Wondering how job titles impact morale and performance?
Language is a powerful tool, and individual words can reshape the way we think about all kinds of things we encounter in day-to-day life.
Job titles are a perfect example of this. While the responsibilities of two roles might be identical, the way that they are defined through the name they’re given can have a surprising impact on everything from the morale of the employee in question to how well they perform the duties assigned to them.
This is a fascinating and complex concept to unpick, so let’s do just that, with a view to giving business leaders insights that they can apply in their own organizations.
Job Titles Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
The first aspect of this to grasp is that job titles are far from the only linguistic challenge that modern businesses must get right.
It’s also key to think about how job descriptions are written, because there needs to be a correlation between the two, or else expectations about the responsibilities of a role might be completely mismatched when recruiting for open positions.
There’s a misplaced sense that having the most impressive-sounding job title, along with the most bombastic description for what’s involved, will both attract the best candidates and empower them once they’ve joined the team.
The reality is quite different and is an area that has to be explored in a little more detail to get to the bottom of this intricate issue.
Inflation is at play
A recent study found that the number of people with inflated job titles is on the rise, with close to a third of people admitting that they’ve been labeled in the workplace in such a way that their real-life abilities weren’t accurately reflected.
This in turn means that job titles are less valuable as an indicator of a candidate’s suitability for an advertised role. Thus when managers move to recruit new hires, around half see the job titles held in previous positions as being a worse gauge of competence in a given area than was once the case.
The demand for fancy-sounding job titles has therefore diluted the actual meaning of terms like ‘manager’ and ‘executive’ in recent years.
It isn’t just relevant during recruitment, as we’ll discuss momentarily. But it’s definitely worth noting that the people doing the hiring have quite a different idea about how much experience applicants need to have in order to be deserving of a job offer.
Typically, prospective employees underestimate the amount of experience required by around 50 percent. And it’s this prevalence of inflated job titles that muddies the waters and creates conflict.
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Expectations are out of sync in other areas
Another consideration which comes into play when job titles are under scrutiny are the expectations held by current employees with regards to their progression within a business.
Perhaps because of the trend for grand-sounding job titles, younger people in the Gen Z age group are more promotion-focused than their older colleagues. Being promoted once every 18 months is seen as the norm in this bracket and is a symptom of this naming trend.
Crucially, it’s not the fault of Gen Z-ers, but rather a natural result of a movement that’s been perpetuated for much longer than they’ve been in the workplace.
There are Benefits to Rethinking Job Titles
So far, we’ve been a little cautious about the impact of job titles in their modern form, but there is a plethora of positives which deserve a mention here.
Chiefly, there’s the need in many industries and fields to remove the gendered language from roles which were traditionally associated with male employees many decades ago.
Rather than ‘garbage man’ and ‘lunch lady’, it seems obvious that the shift to ‘waste removal engineer’ or ‘catering specialist’ is one which is worth making.
In addition, job titles should not just be about bolstering the self-importance of the individual employee but should instead aim to further their understanding of the part they play in the organization.
For instance, hiring a ‘salesperson’ necessarily puts the emphasis on sales, which in turn makes the job seem very insular and isolated; it’s that employee going out on their own to make sales that contribute only towards their own tally. Conversely, reframing the same role as a ‘business development specialist’ is a calculated move which links what the employee does to the overarching trajectory of the company.
This in turn demonstrates how job titles tie into company culture. If you want people to be committed to collaboration, calling them ‘teammates’ rather than ‘employees’ should be a priority.
Likewise, if you want to emphasize that workers are able to explore their creative sides and be a bit more autonomous in how they tackle problems, switching a job title like ‘marketer’ for ‘brand evangelist’ is an option.
Job titles can even improve performance and attract the right people if they reflect the values of the business and are suited to the industry it occupies.
Obviously, there are areas like engineering and computer science in which very precise and unadulterated job titles are the only option. But for the likes of marketing, sales, retail, and a whole host of consumer-facing industries, you’ve got more license to be experimental with job titles.
Control is important
By now it should be apparent that there are pros and cons to altering job titles beyond the basically descriptive and the traditional. What also matters is who controls the titles applied to employees.
Research suggests that job titles which are self-reflective, meaning that they’re chosen by the employees themselves, can boost morale and improve efficiency.
Part of this comes down to the empowering aspect of being able to identify your own role in an organization and feel that you’re not just a cog in a machine but instead a human being with unique needs and particular contributions to make.
Simply put, the more we can identify with the name given to our professional role, the more engaged and invested in it we will be at an emotional level. And happier employees are naturally more productive, so it’s a win-win for employees and employers alike.
Retention is relevant
Business leaders also have to get real about employee retention. An impactful tactic is to ensure that valued team members with excellent performance records are given job titles that reflect and recognize their achievements and their position within the company.
If staff turnover is a problem, particularly at higher levels, then changing job titles and how they are issued might be a quick yet effective fix.
Humans are complex creatures, and yet social status is highly prized. Nothing conveys this more effectively than a job title that sounds impressive. And even if they don’t necessarily reflect the skill set or the experience of the individual, the point is that once they are handed out, employees are more likely to rise to meet these greater expectations that are placed upon them, and to do so with enthusiasm.
Assign clear job titles to create a more positive and productive work environment now!
Flexibility can apply
Going back to the interplay between job titles and job descriptions, there’s also the type of organization which aims to eliminate hierarchy from the managerial mix, and instead adopt a flatter internal structure within which there’s far more fluidity.
In this context, having job titles that aren’t as rigid or explicitly hierarchical is helpful. If a title can fit an ever-evolving job description, then it’s all the better. And of course, this feeds into the aforementioned idea of employee empowerment. When people don’t feel held back by their job title, they aren’t only more likely to innovate and think outside the box, but they’re also less compelled to defer to more senior team members if they’ve got an idea or solution which could be game-changing.
Again, this works better in some industries more so than others. Businesses where creativity is part and parcel of everyday operations, be that in software development, marketing, movie making or anything else, stand to benefit most.
Looking to the long term is advisable
However, you decide to handle job titles and descriptions in your business, you have to make your decisions based not only on what’s best for the organization and its employees today, but also further down the line.
Let’s circle back to one caveat of inflated or self-reflective job titles that we haven’t discussed, and that’s in terms of a person’s future employability.
If you’re endowing even entry-level team members with high-flying job titles, they might struggle when moving on to pastures new. Every other job out there which matches their skills and experience could seem like a step down, simply because of how other businesses handle job titles. And those responsible for hiring might then question what caused the apparent backwards step in the career of a candidate.
As with many things, there’s a balance to be struck, and no single right answer that applies to every business.
Final Thoughts on How Job Titles Impact Morale, Efficiency, and Performance
Hopefully you now have more of an idea about the influence which job titles hold over individual employees and entire businesses.
It can still be a struggle to identify a suitable approach for your organization, and a good place to start is by asking existing team members for their input, rather than rolling out major changes without consulting them.
You can also look at what competitors are up to and see if there are strategies which work well elsewhere that you can adapt for your own purposes, or even approaches that are patently imperfect that you can learn from and avoid.
Growth Hackers is a full-service customer acquisition agency helping businesses from all over the world grow. There is no fluff with Growth Hackers. We help entrepreneurs and business owners improve their team’s efficiency with their job titles, increase their productivity, generate qualified leads, optimize their conversion rate, gather and analyze data analytics, acquire and retain users and increase sales. We go further than brand awareness and exposure. We make sure that the strategies we implement move the needle so your business grow, strive and succeed. If you too want your business to reach new heights, contact Growth Hackers today so we can discuss about your brand and create a custom growth plan for you. You’re just one click away to skyrocket your business.
