career benefits of the change. I was switched from days to nights and ended up doing more moving boxes around than actually learning about the network. I spoke with management about the change but they didn't really want to listen to my concerns, needless to say I am looking for a new gig. If the change in job was something new to increase my career or I was getting more pay for it then I would do it for sure though, but if they have you doing something non - IT related or outside of your career scope you should bring it up with management.

paul78

N2IT wrote: »

Succession planning within a company with good HR department and HRIS should be able to leverage forecasted talent based off of their historical employment records. While it's always easier talking about it than it is actually implementing it a fully functional capable HR department should be able to do this through solid business process and best practice.

I realize we are going off tangent but I respectfully would disagree that resource planning is within the scope of responsibility of a HR charter. I've personally never worked in a company that is run by the HR department. The functional management areas are accountable for succession planning and resource allocation - not HR. I've always noticed that a lot of people have a perception that HR has a lot more responsibilities than what really occurs. I would consider any organization where HR actually runs the business to be quite dysfunctional.

N2IT

No one ever said that a company was run by the HR department but the metrics should be available for the HR department to make decisions. Now if an organization can't provide that you have a very weak organization from a HRIS and data standpoint. I know from your previous post your vantage point is slighted from being associated with one organization for a fairly long period of time. Any organization regardless of the department should be synchronized with one another. While I agree that a company shouldn't be run by HR, it shouldn't be run by any single department. I think any conventional corporate wisdom would suggest that and enforce that. While I always respect your opinion I disagree with your intent.