The BBC is to whittle its 5,000 job titles down to just 600 by the end of the month, after a call to banish nonsense jargon.
The broadcaster has been told it should provide more clarity on the meaningless job titles satirised in its W1A comedy, because they cause too much confusion.
Staff titles at the BBC include a ‘thematic research manager’, a ‘contingent workers’ co-ordinator’, a ‘service management and release manager’ and an ‘identity architect’.
But consultants have now told the BBC that job titles should actually reflect what people do.
The BBC has been told it should provide more clarity on the meaningless job titles satirised in its W1A comedy (above, starring Hugh Bonneville and Jessica Hynes), because they cause too much confusion
The recommendation was made in a series of reports, published yesterday, designed to help close the BBC’s controversial gender pay gap.
In an uncomfortable day for the corporation, the BBC was forced to admit that it pays men an average of 9.3 per cent more than women, and that they are far more likely to occupy senior positions.
Even so, a retired judge hired by the BBC found that there is ‘no systematic discrimination’ against women at the broadcaster.
However, consultants recruited to investigate the problem said the BBC could help to close the gap by shaking up the way it interviews people, how it awards pay rises, and the job titles it gives them.
Law firm Eversheds, which carried out an equal pay audit, said the BBC must finally get on with the job title review it has been working on for more than a year. ‘We understand that this has not yet been implemented and we would recommend that it be completed as soon as possible to provide more clarity in relation to job titles,’ the report said.
‘[Companies should] ensure that the job titles properly reflect what work an individual employee is undertaking and enable more consistency between colleagues.’
Insiders admitted that nonsense job titles had been allowed to ‘bloom’ at the BBC for years, and had got out of hand.
A source told the Mail: ‘The BBC can put its hand on its heart and say we have far too many job titles. Too many flowers have bloomed.’
Yesterday, even BBC Press officers could not clarify what certain job titles actually meant.Nonetheless, some of the roles are among the best paid at the corporation.
Earlier this year, the BBC revealed that its ‘Integration Lead’, Richard Smith, and its ‘Identity Architect’, Colin Brown, each earn between £150,000 and £200,000 a year.
The broadcaster was still advertising for some bafflingly named positions yesterday. It is looking for a ‘head of curation and discovery’ in the children’s division, whose job is ‘to ensure that there is an on-going, holistic culture of innovation and creative renewal’.
However, things are not quite as bad as they once were.
The corporation no longer has a ‘Controller of Knowledge’, a ‘Controller of Vision’ or a ‘Controller of Multi-platform’.
Yesterday, even BBC Press officers could not clarify what certain job titles actually meant. Nonetheless, some of the roles are among the best paid at the corporation
The meaningless job titles were the inspiration for the moniker awarded to Hugh Bonneville’s character in the BBC’s satire of itself, W1A – where he plays ‘Head of Values’ Ian Fletcher.
Eversheds also told the BBC to improve its record-keeping, and to put a ‘robust pay policy’ in place to ensure there was a more uniform approach to promotions and pay rises.
Meanwhile, the BBC vowed to make sure it has men and women on every interview panel, and to make sure shortlists include male and female candidates where possible.
The broadcaster’s gender pay gap is below the national average of 18.1 per cent, according to a PwC report. Women also tend to be paid more than men for some jobs on the bottom rungs of the corporation.