University of Washington Human Resources

Position review process

Last updated: April 10, 2025

To request a position review of a represented civil service exempt staff (Represented CSEs) position, the employee or employer completes the Represented Civil Service Exempt Staff Position Review Questionnaire (PDF), the supervisor or manager reviews the completed questionnaire adding additional info as necessary and forwards it for any required departmental review before sending the completed questionnaire to Compensation. For RSE positions, a Research Scientist-Engineer Questionnaire (PDF) is required in addition to the Represented Civil Service Exempt Staff Position Review Questionnaire.

NOTE: If you believe that a represented civil service exempt staff position should be reviewed for placement in the Professional Staff Program, use the professional staff position review process to request a complete position review.

Employees are encouraged to work with their supervisor in completing the position review process but are not required to do so. An employee can request to have their position reviewed for reclassification even if the employing unit believes that reclassification is not appropriate or that funding a possible reclassification may be problematic.

Tips for Completing the Questionnaire

Review your current departmental job description, the job description that was used when your position was filled, your performance evaluations, and your position’s job specifications.

You may find it helpful to keep notes about the work you perform throughout a typical week and the amount of time you spend on various tasks. It is easy to overlook duties that are important to your job that you perform routinely, and to incorrectly estimate the amount of time you spend on them.

The following instructions correspond to the sections on the Position Review Questionnaire.

Position Purpose
Summarize in a few sentences the main reason(s) your position exists. This statement should include the position’s general function and overall level of responsibility. It may be easiest to prepare this statement after the main job duties section has been completed.

Examples of some position purpose statements:

• • My position serves as the administrator for our department’s local area computer network of 20 workstations and two servers. It is responsible for network trouble shooting, hardware and software installation, and training staff. My position determines when hardware and software upgrades are necessary and makes purchasing recommendations.
  • I supervise two employees, and together we maintain all fiscal, payroll and purchasing records for our department. My position is responsible for designing and maintaining the record-keeping and reporting systems our department uses.
  • I provide support for my department’s graduate program. I correspond with and provide information to applicants, maintain all records for applicants and current students, and provide information in response to requests about the graduate program.

Job profile you think provides the best match for the duties and responsibilities of your position.

Specify the job profile you think should be assigned to your position. If you do not have an opinion, check the “Do Not Know” space.

How long have you performed the duties that you believe fall outside your current job profile?

Specify the approximate length of time you have performed the job duties that you believe do not fit within your position’s current job profile.

Describe any specialized education, training, or certification required to perform your duties.

You do not need to describe general educational experience unless a degree is a specific field job requirement.

Position Responsibilities/Duties

Describe the main job duties (those which take at least 5% of your time) assigned to your position. Begin with the tasks that are most important or carry the most responsibility. Try to group similar tasks together and estimate the percentage of time on a weekly or monthly basis that you devote to the task. Describe any responsibilities you have for determining methods of work, or that require special innovation or creativity.

Break complex assignments into individual elements to make your job responsibilities clearer. See the following examples:

Avoid job responsibility statements like:

• • I do laboratory research to study enzyme biochemistry.
  • I have responsibility for all of our department’s budgets.

Instead describe tasks:

• • I read scientific literature and develop or modify laboratory methods to conduct experiments.
  • I obtain muscle samples from laboratory rats and homogenize them for enzyme extraction.
  • I use a centrifuge, an ultra centrifuge, and various chromatography methods to purify the enzyme.

– OR –

• • I maintain all of our department’s purchasing and payroll records for both state funds and grants and contracts.
  • I review all purchase requests for compliance with institution and funding agency policy. I review any problem requests with the purchaser to ensure that all expenditures comply with applicable policies and regulations.

In the right-hand columns indicate the percentage of time each duty requires and whether you believe a task falls outside your current job profile. Compensation uses your time estimates to determine how your job duties relate to one another. If the estimates are not included in the position questionnaire, the review process can take longer than it normally would.

Decision-making Authority

Provide examples of the kinds of decisions you make in your job. These could be decisions about prioritizing your work, establishing policies, making programmatic commitments, establishing budgets, designing or developing technical processes, etc.

Organizational Chart

Complete the chart according to instructions on the questionnaire.

Budget Authority

Complete according to instructions on the questionnaire.

Employee Review

Check the boxes confirming who initiated and completed the form (you or your supervisor) and sign the appropriate signature line. If your supervisor prepared part or all of the questionnaire, please review the form and clarify any statements you disagree with or wish to provide additional information on.

Supervisor Review

The supervisor should carefully review the information provided on the Position Review Questionnaire, fill out the supervisory review page, complete internal approval routing, and ensure that the questionnaire is sent to Compensation.

What happens next:

The Compensation office will:

• Notify you that the position review request has been received, if required by the applicable labor contract.
• Inform you of the review process and the time frame for completion, if required by the applicable labor contract.
• Contact you and/or your supervisor if additional information is needed.
• Issue a written decision within the specified time frame in the applicable labor contract.

Position review decisions are made by comparing a position’s assigned duties to the available job profiles. Position review decisions are not based on an employee’s job performance or on a comparison to the work that other employees perform. Compensation considers the job profile you are seeking, other job profiles that may be appropriate, and identifies the job profile that is the “best fit” for your duties. Best fit does not mean that the job profile describes all of your duties; it simply means the closest fit out of the available job profiles.