job descriptions and titles

NaeNae55

Several years ago we made an agreement with a retiring employee to take on a special project for us. She worked one day a week, and once it was up and running, fully retired (last December). The ongoing work is performed by someone else in the department.

We had a job description for the retired employee, which I recently combined into the JD for the employee responsible for the ongoing work. The employee told me today that it comprises about 5-10% of her work. But, she seemed upset that I had not changed her job title to reflect the change.

When do you change a job title for something like this? Do you change it every time duties change? When there is a major upheaval? What is your rule of thumb?

ACU Frank

I'm not big on changing job titles. Is she concerned that her title is the same as another employee who doesn't perform that particular task?

NaeNae55

I am not sure. She did mention another part time employee, but that employee has a slightly different title (as I explained it to her). I am wondering if it is the work itself. It is something quite different from her regular job. Her regular job requires a license, certification and a 4 year degree. This extra work only needs a little special knowledge.

I wonder if she just feels she wants some extra acknowledgement of the extra work. She even mentioned the board, who probably could care less.

ACU Frank

So, is she the only employee with that job title?

NaeNae55

Technically, yes. The other similar one is for an on-call person. I have removed a few of the requirements for the on-call person.

We are so small that I think I only have one JD that is shared by two people. Everyone else has their own.

cnghr

Our general rule is that we use fairly broad job titles that can encompass various actual job functions within a department. That way, if duties are changed or combined within a certain "family" of jobs, it is not necessary to change job titles. The added/changed duties may change the job grade level, but the basic title remains the same.

ACU Frank

I guess I'm not sure what the problem is. If she's the only one in that job, and she's the only one with that job title, there is no reason to change it. That is definitely one area where I have ZERO patience with my employees. If you made her job title "Tin Man" she would complain that she should be "Scarecrow".

NaeNae55

I think her problem was that the new duties did not fall under her education, experience and licensing. She wanted to be given credit for the 'extra' work outside of her normal duties that she was doing. We are looking at a possible name change that will be easy to reverse should the job revert back to its original duties. She agreed that we won't have to issue her new business cards for the change, so I am ok with it.

One of the positive things about working for a small company is the flexibility. Sometimes that flexibility causes me more trouble than I would like, but I get a lot out of it too so I shouldn't complain. I am just relieved that it wasn't a case of me seriously not knowing what I was doing. This is only my second time revamping the JDs, so I was less confident than I would have liked to have been. Thanks for the feedback.

Sharon McKnight SPHR

Sometimes when an employee requests a different job title to reflect additional work, they are really looking for a salary increase for the additional duties. The employee's comment that she wants to be given credit for the extra work makes me think she might be headed down that path. Just something to think about.

Sharon

NaeNae55

If she is she will soon find herself out of luck. The job level for the employee who retired is considerably lower than the current employee's level. If we start adjusting for the 'additional' work, we will have to reduce her pay.