What Is Job Enlargement? [A Guide + 3 Examples]
Rust-out is the new burnout. This term, often attributed to psychotherapist Paula Coles, refers to the boredom employees feel from uninspiring work that fails to motivate or fulfill them. How can organizations combat workplace rust-out? Executing job enlargement is one viable option.
Employees are bound to lose interest in their jobs when duties become stagnant. Job enlargement is a way to increase the variety in a role and help employees stay engaged in their work and connected to the organization’s success.
In this article, we will describe what job enlargement is, review its benefits and drawbacks, explain some best practices, and share a few examples of job enlargement in the digital age that show its relevance in today’s and tomorrow’s world of work.
Contents
What is job enlargement?
What is the objective of job enlargement?
Types of job enlargement
Job enlargement vs. job enrichment
Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages
Job enlargement examples
How to implement job enlargement
FAQ
What is job enlargement?
Job enlargement is expanding the duties of an existing role while maintaining its level within the organization. This means that a person will handle new responsibilities that fall within the scope of their current job title. For example, an employee will now take over the work planning that was formerly done by their manager.
The goal of job enlargement is to enhance employee satisfaction and performance by expanding the variety of tasks and responsibilities within their role. It is a key technique in job redesign, along with job enrichment, job rotation, and job simplification.
Job enlargement was born out of the need to overhaul what the early 1900s wave of job specialization had generated. Job specialization means that employees develop specific skills to work on a narrow set of tasks. The thinking here is that the individual will be highly effective in executing these tasks. Although boring and repetitive, specialized jobs made good business sense at the time due to their increase in output and profit.
One of the most famous examples is the Ford Motor Company. Because of the highly specialized assembly line created at its factories, the company was a leader in the marketplace. As a result, the company was able to offer workers a much higher minimum wage and give them more time off.
Job enlargement was popularized in the 1960s and ’70s as the opposite of specialization job design. During that time, increased attention was on factors that made a job motivational. There was a realization that traditional mass production assembly lines were monotonous and deeply dissatisfying work situations.
Although the concept of job enlargement has been around for decades, it remains entirely relevant. Today’s business climate is filled with fast-paced growth and continual changes in the nature of work. Organizations now expect employees to adapt to new methods and shifting priorities and be flexible in how they do their jobs. A job enlargement model is one way to ensure that added and evolving responsibilities are covered.
What is the objective of job enlargement?
Job enlargement aims to boost employee engagement and organizational effectiveness by broadening the scope of an employee’s role, thereby increasing the variety of skills used and reducing job monotony.
Taking on the challenge of new responsibilities often results in higher job satisfaction and the capacity for more career path options. This strategy not only benefits employees by making their jobs more interesting and promoting their professional growth but also helps organizations build a more skilled and motivated workforce.
Types of job enlargement
There are two main types of job enlargement which are described as horizontal and vertical. Here’s what these mean:
- Horizontal job enlargement: This involves assigning additional but similar tasks to a role that will keep the job at its current level of responsibility. For instance, expanding a salesperson’s territory to increase the company’s sales opportunities and boost the employee’s commission. Another example is giving an assembly-line worker more parts to install on a product to add variety to their job while consolidating production.
- Vertical job enlargement: This entails adding tasks to a role that will increase an employee’s scope of responsibility and autonomy. For example, authorizing an administrative assistant to propose and maintain the budget for team-building activities or putting a food service worker in charge of training new hires. By augmenting employees’ responsibilities and accountability, they can find more fulfillment and offer a greater contribution to the organization.
Job enlargement vs. job enrichment
Job enlargement is often confused with job enrichment, but they are not the same. Job enlargement involves adding more tasks to an employee’s role to increase the variety of work, while job enrichment involves enhancing a job’s responsibilities to make the work more engaging and meaningful.
This means that job enlargement is one way to execute job enrichment but not all job enrichment activities are also considered job enlargement.
Here are examples of each to illustrate the difference between the two concepts:
An office secretary, traditionally handling administrative tasks like scheduling and correspondence, is given additional responsibilities such as welcoming guests and managing office supplies. This broadens her range of activities without necessarily increasing her autonomy or decision-making power.
A customer service representative, whose job is enriched, might be given the authority to resolve customer issues without needing managerial approval, in addition to their regular duties. This not only adds variety to their job by introducing new tasks but also increases their control and responsibility, making the job more engaging and meaningful.
Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Enlarging highly specialized jobs can lead to a number of advantages for both the employee and the employer, such as the following:
- Reducing monotony by creating a wider range of activities: In essence, job enlargement is about adding responsibilities to existing roles to combat boredom. Varied activities decrease monotony and make a job more interesting. Instead of doing one highly specialized task all day, employees are more involved from end to end. For instance, taking a single product through multiple production phases or even managing an automated assembly belt.
- Promoting skill development and career growth: Additional job responsibilities require training and give employees the chance to explore new interests and expand their work experience. The skills and knowledge they acquire equip them to secure more career growth opportunities with the potential to earn higher wages.
- Inspiring employee engagement and satisfaction: Additional and varied responsibilities can be motivational factors. Employees who are being challenged and learning often experience personal growth and find more fulfillment in their work. They may also develop a sense of loyalty to the organization when they view it as being committed to their development.
- Improving efficiency and productivity: When employees are trained to handle extra tasks, they become more proficient, flexible, and inventive and can adapt as needs change. They’re able to come up with creative solutions, pick up the slack caused by absences, and pitch in when the workload increases. Job enlargement allows organizations to tap into their existing workforce for new or altered duties and avoid the cost of outsourcing or hiring.
- Gaining more autonomy, accountability, and responsibility: Even though increasing the sense of autonomy isn’t the primary goal of job enlargement, being responsible for multiple related activities gives employees more freedom over how they do their work. In addition, when they have increased interaction with a single product or service, they become more accountable for product quality and mistakes. This drives them to take ownership of their responsibilities.
Disadvantages
Although job enlargement can certainly benefit employees and the organization, there are some possible drawbacks. HR needs to be aware of the challenges job enlargement poses and be prepared to meet them before deciding whether it’s the right technique for your workforce.
Some disadvantages of job enlargement you should deliberate include the following:
- Lower efficiency: Job enlargement decreases specialization. When highly specialized workers do one activity all day, every day, they soon learn to do it very quickly. In some cases of job enlargement, adding tasks may hinder efficiency. This is especially true at the onset when employees are learning their new responsibilities.
- Lower quality: If workers are stretched beyond their capabilities, output quality can be affected. Also, reducing specialization can affect the level of expertise within your workforce. However, as we’ve already discussed, repeating the same specialized task all day can lead to boredom and a lack of attention to detail. Furthermore, if employees are only responsible for a small part of the product, they don’t have a whole product concept and may not have a sense of ownership and willingness to improve.
- Job creep: Job creep is a continuous increase in workload as more and more tasks are added to a position. If this isn’t executed well or employees don’t find the new tasks meaningful, job enlargement can make the role feel overwhelming and potentially lead to stress and burnout. This is even more likely to happen if employees are not being recognized or paid more for taking on extra duties.
- Increased training levels and costs: Because job enlargement involves the adding of tasks and responsibilities that the employee didn’t have before, it often requires an increase in training levels and training costs. In addition, employees need time to overcome the learning curve and reach their optimum productivity.
Since job enlargement has both advantages and disadvantages, organizations must individually assess whether or not it is the right option. An HR business partner or an organizational development specialist can consult with managers on what job redesign strategy the most sense according to the unique circumstances of the job.
Job enlargement examples
Seeing how job enlargement plays out in the real world is a good way to understand it better. Below are three examples of job enlargement in practice:
1. In a hospital setting
As robotized surgeries increased, surgical procedures were affected. Surgeons began controlling a robot through a console, usually located in the corner of the operating room. When a major U.S. hospital implemented this, they found that having the surgeon away from the operating table hindered communication.
Traditionally, the surgeon dictated the procedure and given instructions. However, with the surgeons physically distanced from the operating table they didn’t have a full overview of what was happening on it and the area nearby. It became necessary for an operating assistant to take over part of the surgeon’s customary role.
As a result, this assistant was trained in how to communicate with the rest of the team and in the execution of different activities that would otherwise be performed by the surgeon.
2. In corporate communications
Another job enlargement example comes from the corporate communications team in a large multinational fast-moving consumer goods company. This firm had specialized advisors to manage communication around the implementation of new digital tools. Despite this, the adaptation of tools remained low.
After looking into it, they discovered that corporate communications did not always align with the purpose of the tool and its functionality because the team was not always fully informed. They resolved this by enlarging the jobs of the communications team. The team was included in the initial conversations and research around the purpose and main functionalities of the tools, as well as user interviews and drafting design criteria.
The expertise of the communications team proved helpful in this stage. It enabled them to draft a communication strategy earlier that connected with the user problems that the new software tool was solving.
3. For extending social media reach
A multi-location property management company wanted to make better use of social media for marketing purposes and communicating with its apartment buildings’ residents. Instead of hiring a full-time social media director, management selected one willing leasing agent from each location to create/film a few social media posts per week.
This increased the company’s social media presence while customizing content for each building individually. It also provided certain employees with the opportunity to take on an innovative responsibility that allowed them to be creative and develop new, transferable skills.
How to implement job enlargement
Each organization must take its own approach to job enlargement based on its industry, workforce structure, and business needs. While job enlargement may look different to every organization, there are some universal best practices HR can adopt.
Here are several ways HR can effectively support the job enlargement process:
- Communicate clearly and involve employees: Employees will be resistant to change that they don’t understand. With regular communication about the purpose of job enlargement and how it will benefit them and their career, employees will be more likely to accept and embrace the concept of taking on more responsibilities. Provide periodic updates, actively involve them in the decision-making process, and address their concerns and questions. When employees feel informed and included, they’re more comfortable giving their buy-in.
- Set employees up for success with thorough preparation and training: Job enlargement typically requires employees to acquire new skills and/or knowledge. Implement comprehensive training and development programs that will equip employees to navigate their expanded tasks and responsibilities effectively. These may include online courses, hands-on simulations, seminars, workshops, or mentoring.
- Take a measured approach to implementation: Introduce job enlargement gradually. Employees need time, support, and resources to get familiar with and adjust to juggling new responsibilities. Add new tasks incrementally, ensuring employees get up to speed without feeling inundated and frustrated. Managers should closely assess employees’ capacity and proficiency levels and provide supportive guidance as necessary.
- Keep the workload balanced: When left unchecked, job enlargement can make a role feel overwhelming. Added tasks must be balanced with existing responsibilities to keep the workload manageable and prevent burnout. The process must allow leeway for altering priorities, redistributing tasks, and supplementing resources.
- Monitor performance and outcomes: Job enlargement initiatives should be evaluated for effectiveness in achieving your goals, whether it’s reducing monotony or productivity. You can reveal the overall impact of job enlargement and identify improvement areas by establishing viable performance evaluation and feedback mechanisms that track employee progress and gather constructive input. Ensure there is flexibility for making necessary adjustments that will maximize employees’ success and satisfaction with the enlarged job roles.
- Recognize and reward employees: Acknowledging and showing employees appreciation for taking on job enlargement requirements goes a long way in keeping them motivated and fostering engagement. Put a reward system in place that salutes effort and showcases employees’ contributions, for instance, public recognition, celebratory events and activities, or gifts and bonuses.
On a final note
Job enlargement may have originated as a remedy for the tediousness of highly specialized assembly lines, but it is still pertinent in today’s digital world. With an increasing number of tasks being automated or digitized, roles will naturally shrink and become more specialized.
With job enlargement that is well-supported by HR, employees can embrace new responsibilities and become more agile. Once they feel the reward of being challenged and growing their abilities it will reinforce their engagement and willingness to perform at their highest level.
FAQ
Job enlargement is adding supplementary tasks within the same level to an existing role. It means that an employee will do additional, different activities in their current job.
Enlarging highly specialized jobs can be beneficial because it leads to creating a wider range of activities, reducing monotony, increasing job satisfaction, learning new skills that aid career growth, and gaining more autonomy, accountability, and responsibility.
Job enlargement is not appropriate for every situation. Its disadvantages include decreased efficiency and quality, job creep, and higher training costs. However, you can reduce the drawbacks by implementing job enlargement carefully.
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