Cafe Classic: Beware The Manager Bearing Gifts

Editor's Notes:  Classic and common sense advice on title inflation and other "free" gifts from Chuck Csizmar.

A client once asked me why a Senior Accountant (non-exempt) reported to an Accountant (exempt).  This same company used the title “Supervisor” to describe individual contributor positions and it wasn't uncommon for Managers to report to Managers and Directors to report to Directors.

Given that these situations occurred in a large and presumably sophisticated company, one might ask - what’s the big deal, and is anyone being harmed?  Advocates say that offering an employee a special title is a harmless and inexpensive reward, one that doesn’t increase employer costs. 

I don’t think so. 

Source of the problem

• Managers grant esoteric titles to those for whom they have limited means of reward.  “I can’t give you the increase you deserve, so let’s change your title to xxxxx.”  Like greasing a squeaky wheel for a short term fix they want to do something to keep the employee quiet.
• Employees are given titles where none should exist, like the Secretary / Administrative Assistant promoted to Office Manager, while still performing the same job.
• A “special” title is used because the position is considered so different from other jobs that it needs to be specifically identified.  Unique titles can also be seen as reflecting on the importance of the managers themselves.

A bitter harvest 

Let 's look ahead at what you can expect from planting these problem “seeds.”

• Role clarity (job duties, business impact, decision-making, etc.) becomes blurred.  This in turn generates confusion as the company creates Senior Managers and Group or Area Directors and other in-between titles to differentiate the “real” jobs from inflated titles. 
• When reviewing market competitiveness, the less accurate the title is in relation to the work performed, the more likely your analysis will be skewed.  Benchmarking unique, employee-specific and inflated titles hampers an accurate assessment of your competitiveness.
• Those with inflated titles will expect the perks or privileges that accompany the title, and their absence could cause difficulties.  It’s an awkward conversation when you tell an employee that the import of their new level in the organization is “title only.”
• Inflated titles can be a detriment to incumbents as well, such as the “Director” who now only qualifies for a “Manager” title with a prospective employer.  Opportunities outside your company are limited because potential employers would be reluctant to hire someone where the new title is lateral or even backward to that currently held. 
• The natural extension of inflated titles is inflated grades / salary ranges, as the bogus “senior” position would be placed in a higher grade than the “intermediate” position.  This practice increases your fixed costs without a corresponding rise in either capability or performance.
• Employees don't like giving up inappropriate titles.  Thus employee relations  issues will likely develop as you try to correct past practices.  You may have to develop creative “buy out” or "grandfather" scenarios.

What to do 

If you do find yourself in a situation with inflated and confusing job titles, what steps can improve your lot?

1. Organize a cleaning exercise; start with the low hanging fruit and eliminate all unoccupied titles.
2. Accompany that initiative by implementing tighter authorization procedures before a new title is created.  This would cut off the flow of new problems even as you address the core issue - incumbents. 
3. Fewer job descriptions would be needed if wording was more generalized.  Standardized titles would clear away much of the role responsibility confusion.

The general nature of clerical duties (filing, record keeping, secretarial, forms processing, etc.) lends itself to standardization - which in turn makes it easier to transfer employees without having to “promote” someone when their title changes.

Remember though, that  title standardization makes more sense in a conference room than it does during an employee discussion.  A “Senior Depository Research Clerk” sounds more important than a “Clerk III” or even “Senior Clerk.”

Fewer titles provide greater role clarity, improved accuracy in assessing pay competitiveness, more control of labor costs and higher morale as employees know where they stand and what they must do to succeed in your organization.

A final caution: be careful of setting up titles without occupants "in case we want to promote someone down the road."  Guess what?  You will.

Chuck Csizmar CCP is founder and Principal of CMC Compensation Group, providing global compensation consulting services to a wide variety of industries and non-profit organizations.  He is also associated with several HR Consulting firms as a contributing consultant.  Chuck is a broad based subject matter expert with a specialty in international and expatriate compensation.  He lives in Central Florida (near The Mouse) and enjoys growing fruit and managing (?) a clowder of cats.

Comments

[Dave Johnston]

A grocery chain client in Europe faced this: 126 different job titles (e.g., three levels for people retrieving shopping carts in the car park, "hot chicken assistant"). After an analysis (and 90 days of discussions with works councils), the chain ended up with 27 consolidated job titles.