Reassigning Work

The departure of any one person from the organization generates numerous human resource responses. It also impacts those who remain behind both temporarily, who fill the gap and maintain service, and possibly long-term, by serving as the launching pad for new ways of doing things.

Sometimes, the departure of an employee presents the organization with the opportunity to view the job from a different perspective. Refilling the position and assigning the same duties and responsibilities as before may not be the most efficient way to proceed. Instead, the organization may decide to eliminate some duties, reduce or increase the time spent on some duties or the amount of importance they receive, or they may reassign all or some of the duties to other staff so that the vacancy may be used in another way.

Changing duties may affect the classification of the individual(s) involved. Reassigning duties may also be affected by collective bargaining provisions, so those making such assignments need to be aware of the potential impact of their decisions before implementing them.

Change also affects people, so there is a human relations aspect to such changes as well.

Classification program webpage
Managers and Supervisors Manual, Chapter 3, Position Classification
Iowa Administrative Rules, Chapter 11—52
Forms related to classification changes
Managers and Supervisors Manual, Chapter 13, Organizational Redesign and Workforce Planning
Organizational Redesign and Workforce Planning: Guide to Resources
PDS courses, Conflict Management and Negotiation
PDS courses, Leadership Development
PDS courses, Supervision
PDS courses, Team Development and Dynamics
PDS services, Organizational Development,
AFSCME Collective Bargaining Agreement
IUP Science Unit Collective Bargaining Agreement
IUP Social Service Unit Collective Bargaining Agreement
SPOC Collective Bargaining Agreement

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Last update: 04/09