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I am wondering how professional it is to demand a (change in the existing) work contract that will either limit your exposure to a certain domain of duties that match your professional background or eliminate some duties rather than leaving it open to be asked to do whatever.

Examples:

  • If you brought an electrician to your house and asked him to patch your drywall, even at his regular hourly rate, the chances are he would refuse to do the work.

  • If you were a doctor, your employer would simply find it too expensive to have you do nurse work, but what if your employer/client is less concerned with a proper allocation of resources?

How can I maintain a certain level of professional involvement while avoiding certain types of work?

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Obviously if you don't want to do the work because it is not in your job-description/contract, you don't "have to" do it. You can refuse. What is the question here? Are you really asking for compelling arguments that you can use when refusing to do a particular job? Also, the context of whether this is in a contract or an employee-employer situation is important. – Angelo Jan 29 at 2:34
I think you would be better served by explaining your situation and asking how to best communicate that the change is unacceptable. – Chad Jan 29 at 14:27
my question was clearly summarized in the subject of the post although without using "how to". but let restate it: "How do I limit the scope of my job duties to my domain of expertise?" i have a strong feeling some people here dislike the philosophical tone of some posts and then petition to have it closed on pretense of technicality, such as "the question isn't clear" whereas the question can be seen from an airplane – amphibient Jan 29 at 17:14
"what happens when you want to maintain a certain level of professional involvement and preserve it from lesser type of work if your employer/client is less concerned with a proper allocation of resources?" -- how is this not a real question? – amphibient Jan 29 at 17:15
Neil T. answered it rather well below -- obviously the question was conspicuous enough for him – amphibient Jan 29 at 17:16
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closed as not a real question by jcmeloni, bytebuster, gnat, pdr, Paul Brown Jan 29 at 11:47

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

1 Answer

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It depends on the nature of the relationship with the person you are working for. If you are working as a consultant or independent contractor, the nature of the work that you are doing for them should be described rather specifically in the contract the two of you entered into. If you are an employee, however, your ability to negotiate the scope of the duties you perform should be somewhat flexible, depending on your relationship with your supervisor.

That being said, in the United States, most employee/employer contracts are "at will", which means that either party has the right to terminate the relationship without cause at any time. Using your example of a doctor doing nursing tasks, as an employee, you should factor in the associated costs of staffing a position created for the purpose of completing those tasks. Even if there isn't enough work to justify hiring another employee, the work still has to get done. However, you seem to imply a level of mismanagement on the part of the employer/client, rather than a lack of available resources to handle the smaller, lesser tasks. In either case, if you feel the work is truly "not part of your job description", then it would probably be in your best interest to engage your employer/client in discussion or to find work you deem more suitable.

As to the professionalism associated with making such a request, the act of asking doesn't necessarily challenge your professionalism, especially if you are an employee who is consistently being expected to perform these tasks at a lower rate of pay compared to the current market rate. At that point, a reassessment of your salary would not be out of the question. Without knowing the details of the working relationship, if you can't engage in a reasonable discussion with your employer/client, as previously mentioned, you may need to consider finding work with a firm which is more structured and aligned with the current job market regarding the assignment of duties and allocation of resources.

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