Changing a Primary Unit

If a faculty member has multiple appointments–one primary and one or more secondary–there may be occasions when the primary designation should be changed. These actions should be taken only after an agreement between the employee and the applicable units has been reached.

Please note that a change in primary appointments does not affect the timeline for mandatory promotion and/or tenure review for faculty in clock-managed ranks. If the change in primary appointment is accompanied by a change in tenure distribution, see the OAP Splitting Tenure page.

Follow the guidance below to change a secondary appointment to a primary appointment.

Workday Business Processes for a Change in Primary Appointment

The current primary unit should coordinate the Workday transactions laid out below, in consultation with the secondary unit who will be assuming the primary designation.

Change Circumstances	Workday Actions
Switching a current joint appointment to primary	Change current primary appointment identifier to “J – Joint” using the effective date as the “start date” for the business process. Change current joint appointment identifier to “P – Primary” using the effective date as the “start date” for the business process. Initiate a Change Job to ensure that the supervisory organization corresponds to the proposed primary appointing unit. Upload the offer letter, which articulates the change in appointments, to Maintain Worker Documents; offer letter should include signatures of the faculty member, chair (as applicable), and dean of the proposed primary academic unit.
Switching a dual appointment (annual or quarterly) to primary when a primary appointment ends	End the current primary academic appointment Update the dual academic appointment to have the “P-Primary” identifier; the “start date” for the business process should be the day following the end date of the current primary appointment Initiate a Change Job to ensure that the supervisory org and job profile correspond to the proposed primary appointment Add any additional academic appointments Upload the non-reappointment or resignation letter from the current primary appointment to Maintain Worker Documents
Adding a temporary FTE-bearing appointment for a faculty member with an unpaid clinical or affiliate title	Change the current primary appointment identifier to “D-Dual” Add the temporary appointment with a “P-Primary” identifier Initiate a Change Job to a new position with the appropriate job profile in the appropriate supervisory organization At the end of the temporary appointment, the primary appointment is ended, and the courtesy appointment identifier is changed back to “P-Primary” Change Job back to Unpaid Academic

*Hire packet requirements are specific to the title/rank of the appointment. For details, see the relevant Academic Titles and Ranks page.