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The world of work is changing. I’m sure this isn’t a surprise. As a result, organizations are looking for ways to redesign jobs. And that can be a challenge.
Let’s say the organization is introducing a new technology. As a result, some of the things that employees were doing manually, they don’t need to do any longer. The technology will handle it. We’re not talking about layoffs. The organization still has work to be done. The new technology might take away those manual tasks and add new ones. Or the organization might want managers to delegate some of their responsibilities so they can spend more time coaching employees and increasing performance.
The organization needs to reassign work tasks and how the organization assigns those tasks is important. If they randomly just say, “Hey you … start doing this …” that could lead to less-than-optimal results. That’s where job enrichment and job enlargement come into the discussion.
Job enlargement is when an employee is given additional tasks that are similar to what they currently do. Basically, the job becomes larger. The advantage to this strategy is that it can help with reducing boredom and repetitive work. An example might be in a call center where a customer service rep who only spent time answering phones is able to answer customer email inquiries as well.
Job enrichment is giving employees additional responsibilities, still closely related to the work they do. For example, an accounting clerk who used to organize expense reports for a manager to review and approve, might now review the expense report for accuracy. Then the manager is simply a double-check. This option is great for skill development and getting employees ready for future opportunities.
You can see that there’s a benefit when redesigning work to strategically shift responsibilities and increase productivity, develop employee skills, and overall improve the operation. That will not happen if the organization just randomly gives out work tasks to simply get something off their plate.
So, when organizations are looking at work assignments, before they just assign it to someone, take a moment to ask a few questions:
- Is this task something that changes the systems in the organization? If so, it might be more aligned with job enrichment. And it could make sense to map out how the new process would work.
- Would we need to offer additional training / education to the employee? Even if it’s only minutes or an hour, organizations need to be prepared to offer support with new assignments.
- Does the organization have a plan in place for peak operational times? It’s great to enlarge jobs, but if the organization enters their peak season, employees might not be able to maintain productivity and customer service.
The answers to these questions can help decide the best way to reassign the work and set employees up for success. Also, if we use the example above with the introduction of new technology, it can help with the implementation. The last thing the organization wants is to spend a lot of resources introducing a new technology only to have it not work as planned … because employees weren’t prepared to make the shift in their work.
Job enrichment and job enlargement are options to help organizations redistribute the work successfully. Organizations should use them thoughtfully to benefit employees and the business.
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