Four Important Reasons to Standardize Job Titles
For a variety of reasons, job titles may be inconsistent across an organization or fail to accurately reflect what it is that someone in a given position does. Some companies come up with creative new job titles thinking they will make the positions they are posting more attractive to applicants. In reality, these unique job titles just make it harder for applicants to find the job posting. Sometimes promotions and new job titles are handed out in an effort to retain high performing individuals even though their job duties aren’t changing. In these cases, the new, elevated titles often just make these individuals more marketable, and they end up leaving for a real promotion. Finally, some employers allow employees to keep their existing job titles rather than standardizing them after a merger or acquisition because they don’t want to upset people or because updating job titles just simply isn’t a priority. This often results in people with different job titles who are performing nearly identical tasks, and it can lead to perceptions of unfairness or real inequities (e.g., compensation) among people who are really performing the same job.
Standardizing job titles is no small task; especially when years of inconsistent job title assignments have resulted in nearly as many job titles as there are employees in the organization.
Whatever the reason, decisions or policies that lead to inconsistent or non-descript job titles almost never have the effects that were intended. Furthermore, the inconsistencies that are created often lead to even bigger problems down the road. On the other hand, the consistent use of standardized job titles results in a number of tangible benefits. Here are four important reasons why you should strive to standardize job titles in your organization.
Standardized titles help others understand what someone’s role in the organization is. Standardized job titles clearly communicate what type of work someone does and their career level relative to others. It’s really important for others, both internally and externally, to be able to quickly understand someone’s area of expertise and authority within the organization. For example, a Customer Service Associate may go to a Customer Service Manager if they are unable to resolve a customer complaint on their own. At the same time, a customer is likely to have different expectations when dealing with a Customer Service Manager rather than a Customer Service Associate.
Standardized titles make recruiting and hiring easier. Applicants often find job postings by searching for specific job titles or key words within a job title. Positions with titles that don’t align with standard naming conventions are much more difficult for job applicants to find, and this may result in fewer applicants for a posted position. Further, having standardized job titles limits the number of job descriptions that need to be created and updated in an organization. This means job descriptions should be mostly ready to go when a position needs to be posted. Finally, standardized job titles help limit the number of interview guides and other selection tools that need to be developed by allowing one to link them to a limited number of jobs or job families. This also ensures consistent use of selection tools within the same or similar jobs. Overall, the use of standardized job titles can really help streamline recruiting and hiring processes in an organization.
Standardized titles help to ensure internal and external compensation equity. Ideally, individuals who perform similar tasks in an organization should receive similar levels of compensation. Standardized job titles allow an organization to create pay ranges that are tied to the job title ensuring individuals who are doing the same job receive similar pay and benefits. Further, standardized job titles make it easier to conduct market compensation analyses by matching the internal, standardized job title to external ones. Thus, the pay and benefits being offered are more likely to be competitive with those offered for similar positions at other organizations.
Standardized titles help define career paths within the organization. Standardized titles make it much easier for employees to see what kind of career paths are available to them in an organization. For instance, a Sales Associate might work toward a promotion to become a Sales Manager. Another promotion might make them a Senior Sales Manager, and eventually they could become a VP of Sales. Employees who have a clear idea of the career opportunities that exist for them in an organization are much more likely to stay at that organization. Standardized job titles make it easier for organizations to communicate and explain those opportunities to their employees.
As you can see, there are many advantages to standardizing job titles within an organization. That being said, standardizing job titles is no small task; especially when years of inconsistent job title assignments have resulted in nearly as many job titles as there are employees in the organization. If this sounds like your organization or if you have any questions about standardizing job titles, feel free to reach out!