Inflated titles for already inflated egos

Recently some interesting observation was made regarding this new HR policy in a popular social media platform widely used by working professionals. A current executive at the director level updated his / her title to VP and instantly got kudos and congratulations in plenty from his connections, many of them outside 3M, who are not aware of the apparent "hollowness" of the new inflated job grade titles.

Was st—g egos for such people and getting kudos on social media for 3M management the reason for this new move ? Any insights ????

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Easy way to boost female and minority count in exec and director roles. Lame.

Many plant managers instantly became plant directors. Haha.

It is actually fixing a mismatch with competition. 3M had pretty under-titled managers for many years, and this is how they decided to fix it. The timing given 3M's current sad state of affairs does leave a bad taste in many people's mouths.

3M Health Care also tried this a few years ago on external-facing titles to get the match right. I've had discussions with other large companies where there the 3M person was in a much more senior job but had a lower job title than their counterpart.

I guess HR needed something to do in between rounds of layoffs. I wonder how many newly labeled directors have zero direct reports.

To me it looks like a cost cutting initiative

They increase the pool of Directors , VPs and SVPs without spending additional cent.

Win win situation

Thread regarding 3M layoffs

Inflated titles for already inflated egos

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