HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
It’s Time to Rethink Job
Descriptions for the Digital
Era
by Tyrone Smith
Published on HBR.org / December 08, 2021 / Reprint H06PPY
HBR Staff/Tetiana Lazunova/ masterzphotois/Getty Images
Job titles still reign supreme in the world of work. They embody a strict
delegation of job responsibilities, govern individual assignments, and
patrol boundaries between departments and colleagues. However, the
rise of technology and digital transformation has led to a significant
blurring of job responsibilities and manager expectations that will only
expand over time.
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
The reality is that conventional job titles have become outdated in many
different workplace contexts. It is not that the idea of different titles or
ranks is superfluous. The modern workplace is simply not a good fit for
such rigid professional boundaries between coworkers and their
respective responsibilities. Today’s employees are often required to
work with other teams and offer expertise outside the confines of their
department while still carrying out the specific duties outlined in their
job description.
With the increasing support of technology and digital transformation,
today’s most engaged employees are also constantly acquiring new
skills and crossing previously well-defined lines to boost productivity
and work quality. A profound reimagining of how to approach job titles
and descriptions is necessary to infuse day-to-day tasks with more
flexibility and a broader scope than a traditional title like “IT Manager
— Level 5” might allow, for instance.
As technology continues to advance and as more jobs are automated, job
titles will need to evolve to fit the new business landscape. Expect more
“project” titles to spring up in particular, like Cloud Migration Lead or
Remote Workplace Coordinator, as the workforce becomes more
collaborative and fluid. These project titles may shift into new ones as
the business objective is met and new needs crop up.
For example, the title of “receptionist” might be revised to “Practical
Director of the Customer Experience.” This title conveys the projects the
employee will be handling without putting them in a box where their
skills are only used behind a reception desk. Their experience and
consumer-facing skills make them a valuable team member beyond the
repetitive tasks that currently fill traditional receptionist job
descriptions.
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
You may think that reimagining job titles is only relevant to people
managers, but most of us will draft more than a few job descriptions
over the course of our careers. And for those of us applying for new jobs,
we might review a job description and then update our resume to match
or highlight specific skills and competencies mentioned to capture the
attention of recruiters, hiring managers, or even bots.
For recruiters, HR leaders, and other people managers, applying I/O
Psychology — the specialty of industrial-organizational psychology
focused on the behavior of employees — can help direct the rethinking,
design, and optimization of both job descriptions and titles. Making
decisions informed by I/O psychology principles can serve to broaden
the scope of each open position, attract compelling and diverse
candidates, and highlight relevant management expectations.
Even before putting pen to paper to write a job description, ask yourself
three questions: What current and future business needs would this role
directly solve? Where else in the organization can this role have an
impact? What core competencies will make this individual (and,
thereby, your company) successful?
From there, I’d recommend rethinking a role that’s ripe for
modernization and automation into one with room for flexibility and
growth. For example:
“Customer Service Representative” to “Voice of the Customer
Lead”
Where We See This Role Going:
• As we transition to more automated customer service calls and
conversations, this individual will analyze engagement data and
analytics to interpret and inform product decisions.
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
• They will grow our Voice of the Customer function and become an
integral component of our customer-first strategy.
• They will also have the opportunity to find additional avenues and
channels to engage with customers to better inform and enhance
our product.
• While we see this role expanding with the Voice of the Customer
function and company, in general, we’re looking for a clear
willingness to learn new processes and technologies from day one
that will be critical as we seek to remain agile and innovative.
The Hats You May Wear:
• Customer Advocate, Facilitator, Teacher, Learner, UX Expert,
Problem Solver, People Manager, Data Analyst, Marketer, Coach,
Department Head, Forecaster
Real-World Competencies & Examples:
• Collaborative Influencer: If you’re constantly looking to find new
ways to partner with teams and individuals from across the
company to deliver customer-first experiences, this role is for you.
• Digitally Dexterous: If you use data to not only inform, but
optimize, the work that you do on a daily basis, this role is for you.
• Knowledge Seeker: If you’re one of the first people to show up for
every training and/or you spend your free time learning online,
this role is for you.
The key to success for all of us will be understanding that every
employee and coworker is more than a rigid title and list of skills or
expected tasks. The meteoric rise in tech adoption and digital
transformation over the past 18 months reinforces that fact, rather than
diminishes it.
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
How technology is changing how we work.
One of the most common elements of digital transformation across
industries from aerospace to zoology is an increasing reliance on
artificial intelligence (AI). Recent McKinsey research found that 67% of
businesses have accelerated their adoption of AI and other automated
technologies since the start of the pandemic. It is as close to inevitable
as possible that AI will change the way millions of jobs are handled and
organized. But the reality is that humans will remain at the center of
nearly every occupation. The automation of manual or repeatable tasks,
for example, will free up human bandwidth to take on more dynamic,
nuanced, and mission-critical responsibilities that drive company
growth, innovation, and customer satisfaction.
Take sales management, for instance. There’s hardly anything “routine”
about being a sales coach or manager. The job entails offering prospects
and coworkers a wealth of experience that varies based on the day, the
task, and the people involved. It involves passing on practical insight for
tasks like sales calls and advice forged in experience about how to
improve.
Importantly, a sales manager’s career experience in the field can’t be
replicated authentically and comprehensively by AI. There’s simply too
much nuance and complexity. However, AI’s analytical capabilities can
surpass even the best coach in scale, speed, and accuracy. While the
workplace will remain human-centered, there’s an expanding role for AI
and Robotic Process Automation at the table as the future of work
continues to evolve.
Technology is already taking over significant portions of contemporary
jobs, such as the work done by translators, transcribers, receptionists,
and customer support professionals, to name just a few. As digital
transformation continues to drive the adoption of technology designed
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
to make repetitive tasks easy, workers specializing in areas that can be
easily automated are at the biggest risk of decreased workload.
Translation, for example, requires speakers with a detailed
understanding of the languages in question to faithfully translate even
complex grammatical structures and ideas. As the tech itself improves
and more organizations adopt solutions, large-scale translations will be
more commonly and accurately captured with automated translation
software and machine learning. The role of humans in this equation will
remain intact, but specific responsibilities and day-to-day tasks will
surely evolve — and may even include managing or providing regular
quality checks on the AI or automated tech.
The same is true for customer service professionals. Human employees
are needed to handle direct interactions with customers and employees
— AI is still years away from serving as an acceptable replacement.
However, more basic tasks such as scheduling appointments,
responding to routine emails, and even requesting and arranging
payment plans are now being automated, leaving humans to do more
nuanced work.
AI won’t necessarily replace humans in these fields, but we’ll need
flexible job descriptions to adapt to technological advances and the
impact they’ll have on traditional job titles and roles. Expanding beyond
narrow job titles will be a critical aspect of the digital workplace as it’s
streamlined by automated technology.
Job titles draw unnecessary boundaries.
As more repetitive tasks — such as data entry and transcription — are
streamlined via technology, professionals will have more time to
interact with or collaborate with people outside their own departments.
Increased connectivity between departments can lead to employees
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
becoming more productive while delivering work outputs that are more
accurate, dynamic, and higher-quality.
Consider a luxury cruise company that wants to design new snack
options to boost revenue and attract new and returning guests’
attention. Instead of handing the assignment over to the sales
department or the marketing department alone, the business can bring
together crew members, IT specialists, data analysts, and
communications and marketing professionals. The resulting team is
better able to identify common guest requests, effective marketing to
announce the new snacks, and a polished digital order option that
reinforces visitors’ perception of their luxury environment. Not only
could the team come up with a comprehensive solution to corporate
goals, but they could do it in one smooth process that emphasizes
collaboration.
Additionally, on a more practical and less conceptual level, automation
stands to impact workers at almost every level of an organization. As
repetitive tasks are automated or accelerated through digital
transformation, the people who used to perform them will be able to
take on work that might not fit their original job description. Allowing
employees to transcend job titles can boost productivity during a time
when role responsibilities, as well as the skills that are needed to
execute them, change faster than we as people managers can update job
titles and descriptions. Rigid job descriptions are no longer appealing to
modern workers who understand the value of continuous learning and
collaboration to their future careers.
Don’t put people in a box.
In developing the jobs of the near future that will be filled by today’s
talent, we need to focus on skills, not tasks. This will help to identify the
right talent with the necessary skills to accomplish a goal, without
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HBR / Digital Article / It’s Time to Rethink Job Descriptions for the Digital Era
locking individuals into a specific role or saddling them with inflexible
job titles. In practice, this involves hiring managers, HR executives, and
other people managers emphasizing development and growth, rather
than portraying job responsibilities as constrained within a particular
“lane.”
Additionally, it’s important to build structure around core
competencies and responsibilities at the individual level. However, it’s
better to approach this type of role development as a scaffolding rather
than a completed building. Once hired, it’s equally vital to let employees
branch out and collaborate with folks outside their day-to-day while still
focusing their work on important tasks.
The bottom line: employees should feel empowered by supporting
technology and digital transformation, encouraged to learn and grow
outside of their normal daily work routine, and enthusiastic about the
prospects of developing their careers without the pressures of stringent
job descriptions, responsibilities, or titles.
Tyrone Smith, Jr. is Global Head of People Analytics & Insights at
Udemy. His scholarly research interests are in the area of people
analytics for talent management, digitalization, diversity, and the
future of work. He is also an International Coaching Federation (ICF)
trained Certified Executive Coach and Organizational Strategy
Coach. Follow him on Twitter @dr_tsmith.
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