Assessing the impact of structure change on jobs

To understand the impact of a workplace change you need to work out the impact of the new structure on the current jobs.

Comparing jobs

The following steps will help you work out the best way to implement your change decisions:

  • write job descriptions for new roles
  • have descriptions job sized if this is something that your organisation does
  • decide what the job will be paid
  • work out whether each new job is ‘comparable’ to any existing job, whether it can be a suitable alternative or whether it is significantly different.

Comparable jobs - these can generally be confirmed

Permanent staff can be confirmed in jobs without an assessment and selection process if:

  • the job is comparable to the employee's current job and
  • the number of employees currently doing the job is the same or less than the number of new comparable jobs available.

A comparable job is one which is generally similar to the old role however it may have:

  • some change to the job functions
  • a title change
  • a change in reporting line.

Refer to our Job Comparison Table for a way to check this.

Suitable alternative jobs – these can be reassigned

A suitable alternative job is one that:

  • is in keeping with skills, qualifications, personal characteristics and experience, may require some retraining (eg for new technology or way of working)
  • is in the same location or reasonable commuting distance
  • maintains pay rate (with no intention to reduce later).

The general rule is that if a job is reasonably within the skills and experience of the employee, it may be viewed as a suitable alternative one. The assessment is an objective one which matches the employees' skills and experience to the job, rather than their personal preferences. For employees the safety net is that the terms and conditions offered must be similar to the old job, including salary and benefits.

Note: Depending on your employment agreement/policies, staff that turn down an offer of a suitable alternative job may be deemed to have resigned (with redundancy not payable). This is because they have chosen not to take a job that is considered suitable for them. If this is the case then you will need to be clear about this in your implementation document.

Significantly different jobs – these roles are generally advertised

A significantly different job is one where the job is new or is different to the job that an employee is currently doing. These roles are usually advertised (internally to the affected staff first) and staff who apply will go through a selection and appointment process.

Job comparison table

The easiest way to do this is to prepare a table and compare the jobs directly.

For example:

Select total assessed impact - comparable/suitable alternative/significantly different
Job requirements Current job New job
Essential functions of the job    
Key responsibilities/areas of responsibility    
Performance measures    
Scope or scale of job    
Freedom to act/authority to make decisions    
Delegations    
Qualifications needed    
Skills, experience and personal characteristics required    
Physical demands or other criteria needed    

The results of this comparison will give you information to help you set out all of the jobs:

Current job Comparable new job
Senior advisor Senior project advisor
Claims coordinator
Relationship coordinator
Account coordinator
Customer service manager
Relationship manager
Case manager
Account manager

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