Soon after Kay took on a recent role at an e-commerce corporation in the fall of 2023, the responsibilities began to pile up. 

Kay – who asked USA TODAY to not use her packed name for terror of losing her job – was originally told she would oversee customer service agents as a throng navigator. But with the rapid advancements in AI chatbots like ChatGPT, her job shifted to a high-stakes position concentrated on automating customer back.  

She said her recent responsibilities affect the corporation at a much larger scale, and the job’s stress level has increased. The one thing that hasn’t changed: her pay.  

While Kay got a bonus earlier this year, her salary hasn’t budged. She has since searched for job listings with similar responsibilities and said she found positions paying two to three times as much. 

“I definitely would declare I have felt burned out,” she told USA TODAY. “I’m looking and actively applying to other roles.” 

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As the red-warm, post-pandemic labor trade begins to chilly, some data suggests the number of workers taking on more responsibilities or a recent title for the same pay – sometimes referred to as “arid promotions” or “silent promotions” – is on the rise.  

“Companies are getting more creative and strategic in how they reward or incentivize employees, and I ponder this is especially factual with those operating under resource constraints,” said Eric Anicich, associate professor of management and organization at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business. “These types of things can be motivating to sure types of employees, but over period organizations run the hazard of burning out their employees.” 

What is the arid promotion pattern?

expense boost, greater return rates and flat or sliding sales have more businesses looking to cut labor costs, as previously reported by USA TODAY.  

Job openings and hirings have dropped roughly 35% from their pandemic-era peaks, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, leaving some companies to turn to existing staff to manage tasks after an employee leaves – sometimes without a pay bump, according to surveys. 

Thirteen percent of surveyed companies said they were using recent job titles to recognize or reward employees when funds for raises were limited, up from 8% in 2018, according to a 2023 survey from compensation consulting firm Pearl Meyer. Rebecca Toman, vice president of the firm’s survey business unit, said those recent titles may or may not arrive with more duties.

“Titles are a way to do many things – attract employees, retain them, provide job satisfaction. And it’s really fascinating to view that titles are being used in lieu of pay increases,” Toman said.

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Younger workers seem to encounter this the most, with 33% of Gen Z workers and 18% of millennials offered a promotion without a raise within the last 12 months, compared with 7% of Gen X workers and just 3% of baby boomers, according to a March survey from staffing and recruiting firm Robert Half Inc. 

“For so long, everybody’s been doing the job of more than one person. Post-COVID, though, there’s been a lot more other stressors,” said Janis Petrini, owner of an Express Employment Professionals franchise in Grand Rapids, Michigan, that helps match employees and companies. “Everybody is experiencing outside forces as well as demands at work. So you listen words like, ‘I’m overwhelmed,’ or ‘I’m exhausted,’ or ‘I require more back.’” 

A spring Harris Poll survey for Express Employment Professionals found monetary schedule constraints are resulting in reduced or stagnated hiring plans, and 68% of hiring managers schedule to cope with a more limited workforce by teaching employees recent skills, either for their current role or to train for a recent position, as previously reported by USA TODAY. 

While arid promotions can save companies money, they can also navigator to retention risks. A 2023 update from HR and payroll corporation ADP found within a month after their first promotion, 29% of employees had left their employers. Some of that may arrive from arid-promoted employees using their recent title to discover work willing to pay more. 

“When do you these promotions, you’re making them more marketable in the external surroundings,” said Lauren Mason, U.S. career workforce solutions chief at consulting firm Mercer. “They have potentially a recent title, recent responsibilities, that will open them up to debt in the external trade and actually get that pay boost.” 

How to handle a arid promotion

Only 30% of American workers are highly satisfied with their pay, down from 34% last year, according to an October Pew Research Center survey of more than 5,000 employed adults.

Workers unhappy with their returns declare their pay is not keeping up with the expense of living (according to 80%), and their pay is too low for the standard of work they do (71%) or the amount of work they do (70%). Fifty-four percent declare they don’t earn enough to pay their bills, according to Pew Research Center.

Anicich of the Marshall School of Business said it’s “understandable” for employees to turn down more responsibilities without a pay raise. But a arid promotion propose may be worth a talk with a manager, especially if a boss indicates it could navigator to a pay raise down the road.  

“Get some sort of commitment, ideally in writing, to revisit compensation in three months or six months, whatever is appropriate, and get the organization’s perspective on why this is a silent promotion instead of a more traditional promotion,” Anicich said.  

If a pay raise or other perks such as more flexible hours are off the table, he said, the recent job title could be a way to boost a resume to discover a job willing to pay more.