Blogs

Hi – everyone, it is a privilege to be blogging as an AIIM Expert. I hope my forthcoming blogs will be of interest to most, if not all, of you. I have to confess to being a “virgin blogger” so apologise in advance if I make any schoolboy errors which find their way to the published blog. I have, therefore, confined this first blog to a non-technical matter. I would like to gather your thoughts and views – so please be generous with your feedback! Any requests for future blogs on specific subjects will be considered (depending upon my level of expertise on that subject).

In a bid to ease myself in gently, I have chosen a topic which is not of a technical nature. That said, it is a topic which I find of interest and understand that “getting it right” is important for the people concerned. As you have probably guessed, the topic is Job Titles. Job titles are important to the organisation and its employees. It is important to get these as right as they should or could:

• describe the role – this enables staff within the company to identify the appropriate personnel when they need advice and/or guidance on a particular subject matter
• give the employee a clear sense of his/her role and responsibilities
• give an indication of the level of seniority enjoyed by the holder

Here are a number of differing job descriptions which I believe cover, to a large extent, similar roles within organisations of one industry:

• Information Manager
• Head of Imaging and Records Services
• Bank Records Manager
• Records Manager 
• Regional Records Manager
• Group Records Management Consultant
• Risk Manager
• Business Records Manager
• Head of Information Regulation
• Global Head of Records Management

Why so many different titles? The following are some feasible explanations:-

• some titles may partly reflect the department/division in which the responsibilities are located e.g., Compliance v Facilities Management
• some titles will reflect greater responsibility e.g., regional v country
• some titles will reflect different structures e.g., company wide v a specific department

Does it matter - what are the challenges of there being so many different titles for similar roles?

• It can be difficult for individuals to benchmark themselves with peers, to understand responsibilities, seniority, and salary levels
• It is difficult for companies to benchmark roles in terms of salaries/responsibilities
• Recruitment can be a challenge as much effort is focused on specialist agencies dealing with skill sets relevant to the department, not the specific (Records Management) skills. For example an agency specialising in Compliance may be approached for personnel with Records Management experience. These SME’s may be registered with agencies specialising in Facilities Management or IT. Consequently, the role may not attract as many relevant CV’s

What are your experiences/thoughts on this subject??

The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of Barclays Capital or AIIM.