Questions and Answers about the Classification Process
1. How do I know that I should be reclassified?
Compare what you were hired to do with what you are doing now. If the position is significantly different, i.e., how the job is characterized, the kind of decisions made, the supervision exercised, a predominant proportion of the time, then it may be time to review your position. One place to start would be to match the work with the series concepts and generic job descriptions.
2. Where am I in the process? Who do I go to first?
Talk with your supervisor first to discuss how your job has changed, what new responsibilities you’ve absorbed, what may have delegated to others. The description needs the review and approval of the supervisor, as that person is responsible for making work assignments.
3. Where is it in the process?
The description has to be completed and signed by: 1. the employee; 2. the supervisor; 3. the department head (or his/her designee). Some organizations have additional levels of review, up to and including the control unit (i.e., the Vice Chancellor level). Sometimes it may leave the department and be in those channels, before being sent to Human Resources. In following up, it is best to check through the channels of review to see who has it and whether they have any questions or problems with it.
4. How is the classification decision communicated? My supervisor got a letter. Then what?
The classification unit advises department management when it has received the request and who will be reviewing it. Once the classification determination has been made, the classification analyst sends a letter to the department chairperson or departmental personnel manager for the unit, who in turn passes it along to the supervisor who is expected to advise the employee. If the classification analyst can’t support the request he/she will point out why; also advise the supervisor of what the employee may do if they disagree with it.
5. How will my new salary be determined?
Information about salary setting for reclassifications can be found on HRWEB.
6. With the use of the clerical matrix is Classification still looking for a job description?
At this time we still need a job description, with an organization chart, the "Supervisor’s Checklist," signed by the appropriate people. For positions in the clerical series, we want to move to the use of the generic descriptions, where the supervisor and department head confirm that the employee is performing at the level as designated in the matrix.
7. Is a classification decision based upon my supervisor's writing ability?
The job description should reflect the assignments of the position. That needs to be articulated in a written description that is clearly understood by any one who reads it. If you have questions about how well the description is written, discuss it with your supervisor; other resources for this discussion include the Departmental Personnel Manager or the business manager for your unit.
More is not necessarily "better." Lengthy job descriptions are sometimes difficult or tedious to read; they may hide the real work of the position, or become a "procedural manual" rather than a description of the work to be done.
8. How does the Berkeley Financial System (BFS) affect my job? Will it change my classification?
BFS will affect your position insofar as it changes what you do, the problems you solve, the decisions you make. If BFS is a different way of doing the same work, your job title probably won’t change. If it results in your doing different work, then it might: if you spend less time doing data entry, and have time to identify trends and problems with a broader impact, and development of solutions to those problems, then it would have an impact.
9. What is the difference between a preparer and reviewer in relationship to AA II and AA III, in the Berkeley Financial System (BFS)? A recent job listing asking for reviewer tasks was listed as Admin. Asst. III. Most people working on campus now are AA II and are preparers and reviewer both.
Positions aren’t placed at a level because they are either "preparers" or "reviewers" in BFS. Positions are classified at one level or the other because of the overall assignments of the position. Positions at the AA III level would be at that level not because they are preparing or processing forms, but because they are developing and implementing training programs for the unit or revising how business is done in the unit or performing other assignments consistent with that level.
10. How does my committee work impact my position?
Committee work is generally not critical to the evaluation of a position. It reflects work of a group rather than an individual. Much of it is cyclical, of short duration, i.e., of a year or two, but then it is reassigned; not a major component of the position. Usually committee work is consistent with the rest of your assignments; as the committee work is often related to the work you do, so you would want to be sure your primary assignments address that work.
11. What are the supervisor's responsibilities?
The supervisor assigns work to the position and is expected to maintain current job descriptions for all employees supervised. He/she is expected to be familiar enough with the work performed by his/her subordinates and the classification standards to know if they are in general agreement. We also expect the supervisor to be familiar with the classification procedures, including those used in establishing the effective date of a reclassification.
12. I would like to know more about how to use and interpret the series concepts and writing effective job descriptions to fall within the targeted range.
The series concepts give the general description of the kind of work (i.e., administrative; analytical; programming/systems analysis; student services) typically performed by the job family. Within each job family, there are descriptions of what is done at each level, depending upon factors such as level of supervision provided over the position, the supervision it exercises over others; the kinds of problems to be resolved, the guidelines available to solve problems, the purpose and scope of recommendations and decisions.
13. Is it acceptable for employees to rewrite their own job descriptions?
The development of a new job description should be a collaborative effort on the part of both the employee and the supervisor. Some new responsibilities may have been delegated down and others may have been initiated from the bottom up. The supervisor could initiate the process by asking the employee to draft a job description for his or her review.