Employee subordination: overview

Subordination decides whose bookings, schedules and requests an employee can manage and whose data they see in reports. There are three independent ways to set it up, and they add up rather than override each other. This article helps you pick the right one and points to the instructions; the settings are changed by the Super Administrator and the Users Administrator.

Three mechanics: how they differ

Mechanic	When it fits	Limits	Article
Organisational structure	A strict hierarchy of departments and their managers	Rights cover the direct employees of a department only and do not cascade down	Subordination through the organisational structure
Teams and subordinates in the profile	A matrix structure, project groups, a users administrator	The list is maintained by hand and does not follow staff changes	Subordinates and teams in the employee profile
The Manager field	Subordination comes from the company directory; individual exceptions to the tree	Exactly one manager, and rights do not walk up the chain	The direct manager in the employee profile

Find your task

Task	Mechanic	Where to go
Department managers manage their own employees	Organisational structure	Subordination through the organisational structure
A project lead runs people from several departments	Teams	Subordinates and teams in the profile
An employee reports to someone other than their department manager	The Manager field in their profile	The direct manager in the profile
An administrator or support desk serves the whole company	The “All users” option	Subordinates and teams in the profile
A mentor looks after two or three trainees	The “Selected users” option	Subordinates and teams in the profile
Subordination is already maintained in Active Directory	The Manager field through synchronisation	The direct manager in the profile
A manager needs employees of nested departments too	The organisational structure plus a team or a list	Subordination through the organisational structure

The mechanics add up

A person counts as your subordinate if at least one of these is true:

• they are on the Subordinates list in your profile;
• they belong to a team given to you;
• their profile names you in the Manager field;
• they work in a department where you are the manager.

There is no priority: none of the sources overrides the rest. There are four sources but three mechanics, because the second mechanic is two separate blocks of one profile — Subordinates and Teams. The “All users” option is not part of the count: it adds no source but switches the check off.

Two practical consequences. First, the mechanics combine freely — run the baseline through the organisational structure and add exceptions with teams and the Manager field. Second, to take a person out of your circle you have to remove every source.

Where each mechanic is configured

Mechanic	Path in the console
Organisational structure	Manage → People management → Organisational structure
Subordinates and teams	Manage → People management → Users, employee profile
Team roster	Manage → People management → Groups & Teams
The Manager field	The employee profile or the synchronisation settings

What subordination does and does not grant

The set of rights is the same for all three mechanics:

• subordinates’ bookings — create, cancel, reassign;
• schedules and statuses — view, set, lock the template;
• their service requests and pass requests;
• four fields in their profiles: start and end of the working day, assigned office, attendance rate.

The full reference with the caveats: What a manager can do: bookings, schedules, requests.

What subordination does not grant: access to desks (a separate mechanic, see Desk access rights: overview), administrator rights, and rights over the next level down — no mechanic walks up the reporting chain.

How to check who manages whom

There is no ready-made “who manages whom” report, but the picture can be assembled from four places, one per source.

What you need to know	Where to look
Who manages the departments	Organisational structure: the manager is shown in the tree row, or “Manager not specified”
Who has which direct manager	Users → download the employee data with the Department and Manager columns
Who has a Subordinates list or the “All users” option	Only each individual profile: there is no summary screen
Who holds which teams	Only managers’ profiles: the Groups & Teams screen does not list them

The User management history report shows who changed the Manager field, the department, the role and the “All users” option, and when. Edits to the Subordinates list and the Teams block never reach the log — see Subordination in analytics and reports.

Rollout order

1. Build the organisational structure and appoint department managers — enough for most companies: Subordination through the organisational structure.
2. If subordination already lives in the company directory, switch the Manager field on in the synchronisation settings: The direct manager in the employee profile.
3. Describe the exceptions: project groups as teams, individual cases as a Subordinates list: Subordinates and teams in the employee profile.
4. Give the “All users” option to those who serve the whole company.
5. Check the result: sign in as the manager and open My → Work schedule → Colleagues. If the organisational structure says “Department: 6 employees”, the department block must contain exactly six people — employees of nested departments do not appear there.

Common misconceptions

Misconception	How it actually works
A division manager manages everyone in the branch	Only the direct employees of their own department
Analytics and reports show the same circle	Office analytics expands the branch of departments; a manager’s rights do not
One mechanic overrides another	They all add up on an “at least one matches” basis
Removing someone from a team ends their subordination	Only if no other source holds them: a list, the Manager field or a department
An administrator sees every request and every employee	In most sections it is the “All users” option that decides, not the role
Subordination opens access to places	These are independent mechanics; place access is configured separately
An employee can have two direct managers	The Manager field stores one; a second manager is added as a list or a team

If something does not work

Symptom	Where to go
A manager does not see employees of a nested department	Subordination through the organisational structure, the section on the boundary
The Manager field emptied for many employees	The direct manager in the employee profile, the section on the disappearing value
Subordinates or teams vanished after a role change	Subordinates and teams in the employee profile, the limits section
Analytics figures do not match the report	Subordination in analytics and reports
A subordinate’s booking cannot be stopped	What a manager can do, the section on partial support
Work schedule shows only some employees of a department	What a manager can do, the 100-people limit per block

Frequently asked questions

Where do I start if nothing is configured?

With the organisational structure: appointing department managers covers most cases in one step. Exceptions are added with teams and the Manager field.

How do I remove someone from subordination completely?

Remove every source at once: the Subordinates list, the team, the Manager field in their profile and the department where you are the manager. One remaining source is enough for the rights to stay.

Who should get the “All users” option?

People who serve the whole company by the nature of their job: a users administrator, a support desk, a workplace coordinator. It is a profile setting rather than a role — an administrator without it will not see every employee.

Related articles

• Subordination through the organisational structure
• Subordinates and teams in the employee profile
• The direct manager in the employee profile
• What a manager can do: bookings, schedules, requests
• Subordination in analytics and reports
• Desk access rights: overview — the neighbouring topic of access to places