According to research by Reed many companies are giving their staff new high-level and elaborate job titles rather than a pay rise. This new economic phenomenon has been called ‘uptitling’.

Over 1700 workers in the UK were surveyed, with two thirds of respondents believing the use of long and higher-level job titles (“Director “, “Head”, “Chief”) has grown in their organisations over the last two years. Large organisations particularly are turning to uptitling with three-quarters of large firms using this tactic to maintain their workforce.

Nearly half of all employees thought a new job title would improve their happiness at work, even if their responsibilities didn’t change whilst the remaining 50% thought it would have no impact. Workers saw a new job title as a signal they are valued by their organisation and a good career step, raising their profile within the organisation.

Many of the respondents cited examples of uptitling taking place in their company. One Marketing Manager became ‘Director – Marketing, Multi Media Products & Promotional Services’ and a Secretary became the ‘Senior
Corporate Events and Seminars Manager’. Examples were also given of well-known jobs being given up-market titles. A Receptionist was uptitled to become the ‘Head of Verbal
Telecommunications’, a Toilet Cleaner became a ‘Technical Sanitation Assistant’ and a window cleaner changed to an ‘Optical Illuminator Enhancer’.

Reed state that they first noticed this from the diversity of job titles appearing on their website. The phenomenon is considered to be partly a reflection of the accelerating pace of change.

Some more titles:
Senior Vice President Global Procurement Marketing Manager became Director – Marketing, Multi Media Products &
Promotional Services.

Head of verbal telecommunications (Receptionist)
Garbologist (bin man)
Technical Horticultural Maintainance Officer
Stock Replenishment Executive – Shelf Stacker
Technical Sanitation Assistant – toilet cleaner
E-commerce zone executive
IT strategic sourcing analyst
High-End Specific Sample Co-ordinator
Regional Head of Services, Infrastructure & Procurement
recieveables control and analysis manager (standard credit controller)
Director Operations Design and communicattions EMEA/Worldwide
Optical illuminator enhancer – window cleaner.

How much difference does a title make? Would employees exchange a title for a pay rise?