What's my line, again?

"Wanted: executary. Excellent remunerative package. Must have short hand."

Before the more ghoulish among you, particularly those with stubby fingers, put ink-delivery system to wood pulp communications product, this is not an advert for a job requiring the wearing of a black hood. That, of course, would be a capital punishment operative.

Danger: Reprographics engineers at work!

Executaries take letters, arrange meetings, answer phones and buy presents for their bosses' spouse and children at short notice. Just the sort of things secretaries used to do, and for the same money too.

A UK recruitment company has found employees will forego a swelling of their pay packet provided their dull job titles get some padding out.

Among the "professionalised" positions suggested in the survey are "voice data executive" (telephonist), "data storage specialist" (filing clerk) and "office logistics co-ordinator" (postroom worker).

Giving people fancy job titles is really just cosmetic. It's only a short-term boost to an employee's morale.

Professor Michael West

Should the cup of tea brought to you by the "catering supervisor" get spilled on the fabric weave floor covering , never fear, call the "hygiene supervisor".

Read your views on "professionalised" positions

The 70% of us ready to indulge in a bit of job title tinkering may well be doing ourselves a disservice, says Professor Michael West, an organisational psychologists at Aston University's business school.

More than a name

"Giving people fancy job titles is really just cosmetic. It's only a short-term boost to an employee's morale. You habituate to the new name in a few days and the concession soon seems less important."

Professor West, who has studied the direct link between employee happiness and companies' profitability, says there are more important issues to be addressed.

Cleaning up: Environment technician

Job security, autonomy and opportunities for development and growth all score above job titles as ways to improve the level of satisfaction among workers.

"Employees also gain long-term job satisfaction if they get the sense they are valued and cared for in their workplace," says Professor West.

The world's human resources, human capital or plain-old personnel managers should know the risks before faffing with job titles.

Job snob

Some 70% of the 1,500 employees quizzed for the survey felt job title "snobbery" caused friction in the workplace.

Any shift in job titles could also make scanning the positions vacant pages even more miserable and render the "management-speak" which has invaded our work "environment" even more impenetrable.

Dear sir, I hereby resign as digital data executive...

Another recent survey found one in five workers couldn't get their heads around most of what was said in the office.

Should we be "customer focused" or "consumer oriented"? Can you trust you "line manager" over your "career mentor"? Are you a "human asset" or "corporate talent"?

Despite all the buzzwords in our "new economy", one things remains certain, a spiffy new job title won't pay the bills.

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Have you got a grand sounding job title? Would you be fobbed off with a flashy name instead of a payrise? What's the most incongruous "professionalised" position you've ever heard?