Create and manage departments in Simployer One

How do I create and manage departments in Simployer One? 

Create departments to build your company's formal organisational structure. Departments can contain sub-departments and provide default values such as cost centres for employees. 

Who can manage departments? 

Only users with the Owner or Admin role can create, edit, move, and delete departments. 

How do I create a department? 

1. Go to Company → Departments. 
2. Click Add new. 
3. Enter the department Name. 
4. Optionally add a Description. 
5. Select the default Cost centre, or leave No cost center selected. 
6. Select a Parent department to create a sub-department, or leave No parent department selected. 
7. Select the Department lead. 
8. Click Save. 

Tip: Create top-level departments first so they are available when creating sub-departments. 

How do I require every employee to have a department? 

On the Departments page, enable Require department assignment during onboarding and profile editing. 

If employees are missing a department, use the colleagues with no department set notification to assign one. 

How do I view the department hierarchy? 

Use Expand all to display all sub-departments or Collapse all to return to the summarized view.

How do I edit or move a department? 

Open the department, update the required fields, and click Save. 

To move a department within the hierarchy, change the Parent department field. Departments cannot be reordered by drag and drop.

What happens when I move a department? 

Changing a department's parent changes only its position in the hierarchy. Employees remain assigned to the same department. 

Changing a department does not automatically update managers or reporting lines. Review employee Manager assignments separately if the reporting structure also changes.

How do I delete a department? 

You can only delete departments that do not contain employees. 

1. Open the department. 
2. Click Delete. 
3. Confirm 'Do you really want to remove this department?' 

If employees are assigned to the department, Simployer One prevents deletion and indicates that the department is in use by employees. Move all employees to another department before deleting it.

FAQs

Can departments contain sub-departments? 

Yes. 

Can an employee belong to more than one department?

No. A department is the employee's formal organisational assignment. 

Does moving a department change the organisation chart?

No. The organisation chart is built from each employee's Manager assignment, not from departments. Update managers separately if reporting lines change. 

Can I delete a department that contains employees?

No. Reassign the employees first.