Define Job Evaluation

Introduction

Job evaluation is a technique, designed to enable trained and experienced staff to judge the size of one job relative to others..

Job evaluation is the process of systematically determining a relative value of jobs in an organization.

What a job Evaluation is not

A way to give an employee a raise

A way to reward superior performance

A way to adjust salaries upward to meet salary rates paid in the market for certain positions

A way to “test the waters”

Definitions of Job Evaluation

“Job evaluation may be defined simply as an attempt to determine and compare the demands which the normal performance of particular job makes on normal workers without taking into account the individual abilities or performance of the workers concerned”

International Labour Organization

“Job evaluation is a systematic and orderly process of determining the worth of a job in relation to other jobs”

— Edwin B Flippo

Principles of Job Evaluation

All jobs in an organization will be evaluated using an agreed job evaluation scheme.

Job evaluators will need to gain a thorough understanding of the job

Job evaluation is concerned with jobs, not people.

Job evaluation is based on judgment and is not scientific.

It is possible to make a judgment about a job’s contribution relative to other jobs in an organization.

The real test of the evaluation results is their acceptability to all participants.

Job evaluation can aid organizational problem solving as it highlights duplication of tasks and gaps between jobs and functions.

Methods of Job Evaluation

Job evaluation methods can be divide into two categories ; Non quantitative Method and Quantitative methods.

Non Quantitative Method

Ranking Method

Job classification Method

Quantitative methods

Point system

Factor Comparison Method

Ranking Method

The simplest method of job evaluation is the ranking method. In this method, jobs are arranged from highest to lowest, in order of their value or merit to the organization. Jobs also can be arranged according to the relative difficulty in performing them.

Jobs are usually ranked in each department and then the department rankings are combined to develop an organizational ranking. The following table is a illustration of ranking of jobs.

The variation in payment of salaries depends on the variation of the nature of the job performed by the employees. The ranking method is simple to understand and practice and it is best suited for a small organization.

Advantages

Simple.

Very effective when there are relatively few jobs to be evaluated

Disadvantages

Difficult to administer as the number of jobs increases.

Rank judgments are subjective.

Job classification Method

In this method, a predetermined number of job groups or job classes are established and jobs are assigned to these classifications. This method places groups of jobs into job classes or job grades. Classes may include office, clerical, managerial, personnel, etc.

E.g.

Class I - Executives: Further classification under this category may be Office manager, Deputy office manager, Office superintendent, Departmental supervisor, etc.

Class II - Skilled workers: Under this category may come the Purchasing assistant, Cashier, Receipts clerk, etc.

Class III - Semiskilled workers: Under this category may come Steno typists, Machine-operators, Switchboard operators, etc.

Class IV - Semiskilled workers: This category comprises File clerks, Office boys, etc.

Advantages

Simple.

The grade/category structure exists independent of the jobs. so new jobs can be easily classified.

Disadvantages

Classification judgments are subjective.

There is a chance of bias, so it would affect certain groups of employees (females or minorities).

Factor Comparison Method

Under this method, each job is ranked according to a series of factors. These factors include mental effort, physical effort, skill needed, supervisory responsibility, working conditions and other relevant factors. Pay will be assigned in this method by comparing the weights of the factors required for each job, i.e., the present wages paid for key jobs may be divided among the factors weighed by importance (the most important factor, for instance, mental effort, receives the highest weight). In other words, wages are assigned to the job in comparison to its ranking on each job factor.

The steps involved in factor comparison method

Select particular jobs, The selected jobs must represent as many departments as possible.

Find the factors in terms of which the jobs are evaluated (such as skill, mental effort, responsibility, physical effort, working conditions, etc.).

Rank the selected jobs under each factor independently.

Assign money value to each factor and determine the wage rates for each job

The wage rate for a job is apportioned along the identified factors.

All other jobs are compared with the list of jobs and wage rates are determined.

Advantages

Analytical and objective.

Reliable and valid

Money values are assigned in a fair way based on an agreed rank order fixed by the job evaluation committee.

Flexible

Disadvantages

Difficult to understand.

Its use of the same criteria to assess all jobs is questionable as jobs differ across and within organizations.

Time consuming

Costly

Point Method

This method is widely used. Here, jobs are expressed in terms of key factors. Points are assigned to each factor after prioritizing each factor in the order of importance. The points are summed up to determine the wage rate for the job. Jobs with similar point totals are placed in similar pay grades.

The procedure involved may be explained thus:

Select key jobs. Identify the factors common to all the identified jobs such as skill, effort, responsibility, etc.

Divide each major factor into a number of sub factors..

The most frequent factors employed in point systems are

Skill (key factor): Education and training required, Breadth/depth of experience required, Social skills required, Problem-solving skills, Degree of discretion/use of judgment, Creative thinking;

Responsibility/Accountability: Breadth of responsibility, Specialized responsibility, Complexity of the work, Degree of freedom to act, Number and nature of subordinate staff, Extent of accountability for equipment/plant, Extent of accountability for product/ materials

Effort: Mental demands of a job, Physical demands of a job, Degree of potential stress.

The educational requirements under the skill may be expressed thus in the order of importance.

Degree Define

Able to carry out simple calculations; High School educated

Does all the clerical operations; computer literate; graduate

Handles mail, develops contacts, takes initiative and does work independently; post graduate

Assign point values to degrees after fixing a relative value for each key factor.

Point Values to Factors along a Scale

Maximum total points of all factors depending on their importance to job =540 (Bank Officer)

Find the maximum number of points assigned to each job (after adding up the point values of all sub-factors of such a job). This would help in finding the relative worth of a job. For instance, the maximum points assigned to an officer’s job in a bank come to 540. The manager’s job, after adding up key factors + sub factors’ points, may be getting a point value of, say 650 from the job evaluation committee. This job is now priced at a higher level.

Once the worth of a job in terms of total points is expressed, the points are converted into money values keeping in view the hourly/daily wage rates. A wage survey, usually, is undertaken to collect wage rates of certain key jobs in the organization. Let’s explain this:

Conversion of Job Grade Points into Money Value