HR playbook · AI Employee: Harry

Role & Manager Changes

Role change propagated across all systems inside a week

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The problem

Role changes should be a first-class HRIS event, but half of them happen informally first — someone starts leading a new project, gets a new title in Slack, and finds out three months later that the HRIS still says something else. Comp doesn't reflect the promotion, review templates don't apply, PTO accrual is wrong, and the payroll edge cases (bonus targets tied to old role) never adjust. Every reorg compounds the drift.

At a glance
Trigger
Form
Approvals
Skip-level approval + HR review
What it does
Writes to your systems
Systems
Workday · Okta · Slack
How it feels in production

An hour-by-hour walkthrough.

Sarah's manager submits a role change: "Priya promoted from Senior Engineer L4 to Staff Engineer L5, effective 2026-11-01, new manager Kiran (was Sarah)." Remy takes the change and orchestrates: - HRIS: updates role + level + manager effective 2026-11-01 - Comp adjustment: triggers comp-request review (L5 base range is higher; auto-drafted with market comp) - Bonus target: adjust from L4 (12%) to L5 (15%) effective same date - Review template: switches to L5 template for next review cycle - PTO: L5 tier has additional 3 days annual accrual; adjust - Access: L5 unlocks additional systems (senior-engineer-only tools); grant on effective date - Manager change: triggers the manager-change-cascade playbook (46 downstream systems) - Announcement: draft internal announcement email for Sarah + Kiran to send - New-title: LinkedIn suggestion, email signature template update HR reviews the packet, approves. All changes execute on 2026-11-01. Priya + Sarah + Kiran see the summary; Priya's role reflects reality on day one of the new role.
How it works

Step by step.

  1. 01

    Intake role-change request

    Manager submits via portal / HRIS. Change spec: role, level, manager, effective date, reason (promotion, lateral, reorg).

    HRIS · Manager portal · HRIS role catalog
  2. 02

    Assemble cascade plan

    Comp, bonus target, review template, PTO tier, access changes, manager-change cascade, announcement draft. All items with effective date.

    Comp planning · Benefits admin · Access catalog · Manager-change cascade
  3. 03

    HR review + approve

    HR reviews the full cascade packet. Approve as-is or edit. Complex changes (level up 2+, cross-org) require additional approver.

    Web UI · Approval flow
  4. 04

    Execute on effective date

    All changes fire coordinated on effective date. HRIS write, comp adjust, cascade runs, announcement drafted. Verification of each write.

    HRIS · Payroll · Access provisioning · Announcement
  5. 05

    Notify + audit + follow-up

    Employee + old manager + new manager notified with summary. Audit record. Follow-up nudge in 2 weeks to confirm everything landed.

    Slack · Email · Audit log
Systems and wiring

What you connect to make this run.

Workday · BambooHR · HiBob · Rippling

read+write

Role + level + manager relationship. Effective-dated writes. Payroll picks up changes on next cycle.

Comp planning · Benefits

read+write

Comp adjustments + benefit-tier changes tied to role progression.

Okta · Access catalog

read+write

Role-tied access changes. Level-up unlocks additional access; lateral may swap access sets.

Slack · Email · Announcement templates

read+write

Draft announcement for the manager to send. Notifications to stakeholders.

What changes

Before and after, honestly.

Time from role change to all downstream systems updated
Before
2-8 weeks
After
Same day (effective date)
% of role changes with complete cascade
Before
40-70%
After
97%+
Payroll adjustments needing correction post-role-change
Before
15-30% of role changes
After
Under 2%
HR hours per role change
Before
2-4 hours
After
10-20 minutes
Related

Playbooks that pair with this one.

HR

Manager Change Cascade

Manager relationship change triggers the cascade; joint execution.

HR

Compensation Requests

Promotions typically bundle comp adjustments through the comp-request approval mechanism.

HR

Performance Review Cycle Kickoff

Role changes mid-cycle affect review template + calibration; coordinated.

Frequently asked

Answers about this playbook.

What about title changes without level changes (e.g., role rebrand)?

Title-only changes are lightweight — no comp adjust, no tier change. Update HRIS + email signature templates. Fast path.

How does it handle lateral moves (same level, different function)?

Lateral moves swap access set + potentially review template. Comp usually unchanged. Manager change if applicable.

What about demotions or PIP outcomes?

Sensitive path with HR + legal involvement. Same cascade mechanism but with additional communication + documentation requirements.

How does it handle contractor-to-employee conversions?

Special path: new-employee provisioning + former-contractor teardown. Access continuity preserved where appropriate; access-history record maintained.

Can it handle multi-role or matrix reporting?

Yes — HRIS supports dotted-line separately from primary. Cascade respects both; specific downstream systems key to primary or dotted-line per configuration.

See it run on your data.

Free plan, no credit card. Connect the systems this playbook needs and run it against a past event first.

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