HELP is this title change allowed now I’m back from maternity leave!?

[AlphabetSpwp]

I’m just off maternity leave so not sure if I’m being overly sensitive or whether to start pushing back.

I wasn’t treated overly well during maternity leave by HR/the wider business (despite it being a big company and I’d have assumed would be on the right side of the law regarding this kind of thing)

My current job title is that of a manager, since coming back off maternity leave my team has merged with another, in this other team my counterpart is an ‘analyst’ as her title. Since we both do the same job we’ve split the workload and now have dedicated responsibilities.

An example would be if I was Recruitment and onboarding manager and she was recruitment and onboarding analyst. We were both responsible for recruitment and onboarding, now one of us is responsible for recruitment only the other onboarding only.

My new manager notified me last week he wanted to speak to HR to get my title changed to more accurately reflect one of us now does recruitment and the other onboarding. I assumed this would mean my role would now be ‘recruitment manager’

however I’ve just been sent (unofficially) the new org chart my manager has created and I’m listed as recruitment analyst.

To me the term analyst seems a lot less snr than manager, and it seems to be the case across the business and in other businesses within the sector.

Am I right to be annoyed about this and can they effectively ‘downgrade’ my title if all other benefits stay the same?

I think you are being a little over sensitive here, it doesn’t sound like you have been downgraded in any way.

Personally I associate analyst with a more technical job than manager. I would think that the word was an upgrade.

Within the business as a whole though analysts are a lower band, than I currently am.

Same applies to other related companies.

Hence why I’m asking whether a technical downgrade in title is something they are able to do without consultation.

You are doing the same job, with the same responsibilities at the same pay.

There is no downgrade

I would see the title analyst as lower than manager as well. And if you say that the analysts are typically a lower band, then it is likely to be seen by others as at a lower level. I am not in UK but here I would speak with a union for advice to get their take on it.

This

Also how long were you on maternity for?

I think a critical element is how long you took for maternity.

14 months.

Ive been back 6 weeks.

They will do this then in a small amount of time, will regrade your new role and you will get a pay cut.

How long were you on maternity for?

Definitely perceived as lower level

Thats the only reason I know about it, a snr manager from another business unit saw the new org chart my new manager was presenting and messaged me straight away to find out what has happened, he assumed I had taken a lower band role due to coming off mat leave so wanted to check in.

14 months, I’ve been back 6 weeks today!

I was off for 14 months, have been back for 6 weeks today.

My counterpart is lower paid than I am so I’m just generally worried that will come at some point too! (Although she is lower paid due to being located in Romania)

I think if you take an extended maternity leave they aren’t obliged to give you your exact role back on your return, however your terms and pay have to remain the same.

Does this even apply once I’m back? I was under the impression those changes would need to be made during maternity leave, not a month and a half after I’m back?

Have you asked if they could change it to recruitment manager? Use the example of your colleague thinking you’d dropped a grade as proof that the terminology is important.
It costs them nothing so worth asking surely?

I also see this as a downgrade, an analyst and manager are not perceived the same. In any company I have worked for. I would push back on this.

Thanks for this, was wondering if I was just being a bit sensitive but for me it definitely seems a downgrade!

Those of you that say it doesn’t matter, if there are 2 roles Finance Analyst and Finance Manager, which looks more senior?

Analyst looks less senior because it is less senior. When we are making changes or standardising job titles we take care not to come up with titles that loo like the employee has become less ‘senior’. It’s a simple way of not disengaging staff.

The title is a downgrade. Analyst suggests less responsibility than manager. Push back on it.

Well, there you go. That is all the evidence you need to show that this new job title is perceived as a lower grade than the title of manager. Take that proof to HR and tell them you are not satisfied with the change of job title, and this is why.

The Maternity Alliance helped me out a while back on a different matter - could you talk to them? Or ACAS? Maybe even Citizens Advice.

@AlphabetSpwp I recommend you contact your manager and HR with something along the lines of:

Dear Manager

Please reinstate my title as manager, I’m happy for the recruitment part to be changed to reflect the change but not my level.

I don’t want my seniority to be affected as a result of my maternity leave. There is some helpful guidance here from ACAS.

Kind regards

AlphabetSpwp

Do you manage any people? Or was the “manager” part of your job title referring to managing a process?

I don’t manage people no

I think this may be the issue. The “manager” job title is often used for people who have teams who report to them so perhaps someone new in HR decided it wasn’t an appropriate job title for your role.

I agree that you should not be in a position where people may think you have been demoted though. Sounds like they did not think that part through, and you would be well within your rights to challenge it

We've just taken on an advertising manager at our place. They are the only person in the advertising department and manage nobody. They manage the advertising. So it isn't always the case that managers manage people or teams, sometimes they just manage that function in the business.

Eh if someone new in HR decided that, there are about 5000 other managers with no direct reports, just picking on the lady coming back of maternity leave is still a bit shitty