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Salaries - do Job Titles really matter?

Hi All,

I am currently working as a HR Coordinator at a Global Oil and Gas company in Norfolk. I have been in my role for the last 2.5 years.

In the last 2.5 years I have taken on almost 50% more than what was stipulated within my Job description, one of which being making the HR administrator redundant and myself absorbing the workload.

I am CIPD level 3 qualified and have been looking into my Level 5, my employer has also looked at supporting me through this by funding the course but this is yet to materialise.

During our recent pay review, I received one of the lowest increases in the company and am now on less money than some of our Finance admin team members and also only slightly above our administrators.

I am responsible for the majority of the general HR and also the processing of payroll for 96 employees. I have 1 direct report and also manage reception.

I feel I am due a Job title change but am worried they wont change it as would mean increasing my salary.

How do I approach this with my line manager, the HR Business Partner?

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  • Welcome to the communities

    What job title do you want?

    If you are already a HR Co-ordinator and report to a HR BP I am not sure where I would go in-between?

    Did you discuss why you got such a small (relatively) rise as this appears to be the real issue here....

  • In reply to Keith:

    So apparently the small amount was what was allocated in the pot to HR and as there is only 3 of us it wasn't much. But I was told I need to take on more responsibility to enable a larger increase. But I already do so much, to a point where if I took on anymore it would look like the HRBP does nothing!
  • Welcome to the community.

    What job title you have or want, isn't necessarily linked to what you actually get paid, or should get paid - unless of course the company has some written contractual policy on job titles v. pay scales.

    Like Keith says, the first step is to ask your line-manager the HR BP.
  • In reply to David Perry:

    Yes, welcome, Kelly-Ann

    Short of some complex job grading, job evaluation and salary progression system, which is probably inappropriate /OTT for your workforce / workplace, there’s limited scope for you except ultimately get a job elsewhere if your present employers don’t adequately remunerate you for what you do. However, you can air your concerns with your line manager, firstly informally but even if needs really must via a formal grievance. But, if those in charge who determine your remuneration still don’t agree with your protestations after all that, then it may well be down to voting with your feet.

    Like colleagues, can’t see that (within reason) your precise job title matters much.
  • To answer the question in the title: yes, job titles *really* matter. I've known a lot of people who were more interested in having a higher-status job title than a pay rise. And unfortunately, that can sometimes lead business leaders to think that awarding a higher-status job title is a cheap alternative to a pay rise. But HR professionals should be alert to the shift in dynamic that can follow from such status rises, particularly if the details of salaries are confidential - because it is easy for others to assume that a rise in status is accompanied by a rise in pay with no evidence to the contrary.

    Also, a rise in status will lead to a rise in behaviour that can be disruptive or unwelcome. And, crucially, a rise in status will mean an increase in perceived legal authority that can lead to auditors or - worse - tribunals finding that corporate decisions are being made by individuals who ought not to have corporate decision-making power, but it has been bestowed upon them by a high-status job title at odds with their intended role.

    All that said, let's go back to the OP.

    Kelly-Ann, what you have is a grievance on several points:

    1. Your job description is no longer an accurate reflection of your duties and should be reviewed.

    2. You would like your professional status to be increased by being supported to pursue a Level 5 qualification. This is being "looked at". You would like a definitive answer, now, on whether your employer is going to commit to support this or not.

    3. You feel that your recent pay rise does not accurately reflect the increase in responsibility, both administrative and managerial, that you have taken on and would like it to be reviewed.

    4. You would like your job title changed to reflect your increased responsibility.

    Of these, I would venture to suggest that the last is, of all of them, the least important. You're not going to be made an HR Manager if you already report to an HRBP. You could be called an "HR Officer" or "HR Advisor" or even "Senior HR Coordinator" but what difference will it really make to your status or CV to have such a title? I suspect, very little.

    If you could have the first three points settled to your satisfaction (or, at least, settled) you would probably be a good deal more satisfied than you would be with an inflated job title.
  • In reply to Robey:

    Of course job titles *really* matter to some people but conversely matter not one bit to others.

    It rather depends on the type of person you are and the type of organisation you come from. They tend (generalisation) to be more important in traditional more hierarchical organisation and they "tend" to be less important in more dynamic organisations in my experience and opinion.

    As HR professionals sit key we try and move away from generalisations as far as possible and look at what motivates and engages individuals. Be that type of work, hours, title, salary, status or even company car :-) and see how/if we can meet these needs within a wider corporate HR strategy. One size never fitted all and it certainly doesn't now.

  • Steve Bridger

    | 0 Posts

    Community Manager

    20 Mar, 2018 10:49

    Welcome to the Community, Kelly-Ann. I've tweaked the thread title to reflect the salary/job title link behind your question. Hope that's OK?