unky job titles inspired by the dotcom zest may soon become forgotten martyrs of the B2C revolution. It’s become increasingly rare to receive business cards with extravagantly creative, attention-grabbing designations such as Marketing Weasel, Director of First Impressions, Content King/Queen et all. In tech circles, fashion dictates one turns one’s nose at trendy titles and whisper not too slyly: “That company was doomed, young employees, fancy titles, too much pampering.” Ladies and Gentleman fancy job titles may have nothing to do with success. By the same logic, they have nothing to do with a company’s failure, so why exile them from tech realms and adopt the plain, boring, vanilla variety!

In an era of dotcom damnation, although politically incorrect to say so, new age job titles were more than a fad of an intoxicated dotcom generation of young Harvard graduates. Titles were a well-thought out motivation strategy to make employees feel privileged and unique by letting them select titles by which they wanted to be known. Drab, functional and hierarchy-ridden labels such as Software Engineer, Senior Software Engineer gave way to the cool and hip Unix Guru, C++ Savant, Code Therapist adding a dash of flair, fun and pomp to the job. Employees felt appreciated, as it was the management’s way of saying: “you are respected, you are invaluable, regardless of your job” Not surprisingly, some of the most sweeping changes took place in job titles of staff handling front desk operations. Secretaries became admin coordinators; receptionists often dismissed as “bimbettes” were suddenly exalted to position of Director of First Impressions; floor boys were called Sanitation Administrators. These new titles lent respectability to staff performing essential functions but often treated no better than the office furniture.

New Economy Old Economy Director of First Impressions Receptionist Admin Coordinator Secretary Money and Goodies Finance Officer Chief Morale Officer/ Vice President People Development HR executive Internet Evangelist Marketing Officer Software Engineer (Testing ) Code Therapist

Quirky, off-beat titles were also great image boosters for the corporate sector, offering companies a chance to shed their stodgy, dreary image and invest their brands with youthful exuberance, vigour, energy and allure. No serious techie till date has joined a company or stayed on merely due to a job title, but trendy titles with promises of captivating work did contribute to attracting young talent. For instance Purple Yogi has withdrawn from the Indian market but it succeeded in creating a brand with a high recall value by merely asking every caller to dial the extension number of the Yogi one wanted to speak to. The company is dead but the Yogi brand lives on!

Wacky titles are a symbolic statement of the company’s work environment, “we work and play hard” and are suggestive of openness, freedom openness and a relaxed environment. For senior management it’s a way of saying to a generation who loathes control and obvious power play: “we are not masters or worse your parents but co-workers “ Also, let’s admit it. Titles add to one’s prestige. Our society treats people with hi-flautin, classy, authoritative-sounding designations with greater respect than those with the staid, unattractive variety. As an HR Executive, one does not receive the same warm welcome as Vice President People Management. That’s the reason why Citi Bank continues to call its management trainees Vice Presidents, although it’s an open secret in informed corporate circles that they are mere trainees. One of the biggest gainers of this social anomaly has been the alphabet C – Chief Learning Officer, Chief Knowledge Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Technology Officer. Unlike the iconoclastic tinge of wackish and modish Marketing Weasel or Knowledge Sorceress, these have appealed to the corporate mainstream and have come to stay. 

In an environment, where CTO is being interpreted as Career Terminally Over, the tech sector has become rather chary of classy titles. Priya Verma HR manager of Indtelesoft views job titles as a non-issue. “They are more serious things to the downturn than a job title. It’s like talking about the wave rather than the tide” Agreed, but in an environment where layoffs have become the order of the day and employees walk around with shuttered, frightened expression letting their choose titles could be a no-cost morale masseur. The Wall Street Journal reports that Organic Inc. a San-Francisco based Internet Consulting firm, whose stocks have fallen from $40 to $5 has allowed its engineers to grab names such as Dark Jedi, Sushi Engineer and Code Therapist. In the past six months, Organic Incorporated stocks fell from $40 to $5 but the attention-grabbing titles has bolstered morale. Similarly Scient Corp, a San Francisco Internet Consulting Firm, added a new title to its existing lexicon “Chief Morale Officer.” Every morale officer helps to keep employee spirits high by organising social events etc. 

These, however, continue to be exceptions. By and large, job titles continue to fall thick and fast by the wayside. In today’s less-forgiving business environment, the tech sector known for its innovativeness is in the real danger of sliding towards extreme conservatism. We can’t seem to stop talking about how they failed but forget that they failed because of flawed business models not because of flawed work titles. The tech sector for good reasons have stopped the Friday-afternoon kegs, but let’s not take away the freedom of selecting job titles from employees. Unlike the TGIF bash, they cost nothing! 
 

(The views expressed here are those of the author. Assureconsulting.com does not necessarily endorse these views.)

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