One thing that I always find amazing is the practice of trying to downplay roles in order to reduce the pay level of a position. It’s always seemed a little bit pointless.
What’s really interesting about this practice is that it has virtually no benefit. It alienates employees, and saves very little on payroll costs. Even worse if you downplay a role and the incumbent staff member leaves, you end up recruiting a less skilled or experienced worker.
You’re much better off developing roles that have a degree of freedom in how the work gets done. Workers will appreciate the freedom, retention will be improved, and workplace conflict reduced.
In reality, is there ever really a position where you don’t want a worker to have enough skill, knowledge and autonomy to improve processes and make minor decisions that increase productivity? Not the best plan.