Promoting a worker: should I end their current assignment first?
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Applies to: staffing Partners moving a worker who is already on an Ascen assignment into a new role, title, or rate with the same client, for example a promotion. It applies whether the worker is an employee or an independent contractor.
Summary: No. Leave the current assignment open and send us the promotion with its effective date. We set up the new assignment and close the current one so the two line up. If you end the current assignment yourself first, the worker receives the automatic end-of-assignment emails before they hear anything about the promotion, and some workers read that as being let go.
Why ending it first causes problems
The worker hears about the ending before the promotion. Closing an assignment automatically sends the worker end-of-assignment notices, and for employees this can include a Notice of Separation. Nobody writes these and nobody decides to send them; they follow the assignment record. A worker who receives one while their new assignment does not exist yet can reasonably conclude they have been terminated.
The end reason goes on the worker's record. The reason chosen when an assignment ends flows onto the worker's employment record, and a promotion is not the end of their employment. See How do I end an assignment?.
The worker can be left with nowhere to log time. Ending an assignment stops ordinary time entry against it, and the new assignment still has to be set up and approved before hours can go on it.
A promotion or a new rate is recorded as a new assignment rather than an edit to the old one, so the old assignment does need to close eventually. The point is the order: the new one should exist first.
What to do instead
Leave the current assignment as it is. Do not end it, and do not change the title on it.
Email us the promotion at support@ascen.com. Include the worker's name, the new job title and a real job description, the effective date (the first day in the new role), and the new pay and bill rates. The full checklist is in Emailing us a new assignment, promotion, or extension: what to include.
Say if the new role needs a screening the current one did not. For example, a role that involves driving may need a driving record check and a drug screen. It is added to the new assignment, so leave time for it to complete before the effective date. If a screening for the new role does not clear, our HR team will contact you about what that means for the move.
We create the new assignment and close the current one so there is no gap or overlap between them. A gap or an overlap between two assignments is the usual reason hours end up on the wrong one afterwards.
Let the worker know it is coming. The new assignment comes with its own offer letter to sign, and occasionally a document they have not signed before. See Why does a rate change mean my workers have new documents to sign?.
If you create assignments in the platform yourself
The same order applies. Create and submit the new assignment first. Once it is live, make sure any remaining hours for the old role are entered and approved, then end the current assignment and choose the end reason Moved To New Assignment. That reason is only available while the worker has another live assignment, which is one more reason to set up the new one before you end the old one.
If hours from the effective date are already in
That is fine; tell us in the same email. Time entered on the current assignment from the effective date onward is moved to the new assignment so it is paid at the new rate. If any of it has already been paid at the old rate, give us the dates and the difference is handled separately as back pay.
If you already ended the current assignment
Email support@ascen.com straight away with the promotion details above, and say the assignment was ended because of a promotion, not because the worker left or finished. That lets us keep the worker's record accurate.
Tell the worker yourself that this is a promotion and that their new assignment is being set up. If they received a separation notice, it does not affect their employment or future placements; you can point them to You received a separation notice but you are still working.
Hours worked in the meantime are not lost. Once the new assignment is live they can be entered against it. If the week has already closed by then, send us the worker's name, the dates and the hours and we will enter them.