Learn English – What does “box-ticker” mean when applied to a person

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I've come across this phrase in the following context:

… such cultures bring up people to be box-tickers.

Best Answer

I think the expression "box ticker" is used to refer to a small narrow minded person, one that does a very simple job that does not imply responsibilities especially in bureaucratic contexts:

The following article from the FT appear to use that expression with the meaning I am referring to:

Box-tickers should not be the ones making decisions

  • he arguments that reasons should be given for all decisions, that consultation should be undertaken, that people should be accountable, are superficially compelling. But the big bureaucracies, public and private, whose processes fulfil these requirements are not known for the quality of their decisions but for their ineptitude. Typically the reasons given for judgment are rationalisations after the event, the consultation is a formality rather than a sincere search for opinions, and the accountability is a matter of extensive paperwork rather than a genuine appraisal of performance.

    • But the real downside of box-ticking is not that it is hypocritical, although it often is. It is that the people who find it endurable are often people who should not be making decisions at all.
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