Some 26% of men are more likely to report that they have more responsibilities than all of their fellow workers with the same job title, a new survey by Clutch reveals. Eighteen percent of women workers assert the same thing.
The report found that women may struggle to move up in workplaces that don’t offer a clear outline of employees’ tasks. Women struggle to progress partly because of the “motherhood penalty,” in which working mothers are perceived as less productive and professionally dedicated than men, women without children, and women with grown children, says Christine Michel Carter, author of “Can Mommy Go to Work?”
Another hurdle for women is ignorance about the amount of time women spend on “office housework,” like emptying the dishwasher, buying birthday cards, and taking notes, the Harvard Business Review reported.
Clutch maintains businesses should clearly outline a job’s tasks and responsibilities through its title and description to battle bias about workplace responsibility. By taking that path, the firm declares companies will give all employees a more accurate sense of their workloads and a fairer chance at advancement. A Washington, D.C.-based business ratings and review firm, Clutch surveyed 505 Americans about their job titles.
Though men and women resolve different levels of responsibility, most affirm it’s important for employees with the same job title to have the same overall responsibility. Some 66% report it is very or somewhat important for two employees with the same job title to have the same overall responsibility at work. Yet just 23% of employees state that their job title accurately reflects their work and duty.
Businesses, perhaps, would do well to remember that responsibility is different than daily, individual tasks. Clutch declared tasks are individual, deadline-driven activities that employees complete to advance larger projects. It says responsibility is a broader state of accountability and control. Employees can hold the same level of overall responsibility while still completing different daily tasks. To pinpoint an employee’s responsibility accurately, companies can make efforts as simple as using “senior” in the job titles of employees with advanced authority. By not relating a job title to an employee’s actual work, companies may create worker dissatisfaction because employees want to do the work their title suggests, Clutch reports.
In an expanded report, Clutch talked about employees should get pay raises tied to performance, not necessarily a change in the job title. Only 14% of employees say that their company only offers pay raises to employees when their job title also changes.
Clutch also offered six ways companies can make job titles work for employees and their business.