Question

job evaluation case study

I was asked by a company to evaluate all their jobs and allocate them to salary grades.

The company was going through a major re-organisation and was about to centralise all remaining staff in one location. Redundancies were involved, and staff had to apply for jobs in the new organisation. Relocation packages were attractive but were related to salary grade.

Staff morale and levels of trust had been affected by the changes, and it was considered essential that jobs were seen to be positioned objectively and fairly in the grade structure.

My role was to act as an independent external credible evaluator. I had to review organisation charts and job descriptions prepared by managers and job incumbents, ask questions to establish more information or clarity, identify possible conflicts or confusion, and establish whether job responsibilities were being exaggerated to secure higher grades.

Once I was satisfied that the information was accurate and factual, I compared each job against objective evaluation matrices, using a point-based method. I then exercised judgment to set a fair scoreline for each job and allocate it to the relevant salary grade. I also prepared progression guidelines for professional and technical staff.

The grade judgments were all accepted and implemented by the client.

1. Provide three reasons why grade judgment was accepted and implemented.

2. What two ideas you consider relevant to in the decision process involved in the process ?

Answer 1

1) The grade judgement was accepted and implemented due to following three reasons:

a) Objectivity in grading system

It balanced the need and expectations of each and every employee.

b) To be an Independent evaluator

My credibility was accepted among employees and even by the top level management.

c) Fair and relevant salary grade to each cadre of employees

Employees were replaced to fair and transparent grade of pay. It motives them to work with zeal with re-organizational setup.

2) I think that these two ideas are relevant in job evaluation process for the given organization:

1) Reviewing of job descriptions and existing nature of job roles:

It offers issues and challenges associated with job positions to be redesign. Undefined roles and other clashes of employees were removed through analysis of roles lying with different job positions.

2) Impact of point based method for Job evaluation:

Jobs were identified for factors associated to be paid or compensate objectively. This given confidence to management .Skills set, experience and responsibilities etc. were adopted by me to evaluate the worth of each job roles.