Job evaluation is defined as the process of objectively analyzing and assessing the value of each job in relation to other jobs in an organization.
Job Evaluation
Job evaluation is defined as the
process of objectively analyzing and assessing the value of each job in
relation to other jobs in an organization. It aims at finding the relative worth
of a job and to establish a rational and equitable pay structure. Fredrick
Taylor was the pioneer who designed a formal, systematic way of assigning pay
to jobs for improving productivity. His methodology came to be known as Job
Evaluation. It compares jobs to one another based on their content, which is
usually defined in terms of compensated factors such as skill, effort,
responsibility and working conditions. It is mostly a judgmental process that
demands close cooperation between supervisors, HR specialists and the
representatives of employers and employees.
Industry has become increasingly
aware of the need for a systematic and an objective approach to setting the
worth and price of each management position in relation to others within a
business management group, and to similar management positions within a
geographic region or an industry. While the shop floor and clerical planners
normally evaluate a job in terms of its duties,
a managerial position is always evaluated in terms of responsibilities, which could include those related to making
others perform their duties.
Job evaluation is highly dynamic
in nature. It is not a one-time project but is something that must be
maintained on an ongoing basis. Jobs do go through change and it is imperative
that when any alteration happen the job evaluation has to be reviewed and
amended to reflect the change. Since job evaluation examines the effect of
skills, capabilities, responsibilities and work environment on the performance
of the job in a particular context, it cannot be automatically transplanted
from one company to another. There would be a lot of localized adaptation
before finalizing a job evaluation format. Since salaries paid depend upon the
classification of jobs, job evaluations would have to be done conscientiously
and administered judiciously.
Job evaluation rates the job and
not the person going to occupy it. The cycle of job evaluation is launched
first by way of creating a committee of personnel trained in the process,
consisting of heads of various departments, representatives of employees and a
specialist on the field, along with the team of Human Resource Department. The
team of appraisers would use the job descriptions to determine the relative
worth of every job in comparison with others. In this process, the committee
should subject all the relevant external and internal factors into their active consideration before arriving at a final
scheme of fixing pay scales. A general guideline provided to these committees
is that too many levels of pay scales should be avoided through proper grading
of jobs.
Once the jobs that are to be
evaluated are listed out, the committee sets its tasks towards analyzing the
jobs and preparing job description statements with regard to each of them. The
next activity would be to select the method of evaluation to be adopted,
keeping in mind organizational constraints and the job factors. This activity
is followed by the classification of jobs in order of importance. Once
installed, the scheme of job evaluation should be reviewed periodically. The
review should also benchmark at model organizations emerging out to be the best
paymasters in the perception of prospective employees.
Tags : Human Resources Management - Compensation And Productivity
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