Job title inflation

Job title inflation is the increasing number and size of grandiose job titles in corporations and organisations, without a corresponding increase in pay or an increased importance of the job.^[1][2][3]

Poo-bah (right), in the comic opera The Mikado, holds many grand titles including First Lord of the Treasury, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Backstairs and Lord High Everything Else.

Purpose

Job title inflation is most often used to attract innovation and talent in a workplace or by start-up companies to legitimize their organisation.^[4] Job title inflation may be also caused by employers who want to flatter their workers in a way that does not involve an increase in work responsibility or pay.^[3] The phenomenon is often used as a form of exploitation of the social value and common associations of a title to artificially increase the importance of a role or position,^[5] typically in relation to improving the optics of a company for a prospective client.^[6]

Possible problems

Job title inflation is theorized to be detrimental to the performance of an employee. An inflated job title without added responsibility and a pay rise may impact the employee's ability to find employment: similar, uninflated roles at other companies may require qualifications that the employee does not possess.^[7] Employees with inflated titles may also be simply unable to perform the task of their counterpart, uninflated role at another company.^[8] Research suggests that employers are using job title inflation to cut cost in finding talent; job title inflation is shown to have cut employees of $4 billion in overtime pay.^[9]

Companies are believed to be additionally affected by job title inflation—once the inflated title of an employee is vacated, hiring for that same inflated position may be considerably more difficult competing with genuinely compensated market titles.^[8]

See also

• Parkinson's law
• Credential inflation of job requirements
• Grade inflation in education

References

1. Schumpeter (24 June 2010), "Too many chiefs", The Economist
2. Adrian Furnham (14 May 1993), "Job title inflation hits the roof", Financial Times, p. 13
3. Graham Snowdon (2 March 2012), "The rise of the meaningless job title", The Guardian
4. "Inflated Job Titles: Helpful or Hot Air? What HR Pros Should Know". Rasmussen University. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
5. Martinez, Arthur D.; Laird, Mary Dana; Martin, John A.; Ferris, Gerald R. (2008-03-01). "Job title inflation". Human Resource Management Review. 18 (1): 19–27. doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2007.12.002. ISSN 1053-4822.
6. "Job Titles – The Impact of Inflated Job Titles". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
7. "Job Title Inflation: What's in a Name?". www.linkedin.com. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
8. York, Alexandra. "Title inflation is hurting employee career growth and company morale". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-06-11.
9. Cohen, Lauren; Gurun, Umit; Ozel, N. Bugra (January 2023). "TOO MANY MANAGERS: THE STRATEGIC USE OF TITLES TO AVOID OVERTIME PAYMENTS" (PDF).

Further reading

• Baron, James; Bielby, William (1986), "The Proliferation of Job Titles in Organizations", Administrative Science Quarterly, 31 (4): 561–586, doi:10.2307/2392964, JSTOR 2392964
• Best, Joel (2011), Everyone's a Winner: Life in Our Congratulatory Culture, University of California Press, ISBN 9780520948488
• Greenberg; Ornstein (1983), "High status job title compensation for underpayment", Journal of Applied Psychology, 68 (2): 285–297, doi:10.1037/0021-9010.68.2.285
• Kortekaas, F.P.C. (28 September 2012), The effects of job title inflation on job performance, Erasmus University, hdl:2105/22127
• Martinez, Arthur; Laird, Mary Dana; Martin, John; Ferris, Gerald (2008), "Job title inflation", Human Resource Management Review, 18 (1): 19–27, doi:10.1016/j.hrmr.2007.12.002
• Smith; Hornsby; Benson; Wesolowski (1989), "What Is in a Name: The Impact of Job Titles on Job Evaluation Results", Journal of Business and Psychology, 3 (3): 341–351, doi:10.1007/BF01023051, S2CID 144718505
• Strang; Baron (1990), "Categorical Imperatives: The Structure of Job Titles in California State Agencies", American Sociological Review, 55 (4): 479–495, doi:10.2307/2095802, JSTOR 2095802
• Tadelis (1999), "What's in a Name? Reputation as a Tradeable Asset", American Economic Review, 89 (89): 548–563, doi:10.1257/aer.89.3.548