Question

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

ANS 1. THREE REASONS WHY GRADE JUDGEMENT WAS ACCEPTED AND IMPLEMENTED WERE:

• A FAIR SCORELINE FOR EACH JOB WAS SET UP
• EVERY SOCRELINE WAS ALLOCATED TO THE APPROPRIATE SALARY GRADE
• PROGRESSION GUIDELINES WERE NECESSARY FOR THE TECHNICAL STAFF.
• TO GAIN THE TRUST OF EMPLOYEES AGAIN BY PROVIDING FAIR SALARY GRADE.

ANS 2. AMONG TWO IDEAS WHICH WERE RELEVANT, ONE WAS USING A POINT BASED SYSTEM TO COMPARE EACH JOB TO THE OBJECTIVE MATRICES, WHILE ANOTHER WAS ASKING QUESTIONS FOR MORE CLARITY AND INFORMATION ABOUT THE JOBS.