@Mwfan1921 – I said boost over the guy off the street. I didn’t claim she needed a raise. I’ve no idea what she makes or make any assumptions.
It’s great that your employee has experience beyond what is necessary for the job, but she was hired for a specific job - if she wants to advance, she needs to get a different job. Your director may want to help her, but she is not HIS employee. This is where the disconnect exists - he should not be authorizing others to assign tasks to your employee unless and until she completes the tasks that are part of her job description. The Director wants another employee in the department, and is using this employee to complete the tasks associated with that non-existent position. I would ask for a meeting with you, the employee’s supervisor, and HR. If this employees job responsibilities are going to be changed, then her job description should be changed, and perhaps she should report directly to the Director. Then, if the two of you still need an AA, the position she was filling, a new AA can be hired. I would then ask the you be involved in the hiring process. The point was made upthread that if she takes on more responsibilities while maintaining the title of AA, it will cause problems with others in other departments - that is spot on. She may have seen this job as a foot in the door, but it really isn’t. It isn’t meant to provide her experience in her field, even if it means working with those who could help her get such a job.
I would not also that whoever writes the job descriptions probably intends the people who are assigning these tasks to complete those tasks as part of THEIR jobs. If they want an assistant, to help with their tasks, they need to approach whoever makes such decisions, and ask for an assistant, not poach yours.
“If you are this person’s direct manager, then you would say "“Let me lay out what your role here is, and then we can talk about whether it’s the right fit for you.””
And if I were the director and had already said that her change in responsibilities was something I approved of I’d fire you for telling her something different. It all really depends on the power and responsibilities given the director. At many companies the director would have absolute authority to change the job description of the AA. IF the director doesn’t have this authority you can try to see if HR can assist.
Some are seem very rigid and inflexible. Citing job descriptions, HR, do the job your “hired for” etc. are all great. But to me the better approach in the meeting is – we are willing the “share” but what can we do to make sure everything is getting done. That could lead to another body, PT or FT or something else.
^^ I agree with everything @maya54 has posted. Your hands are tied here because your Director has made it clear she supports the AA’s change in responsibilities. At this point, the AA is more of an AA serving the department/departments and not just you and your coworker.
I would do two things: 1. Document as much as possible your responsibilities and the time it takes to get them done. Your coworker should do the same. Basically you are going to go over the justification for why you both were given an AA, the number of hours that should be freed up for both of you to devote to other responsibilities and conversely, what you won’t be able to get done if you have to take some of these responsibilities back. 2. Ask your Director to provide clear guidelines as to what the AA’s responsibilities are, who can give her tasks and who she can go to when she needs help prioritizing those tasks. I really agree with those who have posted that this is the Directors issue. Right now, it seems like AA is prioritizing the tasks she likes over the ones that really need to get done. That said, you might need to prepare yourselves for the fact that you may no longer have a direct report and that the AA does officially become more of department resource.
Lots of varied and interesting responses. @austinmshauri has a good idea of what I am talking about - yes, I work at a college. It’s really small, though, with a micro-staff, so some things differ from how they would be at a larger school (I have worked at those, too).
You know, I think that the “get the old fogies out of the way” theory may have merit. And I think that may be the correct move on my part. After all, I can’t help but think they’d have to have at least two people to replace me. I guess when we get to the point where we think that much of ourselves, it’s probably time to move on. (And I swear that I am NOT a full-of-myself kind of person.)
I have been sharing ideas brought forward here with my coworker. We honestly do appreciate the feedback and ideas,and are taking comments seriously.
Is this a union shop? If the admin is part of a union then your Director may run afoul of the union. But she’s a graduate of the program, so maybe not.
The college has a vested interest in making sure their grads do well, so it concerns me that your Director thinks of her as an alumna first, not an employee. I have a suspicion that the college will support her in a direct conflict, so tread carefully. If you or your co-worker left, is there any way this employee could be fast tracked to your job? If so, that’s more reason to be careful.
I think though that the larger question is exactly how do you move forward and address this with the director. The director has already told you that he/she thinks it is perfectly acceptable for the AA to do other work. So, in reality this director has modified the AA’s job description without seeking out your input or the input of the AA’s direct supervisor. Now what do you do? Even if the director modified the job description without having the authority to do so, you are stuck with this decision unless and until you persuade the director to reconsider by giving him/her some new information or data and/or present the data and suggest a compromise or other solution. If it were me, I would probably try to figure out a way to present the data to support my position in a way that saves the director from feeling as if he/she “made a mistake”, because I would fear that this director may cling to his/her position out of stubbornness and/or a refusal to admit that he/she made a mistake. Because in reality, before changing this AA’s job description, one would think it prudent to have obtained the input of the AA’s supervisor at the very least. The director did not do this and thus she made a decision without seeming to understand the ripple effect it would have on others if this AA’s job duties changed. In my admittedly limited experience with working for others, I have found that very few people are comfortable and secure enough to to admit they were wrong. I guess what I am saying in a long-winded manner, is to give extra thought as to not only what you will say to the director, but how you will present it to her. I would present it in the most collaborative and facilitative manner, in order to give you the best chance of of resolving this to your satisfaction. (And OP, I am not suggesting that you have not thought of this, but I just wanted to point it out, so that if you are feeling angry and/or frustrated, you give yourself some time to unwind prior to approaching the director again.)