My job description changed – I’m now doing more for less – what do I do?

My job description changed – I’m now doing more for less – what do I do?

Hi, I’m Janet Granger, answering the question: “My job description changed. I’m suddenly doing more for less. What do I do?” 

First off, I’d like to say I’m sorry – there’s nothing more depressing than having your job description suddenly changed on you without your agreeing to it, and doing more for the same amount of money – or what feels like less. 

This can happen for a number of reasons and I’m going to talk about those different reasons.  I’ve written out some scripts of conversations you might have with your manager. There can be a few different reasons why, all of a sudden, you’re having work dumped on you or your job description changed. Some of them are good and some of them are not so good. 

The first one – that is good – is it could be a test. You’re being tested to see if you could take on more responsibility, or get a promotion, or be in a different role, or have people reporting to you. Or something that’s more advanced than where you are right now. 

This is a test to see how you do and it could be an opportunity for you. I want you to know that sometimes this happens and it’s not necessarily a bad thing. And while you may not be thrilled with it, you’re not alone. This happens and the outcome might be good. 

If all of a sudden this change was because a teammate left, or there was a shuffle in the organization and all of a sudden there are now fewer people doing the same amount of work, or more work, then that’s very different.What you want to do is wait a few days for the dust settle, because everyone’s thinking, “What’s going on?” Give it a couple days for your manager to get settled into this “new reality” and ask them if you can set up a time to talk about your new job description or your new tasks. 

Ask for 30 minutes, so that neither of you feel rushed. And, before the meeting, think about what it is you want to accomplish. Do you want to just send the message that you’re not happy? Do you want to find out how long this is going to last? 

Think carefully about what you’d like to accomplish, because that can help inform what you say. You can be calm and collected and friendly. And although what you’re saying may not be a lot of fun for your manager to listen to, they’ll hear you better if you deliver it nicely and with empathy. 

If people have been leaving, and you know why, because they’re not happy or maybe it’s not a great place to work, and you’re also experiencing that, you might start off by being empathetic to your manager and saying something like: 

“I understand that this is difficult for you. You’re probably stressed out about what’s going on. I  just want to know – if you know – about what’s in flux here. If you know what’s going to happen:  if this is permanent or if they’re going to replace (the teammate who left). 

“I’m happy to take up the slack for a little bit if there’s an end game here. I’d like to know what the timeline is.” 

This approach shows that you’re “a team player” and you’re being proactive. You’re not complaining, you would just like to know what the plan is (if there is one).

If your company is growing, maybe you’re in a fast-growing area of the company – or in a startup – where all of a sudden things get dumped on you. But it’s for a good reason – that means you’re growing. You could approach your manager with a script runs more like this: 

“Wow! It seems like the work is really piling up for us. A lot is coming our way. Do you know what the plan is for hiring more people to do this work? Is this an opportunity for me to show what I can do? To see if I can maybe move up the ladder and get more responsibility? Or a promotion? I’m  trying to find out what the plan is – do you know?” 

Again, this shows empathy for your manager, who is probably also having a tough time.It shows that you’re aware of the situation and you’re willing to help. And that you’d also like to know if there’s an opportunity. Those are all positive signals to send your manager and, hopefully, they will be appreciative of that. 

Having given you all those scenarios, I am also very aware of the bad things that can happen in these types of situations. This happened to a friend of mine where she was hired, and she actually moved for a new job, only to find out, two weeks later, that there was a reorganization of the business and she was no longer reporting to the manager she thought she’d be reporting to. In addition, she had an entirely new job description. 

As you can imagine, she wasn’t really happy about what she called “a bait and switch.”  Feeling she had the rug being pulled out from under. So if you find yourself in a similar situation, where all of a sudden the whole world has changed around you, and you’re now in a job that you did not interview for and you’re not necessarily thrilled about, you can have an honest conversation with your manager. You might say: 

“I’m really surprised at this new role! I was told I was going to be doing something very different and now I’m being asked to do considerably more work (or different work, or a totally different job, or job that maybe I need training for). What’s the plan, in terms of helping me learn what I need to do? Or making sure I have access to all the resources I need to have to be successful? Do you see this as permanent or is this temporary? Can you share what the thought-process was behind this? 

if you don’t like doing what the new job entails, you’re in a great place to say something like: 

“Hey, I just wanted to let you know, this isn’t the role that I was hired to do and it wasn’t the job that I interviewed for. I’m really disappointed with this change. What do you recommend that I do? Do you know what the game plan is?”

Your manager won’t be thrilled to hear this – but it’s their job to hear it – and to help you figure out: should you transfer someplace else (in the organization)? (Or should you maybe go online and quietly start doing another job search?) 

You may not get to change your role, but hopefully you’ll get some clarification from your manager as to what the thought process was, what’s going on, and then you get to be in charge of your destiny and figure out what you want to do from there. 

I’ve attached a couple of links for you to read; one is about how to deal with your boss when your job description has changed so you might want to take a look at that. The other one is an article about getting clarity on your new role. 

I’m Janet Granger, answering the question: “My job description changed – I’m doing more for less. Now what do I do?”