# Organize departments

Read the departments as cards or as a tree, create a department with its manager under a parent department, and know what changes for the employees when a department gets a new manager.

A department groups employees under one manager, and can sit under a parent department: the demo company has **Management** on top, with **Administration**, **Professional Services**, **Research & Development** and **Sales** under it. An employee belongs to one department, chosen on the **Work** tab of the employee's form.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- Creating and changing departments needs the **Officer: Manage all employees** right on **Employees**. Without it, the **Departments** menu shows only to the managers of a department.
- The department's manager is an employee, not a user: pick the person in the list of employees.

## Read the departments {#read}

1. Open **Employees/Departments**. Each card gives the department's name, its manager, its company and an **Employees** button with the number of its people; the button opens them in a list.

![One card per department, with its manager, its company and the number of its employees.](https://jaah.app/web/image/13975-15d05870/employees-organize-departments-departments_kanban-en.png)

The links on the right of a card, such as time off requests, allocations, expenses or new applicants, come from the other HR apps and open their records for the department.

2. Click the hierarchy button at the top right, next to the list button. The departments appear as a tree, each under its parent department. **Fold** and **Unfold** hide or show the departments under a card.

![The hierarchy view draws the departments as a tree, each under its parent department.](https://jaah.app/web/image/13979-485d1893/employees-organize-departments-departments_hierarchy-en.png)

On a phone, the view buttons gather under one button at the top right, next to the magnifier.

## Create a department {#create}

1. Click **New**.
2. Type the name on the first line, here `Employees demo: Legal affairs`. The language button at the end of the line adds the name in another language.
3. Choose the **Manager**, here **Doris Cole**.
4. Choose the **Parent Department**, here **Professional Services**. Leave it empty for a department at the top of the tree.

![A new department with its manager and the department it belongs to.](https://jaah.app/web/image/13983-c27259f6/employees-organize-departments-department_form-en.png)

5. Save. The breadcrumbs at the top show the full path of the department: Management / Professional Services / Employees demo: Legal affairs. The **Company** follows the parent department.
6. Open **Employees/Departments** again: the new department has its card, with no employees yet.

![The new department has its own card, still without employees.](https://jaah.app/web/image/13987-bda4e679/employees-organize-departments-new_department_card-en.png)

To move people into the department, choose it in the **Department** field of each employee's **Work** tab.

## Change the manager of a department {#change-manager}

Open the department, choose another **Manager** and save. The employees of that department whose **Manager** was the former department manager are moved to the new one; the others keep their manager. Creating a department, or choosing a department on an employee, changes no one's manager. [How employee records work](how-employee-records-work#manager-and-coach) explains the managers and the coach.

## FAQ {#faq}

### Can a department sit under one of its own sub-departments? {#loop}

No. Saving a parent that would make a loop is refused with the message that recursive departments cannot be created.

### Why do two departments show the same name in Arabic? {#same-name}

The names are translated per language. In the demo data, **Administration** and **Management** both read «الإدارة» in Arabic; the full path in the field tells them apart.

### How do I remove a department? {#remove}

Open it and choose **Archive** in **Actions**. An archived department leaves the lists and the department choices; the employees keep it on their record until you change it.

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/employees/organize-departments
- Updated: 2026-10-28
- Version: Employees 19.0.1.1
- Verified: 2026-10-28