Human Resources

Position management policy for staff and student employment

Last updated: February 2, 2023

The Staff and Student Position Management Policy provides an overview of key definitions, outlines rules associated with positions, and guides the management of positions and their lifespan. The tracking of job history, including worker history, simplifies the creation of employment requisitions, streamlines the succession planning process, and supports vacancy reporting for ad hoc and annual budgeting processes.

Position management preserves the continuity and history of not only the job, but of all the workers who held the job and also allows the UW to be in compliance with state law and collective bargaining agreements:

  • Benefits: The Washington Public Employees’ Retirement System and the Washington State Healthcare Authority requirements for benefits eligibility require the employer to have a positions policy under RCW 41.40.010 and RCW 41.05.065.
  • Civil Service Exemption: The definitions exempting certain types of limited term work from state civil service law necessitate the appropriate management of a position’s lifespan under RCW 41.06.070.
  • Union Implications: Position management allows the tracking of bargaining unit work so that the University may honor its obligation to report on and bargain any changes to positions that contain bargaining unit work.

Definitions

Job: A job is a group of duties and responsibilities to be performed by an employee. These duties and responsibilities are outlined in a position description, which documents the essential tasks, functions, and qualifications required to perform the work and is used to determine the job profile that best describes the work. Job profiles are defined by the families and classifications they are in, which drive everything about a position from pay rate type, eligibility criteria for benefits, employment program provisions, accruals, accounting groups, and reporting codes.

Position: A position is a specific occurrence of a job within an organization. It is linked to the job profile and inherits all of its characteristics. For example, the job may be Program Coordinator (17256), but the position could be Commencement Program Coordinator in the Dean’s office.

Lifespan: Each position has a lifespan, which drives whether the work is considered regular, nonpermanent, intermittent, or temporary. A position’s lifespan, in part, is defined by the employee sub-type.

  • Regular positions, whether hourly or salaried, have a start date but no end date. Regular positions represent work that remains after the incumbent leaves, appear in vacancy reports when unfilled, and their duties and responsibilities are defined without a specific employee in mind.
  • Nonpermanent positions are classified positions with a start date and an expected future end date. As defined in state civil service rules or certain collective bargaining agreements, they are limited to 12 month classified appointments with the ability to extend an additional 12 months (unless a collective bargaining agreement states otherwise) based on departmental needs.
  • Intermittent positions are classified hourly positions without an expected future end date. The nature of work is sporadic and does not fit a particular pattern.

A position’s lifespan continues until the work is no longer needed or the rules defining the employee sub-type require the position to be eliminated.

Staffing Model: Staffing models in Workday support, in part, the management of a position’s lifespan. The job management staffing model, used for student positions, results in positions only existing when an incumbent is in the job. By comparison, the position management staffing model persists positions. Any limited term positions with an end date in the position management staffing model must be actively managed.

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Edit position restrictions or new position?

The integrity of a regular position once created is critical. When a department wants to change a position, it should only be reclassified if both the duties and responsibilities fundamentally change the job.

A position should not be modified if the following criteria are true:

  • If the lifespan of the work changes resulting in a different employee sub-type (e.g., cannot edit a position from nonpermanent to regular, or vice versa), unless the position is vacant and has never been filled.
  • When the position remains in the same major organization and the work is moving from one position to another.
  • When the position’s personnel type changes between the following categories:
    • Staff
    • Academic Personnel
    • Student
  • On any stipend or contingent worker position.
  • On any Professional Staff Temporary Position (PSTP).

During position management activities, positions may be frozen, eliminated/closed, or reclassified. See the User Guide Library on the Integrated Service Center (ISC) webpage for more information.

Workday configuration automatically manages regular positions and intermittent positions that are intended to persist. The lifespan of professional staff project positions, nonpermanent. and temporary hourly positions that will not be extended must be managed directly.

*For overlap scenarios when an employee is leaving and the employment of the incoming replacement will overlap with the departing employee, if Workday configuration prohibits the filling of a position due to functionality and a separate position must be created, once a worker leaves, it is intended that workers be moved and positions closed in order to properly manage positions.

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Lifespan of staff and student positions

Manage positions according to the chart below on staff and student positions.

Position Lifespan (Employee subtype) Description Work Limitations FTE End Employment Date Set As Staffing Model in Workday Position Management Management of End Employment Date
Regular Indefinite Lifespan N/A Yes N/A Position Management Position may be closed, frozen, reclassified, or refilled as-is depending on the need for the work N/A
Nonpermanent – Fixed Duration Used for leave of absence backfill, when recruiting to fill a vacant position with a permanent appointment, or to address a short-term workload peak project Limited to 12 months from appointment date with the ability to extend an additional 12 months (unless a collective bargaining agreement states otherwise) based on departmental needs Yes Duration of position not to exceed 12 months Position Management Position may be closed or refilled as-is depending on the need for the work Review end employment date and request extension of no more than 12 additional months (for a total of 24 months, except for positions represented by SEIU 925 which are limited to a total of 18 months) based on department needs
Non-permanent – Hourly Used for leave of absence backfill, when recruiting to fill a vacant position with a permanent appointment, or to address a short-term workload peak project Limited to 12 months from appointment date with the ability to extend an additional 12 months on departmental needs No Duration of position not to exceed 12 months Position Management Position may be closed or refilled as-is depending on the need for the work Review end employment date and request extension of no more than 12 additional months (for a total of 24 months) based on department needs
Intermittent Nature of the work is sporadic and does not fit a particular pattern N/A No N/A Position management. Position may be closed, frozen, reclassified, or refilled as-is depending on the need for the work N/A
Professional Staff Project Position Short-term staffing, project work, workload peaks that meet professional staff exemption criteria Positions of up to 12 months in duration that are regularly scheduled and hold an FTE. Project positions likely to exceed 12 months should be treated as regular professional staff positions. Yes No more than 12 months from date of hire or most recent job change date Position Management The position must be closed after end employment date is met. Review end employment date and extend by no more than 12 months if needed. Requested through and approved by Compensation
Professional Staff Temporary
Limited-Term		 Short-term staffing, project work, workload peaks that meet professional staff exemption criteria Hourly positions up to 12 months in duration used when the work will not have a predictable schedule. No No more than 12 months from most recent hire date or most recent job change job date Position Management Position may be closed, frozen, reclassified, or refilled as-is depending on the need for the work. Requested through and approved by Compensation
Salaried UAW Academic Student Employee (ASE) Job profiles outlined in UAW contract ASEs with a 50% FTE will not be required to work for more than 220 hours per quarter. Alternative FTE appointments will be prorated based on hours worked per week and per quarter. Yes, typically 50% FTE Typically 50% for the academic quarter. Salaried ASE** positions vary and can be less than 50% or less than the academic quarter. Most positions are 50% or greater for at least one academic quarter or 5 of the 6 pay periods of the quarter. Job Management Position goes away once incumbent vacates. Extend end date per contract. For summer, enter hiatus LOA if returning in autumn or per contract
Student Hourly Short-term staffing, project work, workload peaks, occasional, limited ongoing work Limited to less than 516 hours/6 months or 19.5 hrs/week when classes are in session No No more than 12 months from most recent hire date or most recent job change job date Job Management Position only exists when an incumbent is in it (i.e., staffing model “job management”) Extend end employment date:

Terminate employee if the above criteria is not true or the work is no longer needed
Hourly UAW Academic Student Employee Job profiles outlined in UAW contract An ASE who is engaged in projects or assignments on an hourly basis No Set as outlined in contract Job Management Position only exists when an incumbent is in it (i.e., staffing model “job management”) Extend end date per contract. Extend end employment date annually:

** ASE appointment quarters are the following: 9/16-12/15, 12/16-3/15, 3/16-6/15 and 6/16-9/15.

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Position FTE and multiple positions

With approval from UW Human Resources, regular, nonpermanent, intermittent, and fixed term staff members may hold more than one position. An additional position’s duties and responsibilities must be fundamentally different than the primary job and represent a separate additional position. Positions should be evaluated when additional temporary duties are determined to be a permanent part of a position.

The following criteria must be considered before an additional position may be approved:

  • Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) –
    • Regular, nonpermanent – fixed duration, and fixed term staff positions must not exceed 1.0 FTE. A staff employee holding more than one FTE position cannot hold FTE positions that exceed 1.0 FTE in total.
    • Because nonpermanent hourly and intermittent staff positions do not have a regular expectation of hours (do not hold an FTE), departments may employ a single employee in both a nonpermanent hourly or intermittent staff position and a regular position, provided overtime rules are managed in compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), see below.
  • Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Exemption – Regular, nonpermanent – fixed duration, and fixed term staff positions are either FLSA exempt or nonexempt, as determined by the UW Compensation Office. FLSA requirements evaluate the total body of work performed by the employee, regardless of how many positions are defined. When workers hold positions of different FLSA exemption statuses, accurate determination of overtime cannot always be determined automatically. As such, mixing FLSA exemption statuses should generally be avoided. Work with your recruitment representative to evaluate applicable Add Job situations where FLSA exemptions are mixed.
  • Multiple Timekeeping Systems – Overtime is calculated in timekeeping systems (Workday for campus and Kronos for medical centers). Having employees with positions in more than one timekeeping system should be avoided and requires UW Human Resources and ISC approval.
  • Different Bargaining Units – Consult with Labor Relations (laborrel@uw.edu) if a combination of positions includes work from different bargaining units with different overtime and premium rules.

If additional duties are not representative of distinct work, consider additional forms of temporary compensation (e.g., Temporary Salary Increase).

Nonpermanent – hourly and intermittent staff positions

All nonpermanent – hourly and intermittent staff are FLSA nonexempt and may hold more than one nonpermanent – hourly or intermittent staff position provided they are in the same timekeeping system. Having employees with positions in more than one timekeeping system should be avoided and requires UW Human Resources approval. See approval process below.

Nonpermanent – hourly or intermittent and regular staff positions

All multiple position combinations of nonpermanent – hourly or intermittent and regular staff jobs must be evaluated for UW Human Resources for approval before an additional job offer may be approved.

Academic and staff positions

The combination of paid academic and staff positions should always be evaluated for impacts.

Approval process for different FLSA exemption status and multiple timekeeping systems

At the time of hire, recruiting representatives identify Add Job situations and determine whether the multiple position combination will result in a different FLSA exemption status or a multiple timekeeping systems combination.

All such combinations are assessed by Recruiting and Employee Relations Directors, Payroll Directors, and heads of organizations where positions would exist. If they approve of the Add Job, the Recruiting Office Partner notifies the ISC and Medical Centers Payroll Services:

  1. To add this as an approved exception to their audit list so they can monitor for overtime situations.
  2. To coordinate between each other every payroll to identify overtime adjustments if necessary. If regular hours paid are in excess of 40 for one week, evaluation of overtime owed needs to occur.

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Primary Position

For employees holding more than one position, only one is designated as “Primary.” The primary position is the position that drives benefits eligibility. If an employee has multiple jobs, a manual decision is made to determine which position is primary.

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