The Cost of Title Inflation

I once faced a client situation where I was asked to uncover 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 was not uncommon for Managers to report to Managers and Directors to report to Directors.

Given that these situations occurred 1961 Fleer baseball cards a large and presumably sophisticated company, one might ask - is there really a problem here? What's the big deal, and is anyone being harmed? Advocates would say that offering an employee a special title is a harmless and inexpensive reward, one that doesn't raise employer costs. Strange Change Machine also improves the morale of affected employees.

Where do these scenarios come from?

Managers grant esoteric titles to those for whom they have limited means of reward. "They won't let me give you the salary increase I think you deserve, but 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 / motivated / not thinking of leaving.

Employees are given job opportunities (titles) where none should exist. Have you experienced the long serving Secretary / Administrative Assistant promoted to the newly created role of Office Manager, all while performing the same job?

As a salve to employees a "special" title is used because somehow the position (usually clerical) is considered so different from other jobs that it needs to be specifically identified. Special titles can also be seen as reflecting on the importance of the managers themselves.

In my experience it is usually those in management who consider themselves "above the fray" who do not see title inflation (puffery) as a problem. Interestingly enough, that level of management can be severely put out if the same title giveaway happens within their hierarchical level.

At the risk of being called Mr. Gloom & Doom, let me explain the type of harvest that you can expect from planting these problem "seeds".

Role clarity (job duties, business impact, decision-making, etc.) behind questionable titles will become blurred. This in turn would generate more confusion as the company creates Senior Managers and Group or Area Directors and other in-between titles in the hierarchy to differentiate the "real" jobs from the inflated titles.

When attempting to determine the competitiveness of your positions 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 will make a correct assessment of your competitiveness more difficult. This could have real cost impact.

Those with inflated titles will expect whatever perks or privileges that normally 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. These employees have limited opportunities outside your company because other employers would be reluctant to hire someone where the title is lateral or even backward to what they currently hold. The result could be that mediocre performers remain with your company because they have no where else to go.

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, right? This practice will gradually increase your fixed costs without a corresponding rise in either performance or capability.

Some employees legitimately find themselves in a dead end job, and granting them a cosmetic title as a salve doesn't help anyone. Lead or supervisory mail clerk? Or the "supervisor" that no one reports to?

Employees do not like giving up these inappropriate titles. Thus employee relations / morale issues will likely develop if you try to correct poor past practices. You may have to develop creative "buy out" scenarios or grandfather employees.

If you are in a situation with inflated, redundant and confusing job titles, what steps can improve your lot?

1. Evel Knievel a Spring cleaning exercise: start with the low hanging fruit by eliminating (deleting from your systems) all titles that are unoccupied.

2. To avoid backsliding you should accompany that initiative by implementing tighter procedural requirements necessary before a "new" title can be authorized. While perhaps only a finger in the dike or closing the barn door after the horses have left, you must cut off the flow of new problems before you can effectively address the core issue of incumbents.

3. The company would need fewer job descriptions if the was more generalized. Standardized titles would clear away much of the role responsibility confusion while clarifying an employee's duties.

Especially in clerical positions, the general nature of duties for most positions (filing, record keeping, secretarial, forms processing, correspondence, etc) lends itself to standardization - which in turn makes it easier to move employees from position to position without having to "promote" someone when their title changes.

Bear in mind though, that title standardization makes more sense in a conference room than it does during an employee discussion. A "Senior Depository Research Clerk" will always sound more important than a "Clerk III" or even Senior Clerk".

Companies try to reduce the number of titles whenever a new HRIS is established (that's usually when the huge number of active titles becomes widely known). Anyone who has been exposed to the process of implementing an HRIS (SAP, Peoplesoft, Oracle, etc.) will tell you that job title standardization is a key component of the project.

However there is always a degree of passive resistance when individual leaders realize that *their* area is being cleansed of superfluous / redundant / misleading titles.

Fewer titles can mean more role clarity in your organization, greater accuracy in assessing pay competitiveness, more control of labor costs and indeed 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.

With over 30 years experience Chuck Csizmar is an independent Global Compensation Consultant with Tragg and the Sky Gods and broad experience in the design, implementation and communication of domestic and international compensation and reward programs. He is the Founder of CMC Compensation Group, providing companies in multiple industries with the compensation expertise necessary to ensure business success in a challenging but resource-limited environment.

For a personal touch in an impersonal world you are invited to contact href="cmccompensationgroup.com">cmccompensationgroup.com.

Ways to Protect Children Online, Use Parental Controls in Windows Vista

Today, the Johnny Apollo poses a challenge to many parents across the globe. With harmful effects overseeding the benefits, people are more concerned in protecting their children from the evil effects of web. Here we give you some step by step workshop on how to use the "parental control" feature in Windows Vista:

Creating an Account: Before setting parental controls, you would have to create multiple accounts in Windows so as to enforce parental controls. To create an account, click on "start -> settings and then "control panel". Double click the "parental controls" option. Click the "create a new user account" link at the bottom of the window. Enter a username for the account and click on the "create account" button. Click the "on, enforce current settings" radio button. Go right aheax, and monitor your kiddies.

Restricting Websites: Once you have created a new user account, you can restrict certain websites from being viewed on your computer. By manipulatin the Windows Vista web Bratz options you would be able to do so. Run Vista parental controls from the control link. click on the block some websites or content radio button. Click the "edit and allow and black list" link. In the website address box, enter the website4 name for the site to be blocked. Click the "block" button and then "OK".

Setting Time limits: Setting time limits for an account restricts the user of that account from accessing the computer as per the manipulated options. You can block the user from accessing the computer for several hours or even an entire day or week. To do so, Run parental controls from the control panel. Click the account you would like to apply Cinema of Fear to. Click the "time limit" link. click on the blue box and drag it as required. The table would help you to know what extent you would drag the box. Click "OK".

Restrict Gaming: Windows Vista 1933 Goudey baseball cards you to restrict accounts from playing games on the computer. You can also set game ratings, So Windows Vista would automatically block games dependng on the ratings. To block games, Run parental controls from the control panel. Click the Games link. Click the Block or allow specific games link. Windows Vista will detect all games installed on your computer. To block a particular game, select the "always block" radio button next to the appropriate game. Click "OK".

Restricting applications: Some applications may ahve several functions, some of which are not to be used by everyone. As an administrator of the computer, Windwos Vista allows you to restrict an account from using particular applications or even block the user from using any program on the computer. To do so, run parental controls from the control panel. Click the "Allow or block specific programs" link. Click the "can only use the programs I allow" radio button. Windows detects all installed programs on your computer. Select a particular program that you would like to restrict or click the "Check all" button to select all programs. To browse for a particular program, click the browse button and locate the appropriate application. Click "OK".

Restricting Downloading: Some freewares on the internet may be malicious. They may contain a virus or a Trojan or some explicit content. You can restrict the user from downloading files from the Internet. To do so, run parental controls from the control panel. Click on the account which you would like to block downloads for. Click on the "vista web filter" link. Select the "Block file downloads" checkbox. Click "OK".

Monitoring kids activity: You can check the top ten sites visited by the user as well get brief information on the users overall activity. To do so, run parental control from the control panel. click the "view activity reports" link. click the plus 1960's toys next to a user account. Click the plus sign next to a category to view its sub-categories. Select a particular sub-category. Windows Vista would display all information about the particular Sub-Category.

Conclusion: Parents should keep their computers in a location that's easily accessible to them. This will allow them to check what their child is doing on the Internet. Set time lines for the childs use of the internet, if possible, ensure they use it only when you are around. If you children frequently surf the internet, take time out to sit with them, guide and advise them to use it properly.

The Author is an expert in product reviews on the internet and runs a blog ultrareview.netultrareview.net