When you hire new employees, you typically bring them on board to fulfill a certain job within your organization, be it a marketer, an accountant, or even an IT assistant. However, over time, many of your employees will evolve, gain new skills, and perhaps even pick up a few certifications along the way that render their original job title underwhelming. For example, that somewhat nebulous IT job is now filled by someone who not only troubleshoots the problems with your computers, but can also build you a website, create coding, and run analytics, among a whole host of new, and very much useful talents. Should his or her title be updated to reflect these achievements? And who should decide on said title; you or them?
First, let’s discuss why job titles are important and why creating an accurate one is so crucial. The first issue with creating a title is whether it strokes the ol’ ego. To go back to the IT example, your computer savvy new hire may feel OK being called an IT administrator, but they’d definitely perk up a bit if you called them your IT coordinator, your systems analyst, network administrator, or even computer network architect. These titles not only better describe the role they play within the IT field and gives a nod to their specialty areas or certifications but also makes them sound a little more important! In fact, some studies suggest that potential candidates may overlook a higher salary in favor of a fancier title as it conveys their importance within the company.
Another perk of doling out fancier job titles is that it can equate to engagement among your employees. A more senior title helps workers to feel recognized for their contributions and motivated to assume the responsibility that said title conveys, resulting in increased productivity for your business. Further, having a broader array of title options means that as a business owner, you can use changes in titles as a promotion of sorts – a recognition of their increased role or responsibilities within the company — without actually having to make big changes to salary or otherwise shift the hierarchy of your workers.
Where it gets a little murky, is when job titles elude to rank. Your IT administrator is good, but if he’s the only one handling tech concerns for the company, should he technically be named your head of technology or (gasp!) even your chief technology officer?! Sure, he or she certainly bears the brunt of the computer concerns within the company, but giving them a lofty title such as head or chief suggests they hold a significant seat at the table when it comes to discussions regarding the direction of not only their department, but perhaps even the company overall. To that end, having folks with titles such as department manager, department head, and even department chair can all mean different levels of importance to different people, making it unclear to others in the department (and perhaps the rest of the company) who sits where in the chain of command and who is steering the ship.
A second downside of the fancy job title is that it can allow your star employee to transfer more freely between jobs within their industry. For example, if someone is seeking a professional to work on their accounts, dozens of qualified book keepers will likely toss their hat in the ring, but a real standout among the sea of accountants would be the budget analyst, the actuary, the controller, or even simply the accounting manager. However, these loftier titles can also have a downside in the search process, with folks appearing over-qualified for roles that they are perfect over or skipped over because recruiters sifting through a pile of resumes assume that they could not afford the salary of such a mover and shaker.
Now, if all this has you considering changing up some of the job titles in your company, the next big question you have to ask yourself is whether you should come up with the new titles or whether it’s a task you should leave to the people who know the jobs best: the employees. While this is certainly an idea that might warrant consideration, it is not one that you should entertain lightly. On the one hand, letting your employees pick their moniker can allow them to select a title that best matches their skills and one that is recognized within their particular industry. However, giving employees free reign to decide can easily result in a wild assortment of creative, conflated, and borderline crazy titles that you would have to honor!
With this in mind, we strongly recommend that you first poll your employees to see if they are even interested in creating their own job titles. Some may find it a redundant activity, or even one that creates more confusion and angst than anything and might just prefer sticking with the status quo. Next, we would suggest that you build out a framework that retains a sense of hierarchy (avoiding that manager, head, chair issue we discussed earlier) so that everyone knows what the “seniority status” of their name should be and so that employees see how they can grow within their department and the broader business. Finally, we would suggest that your framework includes some guidance on how each employee’s skills and responsibilities should be incorporated into the remainder of the title. After all, you want the titles to be reflective of the job you (and they!) do, as well as be representative of your company culture.
Have you let your employees pick their job titles? Let us know in the comments. We’re curious how your process went and if you’re happy with the new direction!
