3. Job Evaluation
It is a systematic process of determining the worth of one job in relation to
another job in the organization.
Job evaluation is a method for comparing different jobs to provide a basis for
grading and pay structure.
The relative worth of various jobs are assessed so that wages can be paid
depending upon the worth of the job.
Without job evaluations, the HR department would be unable to develop a
rational approach to pay. All job evaluation systems depend heavily on job
analysis.
4. Features of Job Evaluation
It tries to assess jobs, not people.
The basic information on which job evaluations are made is obtained from the job
analysis.
Job evaluations are carried out by groups, not by individuals.
Some degree of subjectivity is always present in job evaluation.
Job evaluation does not fix pay scales but merely provides a basis for evaluating a
rational wage structure.
5. OBJECTIVES OF JOB EVALUATION
It helps in devising an acceptable wage.
It helps in the proper placement of workers in job.
It helps the personnel department to recruit the right person for a job since
requirement of each job are clearly indicated.
It helps in formulating the internal training plan.
It helps to avoid wage and other discrimination for similar jobs in same
organization or a group of organizations under the same management.
6. JOB EVALUATION
VS
PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL
It means to find the relative worthiness of a job Finding the worth of a jobholder
Job evaluation analysis the job and do not take
into account the individual abilities of the job
holder
Performance appraisal is concerned with
comparative merit of individuals
Aims is to determine the wage rates of different
jobs
Determining incentives and rewards for superior
performance
Shows how much a job is worth. Shows how well an individual is doing an assigned
work
7. Process of Job Evaluation Program
• Gaining acceptance.
• Creating a job evaluation committee.
• Finding the jobs to be evaluated.
• Analyzing and preparing a job description.
• Selecting the method of evaluation.
• Classifying jobs.
8. Gaining Acceptance
Before undertaking job evaluation, top management must explain the aims and
uses of the program to the employees and unions.
To elaborate the program further, oral presentation could be made. Letters,
booklets could be used to classify all relevant aspects of the job evaluation
program.
9. Creating Job Evaluation Committee
It is not possible for a single person to evaluate all the key jobs in an organization.
Usually, a job evaluation committee consisting of experienced employees, union
representatives and HR experts is created to set the ball rolling
10. Finding the Jobs to be Evaluated
Every job need not be evaluated. This may be too taxing and costly. Certain key
jobs in each department may be identified. While picking up the jobs, care must
be taken to ensure that they represent the type of work performed in the
department.
11. Analyzing and Preparing Job Description
This requires the preparation of a job description and also an analysis of job needs
for successful performance.
12. Selecting the Method of Evaluation
The most important method of evaluating the jobs must be identified now,
keeping the job factors as well as organizational demands in mind.
13. Classifying Jobs
The relative worth of various jobs in an organization may be found out after
arranging jobs in order of importance using criteria such as skill requirements,
experience needed, under which conditions job is performed, type of
responsibilities to be shouldered, degree of supervision needed, the amount of
stress caused by the job etc.
Weights can be assigned to each such factor. When we finally add all the weights,
the worth of a job is determined. The points may then be converted into monetary
values.
14. Reviewing Periodically
In the light of changes in environmental conditions (technology, products,
services, etc.), jobs need to be examined closely. For example, the traditional
clerical functions have undergone a rapid change in sectors like banking,
insurance and railways, after computerisation.
New job descriptions need to be written and the skill needs of new jobs need to
be duly incorporated in the evaluation process. Otherwise, employees may feel
that all the relevant job factors—based on which their pay has been determined—
have not been evaluated properly
16. Quantitative Methods
Factor Comparison Method: under this method the relative worth of a particular
job will be assessed on the basis of 5 factors
1. Working conditions
2. Physical requirements
3. mental requirements
4. Skill requirements
5. Responsibilities
17. Point Method: Under this method some core elements or factors will be
identified. They are
Skills
Efforts ,
Responsibilities
Working condition.
Weightage will be given to those factors separately.
18. Advantages of Points System:
(a) It is more systematic and objective than other systems.
(b) It provides numerical basis for job classification and wage differentials.
(c) Bias/favoritism minimized.
(d) A large number of jobs can be evaluated and the jobs can be placed in distinct categories.
(e) Once the factors, sub factors and points are developed, they can be used for a long time.
(f) Acceptance is better than other systems.
Limitations:
(a) It is time-consuming and expensive process.
(b) Employees find it difficult to understand the working of this method.
19. Non-Quantitative
Comparison/Ranking Methods:
As per this method, jobs are arranged from highest to lowest, in order of their values or
merit to the organization.
Jobs can also be arranged according to the relative difficulty in performing them.
The job at the top has the highest value and job at the lowest has the lowest value.
Jobs are arranged in each department and then department ranking are combined to
develop an organization ranking.
20. Advantages of Ranking System:
The system is simple, easy to understand and easy to explain to the employees.
It require less time, less work and is less expensive.
Disadvantages:
There is no defined criteria for rating the jobs and the rating is based on
judgement of the raters.
The rating may be influenced by bias/favouritism.
The systems only ranks the jobs and does not indicate the exact differences
between one job and the other.
21. Job Classification or Grading Method:
Under this method, yardstick is provided in the form of job classes or grades.
The committee goes through the job description of each job and assigns it a particular
grade.
There are different rates of wages for different grades of jobs. The jobs may be graded
as skilled, unskilled, routine, administrative, etc.
22. Decision Band Method (DBM)
The Decision Band method (DBM) of job evaluation bases itself on the premise that the value of a
job to an organization depends on the level of responsibility, which is in turn manifests as the extent
of decision making involved in the job.
It assumes that since all jobs require incumbents to make decisions, decision-making is a logical
and equitable basis to compare jobs.
23. The methodology involves a three step process of allocating jobs into bands, grading jobs within a
band into two, and then assigning sub grades to each grade, all based on the nature of extend of
decisions taken as part of the job.
1. Banding
2. Grading
3. Sub- Grading
24. Banding
DBM initially classifies all jobs or positions in an enterprise into six broad bands, based on the level
of responsibility the job holds within the organization.
25. Grading
The second step in Decision Band Job Evaluation is classifying jobs within bands according to the
difficulty and effort involved in the supervisory responsibilities of such jobs.
Coordinating jobs where the incumbent supervise or monitor the work of another employee in the
same band enjoy a higher grade within the band, compared to jobs that do not supervise or monitor
the work of others in the same band.
For example, an extremely skilled IT programmer in Band B may concentrate on developing codes,
without any supervisory roles. Another employee in band B, even though not as competent as the
skilled programmer when it comes to coding skills may nevertheless have a higher grade because
of being the team leader who supervise other employees
26. As a rule of thumb, each lower grade has three sub grades and each upper or higher responsibility
grade has two sub grades. There is however, no set or fixed number of sub-grades, and
organizational requirements decide the optimal number.
27. Sub-Grading
Sub-grading involves assessing the relative difficulty, complexity, and skills required of the
job in comparison to the other jobs within the same Band and Grade.
The factors used to measure such concepts include
Extent of knowledge required to complete tasks
Hard skills required for completing job tasks
Soft skills such as communication skills and customer service skills required for
completing job tasks
28. The extent of time pressure the job involves
Mental effort required such as alertness and concentration
Extent of physical activity required for the job
Need for care and precision in the job
Working conditions
29. Advantages of Job Evaluation
• Reduction in inequalities in salary structure - It is found that people and their motivation is dependent
upon how well they are being paid. Therefore the main objective of job evaluation is to have external and
internal consistency in salary structure so that inequalities in salaries are reduced.
• Specialization - Because of division of labour and thereby specialization, a large number of enterprises have
got hundred jobs and many employees to perform them. Therefore, an attempt should be made to define a job
and thereby fix salaries for it. This is possible only through job evaluation.
• Helps in selection of employees - The job evaluation information can be helpful at the time of selection of
candidates. The factors that are determined for job evaluation can be taken into account while selecting the
employees.
• Harmonious relationship between employees and manager - Through job evaluation, harmonious and
congenial relations can be maintained between employees and management, so that all kinds of salaries
controversies can be minimized.
• Standardization - The process of determining the salary differentials for different jobs become standardized
through job evaluation. This helps in bringing uniformity into salary structure.
• Relevance of new jobs - Through job evaluation, one can understand the relative value of new jobs in a
concern.
30. Limitations of Job Evaluation
Job evaluation is not without limitations. The main limitations are as follows:
1. Job evaluation is not exactly scientific. It lacks scientific precision because all factors
cannot be measured accurately.
2. Most of the techniques are difficult to understand, even for the supervisors.
3. The factors taken by the program are not exhaustive.
4. There may be wide fluctuations in compensable factors given changes in technology,
values, and aspirations of employers, etc.
5. Employees, trade union leaders, management, and the program operators may assign
different weights to different factors, thus creating grounds for dispute.
6. The trade unions regard job evaluation with suspicion because it is made on certain
principles, and the results are generally ignored. Some of the methods of job
evaluation are not easily understood by workers. Workers fear that job evaluation will
do away with collective bargaining.
7. A job evaluation scheme takes a long time to install. It requires specialized personnel,
and it is costly.
31. Conclusion
To summarize, Job evaluation is associated with a process of establishing worth of
different jobs. Job evaluation offers a basis for ranking or grading different jobs and
developing a pay structure for them. It is the process of explaining the duties, authority
relationships, skills, condition of work and other relevant information related to jobs. It
provides valuable data and information to develop job description and specification
documents. Job evaluation is a significant task of human resource manager which is done
in order to determine the value or worth of each job within the organization.