Job Enlargement

Job enlargement is an innovative approach to increasing workload on employees with fresh work duties and responsibilities. It enhances employee motivation, employee satisfaction, and organisational performance.

What is Job Enlargement?

So what is job enlargement in hrm? Job Enlargement meaning indicates assign more work responsibilities to the employees with the primary motive of enhancing company efficiency and generating growth. This involves increasing the workload of the employees, allowing them to manage more jobs with the same resources and workforce.

A job expansion allows the staff to gain more responsibility and learn new skills related to their current responsibilities. The enlargement of a job is also known as horizontal loading since there is no change in a position's status or salary.

Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages

Here are various Job enlargement advantages and disadvantages to give it better clarity:
Advantages
Here are few job enlargement benefits:

1. Improved job satisfaction: Job Enlargement gives employees the ultimate chance to select from the best job options, which enhances work satisfaction. Job satisfaction happens when employees are dedicated without getting distracted and completing the job rather than being urged to do it.
2. Employee retention: Taking the edge of more jobs gives employees the chance to secure their favorite job positions, which leads to increasing the company's employee retention rates. This shows that employers are concerned about employees' tastes and job preferences, which increases the chance for employees to stick with the company for a long time.
3. Improved skill development: Job enlargement is another opportunity for employees to boost their skills and project management ability to handle more work. This leads to an added upper hand in career development. There is no better chance for employees to take their skills and competencies to a new level with job enlargement.

Disadvantages

1. Increasing employee workload: Employee workload can increase, resulting in stress and burnout. An employee may not have the time or resources needed to perform the larger number of tasks they are requested to perform.
2. Reduced specialization: Increasing the size of a job may require employees to accomplish a broader range of tasks, decreasing specialization. As a result, certain areas of expertise and quality of work can suffer.

Difference Between Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment

To get clarity, the debate between job enrichment vs job enlargement begins. Well let’s begin with what is job enlargement? Job Enlargement can be considered a component of job enrichment while enriching jobs can be considered a component of job planning.

Job enlargement involves adding more responsibilities to employees' already existing workloads. However, job enrichment benefits companies in enhancing the quality of the work accomplished by an employee. Since enrichment can improve the employee's performance, the employee may feel motivated to work harder. Furthermore, with increased responsibilities, the employee will have a greater sense of accomplishment.

How do you implement job enlargement effectively?

Assessment.

Before considering job enlargement, assess the employee’s current satisfaction levels, skills, and readiness for added responsibilities.

Clear communication.

It’s vital to communicate the reasons behind the enlargement of their role and how it aligns with the company’s goals.

Training and support

Ensure employees are given adequate training and resources to manage the added tasks.

Feedback Loop.

Create a system where employees can regularly provide feedback on their expanded roles. This can help in fine-tuning responsibilities.

Examples of job enlargement

Listed below are example of job enlargement:

Manufacturing employees

A manufacturing employer can add variety to a job, extend responsibility and autonomy to their employees, and improve employee satisfaction by enlarging jobs. A clothing manufacturer, for example, gives its employees the job of running multiple machines in one unit.

Customer service representatives

Customer service requires a commitment to understanding and responding to customer concerns. Expanding a customer service job can enable a person to gain a deeper perspective on how customers interact with organizations. An automotive department, for example, might have you responding to customer emails and managing social media.

Fulfillment coordinators

A fulfillment coordinator collects customer orders through several channels, such as the Internet, internal order management systems, and direct customer communication. An example would be fulfilling orders for home improvement retailers. Job enlargement has both positive and negative aspects. Both employees and organizations can benefit from it, but the implementation must be handled with the utmost caution to avoid repercussions. Therefore, before expanding your organization's workforce, consult with your employees and HR.