Other Duties As Assigned
"Other duties as assigned", have you heard that phrase before? If you have been looking at the job postings at all in the past several decades, you have probably seen it once or twice. It is a catch-phrase that they throw in there to pretty much say, we can have you do whatever we want whenever we want.
Forget the actual scope of your job or duties, anything we want can be assigned to you and you will be expected to do it. Unless you are "lucky" enough to work in a union shop, most of us are probably "at will" employees. That means sure, you can refuse to do the other duties they assign you, but in return they can also choose to kick you to the curb and find someone else to do the job. All with little to no recourse on your part because after all, you are an at will employee.
Don't get me wrong, being in the union isn't all rainbows and roses. That isn't what this post is about anyway, but it does give yous some protection from this sort of thing.
I work in education, so most of our employees are in some form of union or other. Then we have a few stragglers like myself who are considered "non affiliated". We are those at will employees. If you are thinking at will sounds more like replaceable, you would be totally right. We have virtually no protection from sudden firing shy of obvious discrimination or violations of our civil liberties.
As we see things like "quiet quitting" and "the great resignation" happening all across the globe, it has really become evident to me that "other duties as assigned" might be soon kicked to the curb.
Like many businesses, we have been struggling to hire and keep quality individuals in certain positions in our district. They are necessary positions that require a moderate amount of skill, so just putting a warm body in a chair isn't necessarily the best solution.
The fact is though, like many businesses who are trying to do more with less, that means a large number of responsibilities and duties get placed on a single person. In the past, that might have worked. People were loyal and happy to have a job. There was a lot more competition and people were okay with a work/life balance that skewed more towards work. That's not the case these days.
As much as I was raised in the generation where you did what you were told at work because your job is important and you need to keep it, many people in the current generation don't feel the same way.
I made a point at one of our administrative meetings the other day that we may need to consider leaving off the "other duties as assigned" phrasing from our postings. It's just not going to fly these days I don't think. People want a clear separation and defined lines between their work and home life. Unless they own their own business, but that is a different beast all-together.
It's honestly a bit crazy to me how the world has gone from employees bending over backwards to maintain their job and their employers approval to employers now doing the same just to retain workers. Many times the workers aren't even highly skilled but employers fight to keep them anyway because... I don't even know why, I still can't wrap my head around it.
What do you think? Are the days of "other duties as assigned" gone? Are you even familiar with that phrase or is it not as common as I think it is? Let's discuss some more in the comments!
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Oh yeah. I've included that in all of my employment contracts too. It's the CYA phrase for those stubborn, entitled hires! lol. It used to be a good phrase, one that gave you hope that the job you applied for and accepted when offered, would lead to opportunities for advancement or lateral movement if so desired. Well not anymore. Your correct that the newer generations expect very black and white job descriptions. After all it is just a job to some .. not a career. During most of the interviews I conduct, I'm asked monetary, benefit, and perk questions the most.. very little about the actual work being performed or stability of the company. Priorities have shifted! I think that along with the advancements in tech, came a new generation of light thinkers that embrace the idea of instant gratification, and fast entitlement. Everything we want is at our grasp. Not all but I see about 75-80% of my applicants falling into that category. Not to mention that this is especially true for the way this group interacts with people. Social skills are at an all time low. 😆
.. Now that was a ramble. hehe
I was never great at social skills anyway, but I can imagine the newer generation is likely even worse. I think part of the problem is a lot of businesses abused the phrase to load more work onto their employees to avoid having to hire someone new and increase their payroll. The attitude of a disgruntled few has now trickled down to a whole generation.
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Well this is sad and funny at the same thing , because you might be hurrying up to meet a deadline and suddenly you get another angle of work assigned to just at the very brink of tiding up and resting from a particular assignment . Pheww it really can be overwhelming and situations too forces one to take up those job positions
It's a cop out by the businesses really. It's there way of getting things done without having to hire someone else and spend the payroll on that. It makes the overall morale and environment go down the tubes though.
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I think work tends to involve some compromise. You may have a specified set of duties, but there may be times when the company needs help with other things, especially if it is small. It's a problem if you think you are being exploited.
Anything outside the defined scope seems to be viewed as exploitation these days. It is a bit ridiculous. It will be even more ridiculous if businesses don't realize they need to adapt and make the appropriate changes.
I'm not sure all people see it that way. If the employer looks after their people then they will be willing to help out to some degree. Both sides need to give.
For sure!
I have a saying for it here "want the job, not the work", times have changed days of working your way up into a future career is gone.
Doing any more than one has to, you crazy, youth have very different ideas!
Yeah, that definitely seems to be the case! Maybe it's a good sign that I should be done soon.
Way too many new ideas that will eventually shoot them in the foot! Hope you done sooner than later.
We shall see!
With or without higher education most started at the bottom and learned their way up in the past. Now arrive with a piece of paper, no hands on training, expect to sit on top doing no additional chores related to a position.
Yeah, that is a good point.
The table has turned thanks to digital age but I think the other party (employees) in some areas/aspects are just pushing it. You can't expect a clear cut work/life balance when life in itself is not clear cut. There are cases that it will require you to step up and do more.
For sure, and I think you need to prepare for that. Helping out a little extra here and there is not a big deal, but when the business takes advantage of your ability to help, then it gets out of hand. I really feel that is what happened and now workers aren't as accepting of it. Sticking to the old methods isn't going to work with this new workforce.
Indeed. I guess we have to adapt and go with the flow. It might be hard but I think there must be a way for both parties to win.
This is something I have mixed feelings about. Just today I was assigned a whole set of duties that were not discussed with me when I accepted this role...I'm not an employee, my company has been hired to do a certain number of hours and set things for this other company with a SLA that I'm still waiting to receive...that in itself is rather unprofessional of the company that hired mine, but that aside. I'm now being stretched to beyond capacity as if they are wanting to see how much they can squeeze out of this contract.
In fact just today I ended up doing design work that is normally contracted out to a completely different company but they shoved it into my workload as they know I have the capabilities and the design know how to do it. Does that make it right when it wasn't in the original terms of service? I think it's taking advantage and I don't like that one little bit. I don't mind putting in extra effort because I'm diligent and hard working but there is a fine line between putting in extra because you are loyal to your contract and exploitation.
I totally agree with you. As I replied on some of the other comments, I think it is a double edged sword and I think a lot of this has been brought upon themselves by the businesses. They have taken advantage for years and where my generation was raised to just accept it and be thankful I have a job, the new generation doesn't feel the same.
I need to find a new position within my company and I read a job advert that read "this job is expected 2-3 days in the office".
Considering our offices are being re-kitted out for hotdesking, that job was crossed off my list for starters! I don't know if that would fall into your catch all criteria?
The whole onsite offsite thing is a totally different animal these days. I think the expectations could be lumped in there though. It's just like a whole new can of worms. Definitely not the workforce that I entered 25 years ago!
It sure does seem different, but in some ways also the same.
It's a trend that I have seen going on and it's like the business's way of trying to put as much work into their employees as possible. I don't blame them for it and it's tough to run a successful profitable business.
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Yeah, I guess that is one way to look at it. The problem is workers are different now and they aren't going to be okay with that. Businesses who what to survive are going to need to adapt.