Performing Job Evaluations & Grading Exercise in Uganda

Job evaluation is the process of comparing a job against other jobs within the organization to determine the appropriate pay rate. Your organization needs to know the relative value of different jobs to create a pay structure that is fair, equitable, and consistent for everyone.

A job evaluation is mainly done to establish a rational, consistent job structure based on value to the organization in terms of each job’s complexity and importance.it also helps the HR department in establishing competitive pay rates and structures.

You may have discovered that the salaries of your organization don’t seem to match with market rates. The findings of a salary survey can only be implemented if you have conducted an effective job Analysis and Evaluation exercise to establish the real worth of jobs within its organizational structure so that they can be aligned to the findings of the said Salaries and Benefits Survey.

This process can take weeks or several months. At Houston Executive Consulting, it is usually completed by a team of knowledgeable senior consultants. They work with employees who understand the functions of most of the organization’s jobs. To maintain objectivity, many employers sometimes hire us to complete this step in compensation planning and design.

Purpose of Job Evaluation & Grading Exercise

To align your people to deliver the business strategy, and measure the value of work and how it links to business performance, your organization needs a job evaluation and job grading exercise. The job evaluation and grading exercise will:

• Review and update the current role descriptions in your organization and recommend new competencies and skills to support the strategy.
• Determine the size /weight of each role in relation to all others in your organization and hence come up with a clear recommended workload for the jobs – workload analysis.
• Undertake a comprehensive Job Evaluation of your organization’s jobs to ensure alignment of remuneration, functions, and grade levels, taking into account the basic concept of equal pay for an equal value of work.
• Link the outcome of the job evaluation and the salary and benefits survey (if any) to come up with specific recommendations for the salary structure

Job Evaluation Exercise Allows an Organization to Make Well-Informed Decisions in Key Areas Including;

• A rational basis for making defensible decisions on job grades
• A consistent approach for the determination and management of relativities between jobs
• The relationship between this exercise and the achievement of the strategy
• An equitable pay structure across your organization based on a logical method of measuring relative job sizes that exists
• A logical and consistent approach to measuring the relative size of jobs within your organization

Scope the Exercise

The process of job evaluation involves comparing a job against other jobs within the organization to determine the appropriate pay rate mainly exploring:

• Internal job evaluation methods.
• External job evaluation methods.
• Conducting job evaluations.
• Auditing and maintaining job evaluations, including legal considerations.

It is on this basis that the recommended salaries and benefits structure will be implemented. We use primary methods of job evaluations to set compensation levels including, point factor, factor comparison, job ranking, and job classification.

In the earlier years, job evaluations were internal comparisons of job worth. However, in recent years we have begun to use a combination of internal comparisons and external market benchmarking.

Objectives of Performing Job Evaluations

• To set base pay rates that are Internally equitable
• To establish base pay rates that are Externally competitive
• To set base pay rates that are Affordable and cost-effective
• To put in place base pay rates that are Legal and defensible
• To establish base pay rates that are easy to understand
• To set a pay structure that is appropriate for the organization.
• To undertake a complete review and evaluation of all your organization positions and determine their relationship to each other, and to ensure alignment of the structures and functions
• Do ranking of jobs and functions within your organization structure
• Make recommendations to Management to facilitate effective implementation of the outputs of the job evaluation exercise
• Link job evaluation results to any Salary and Benefits Survey you may be having.

Key Tasks of Performing a Job Evaluation

• We carry out a relevant literature review related to this assignment and consult additional literature and best practices in relation to this exercise
• We develop and share with your organization management an inception report for this assignment
• Hold meetings with your organization – executive director, directors, managers, and your organization branches & some recommended your organization governance bodies. This may require travel to some of your organization’s branches upcountry.
• Train your organization management team on aspects of job analysis and job evaluation
• Professionally collect and analyze information on jobs and prepare evaluation reports – both draft and final.
• Develop with justification a revised salaries & benefits structure for your organization in relation to the job evaluation exercise vis-à-vis the existing report of the salary and benefits survey report.
• Review the current structure and recommend a structure that will achieve the goals of the strategy
• Recommend the required numbers for each function/role

Our Qualification, Experience, and Attributes

The lead Consultant has a Ph.D. in Management Supported by Experts with a Master’s Degree in Human Resources Management Organisation / Industrial Psychology or Master of Business Administration with bias in Human Resources Management. Our lead Consultants have more than 20 years of workplace and management consulting experience in senior positions in reputable organizations.

Our consultants have done many similar assignments with the necessary experience in human resource management and organizational development (OD) theory, methodology, and practices. They already possess analytical skills, and the ability to understand and make logical and clear conclusions and recommendations.

Reasons Why You Should Hire Us Conduct Your Job Evaluation

We Understand the Process

Some of the job evaluation methods are subjective. Your own decision and that of your colleagues about which jobs are worth more can be personal and emotional. If HR officers know the job officeholders, they may consider employees’ personal qualities as job factors. Houston Executive Consulting can help the team have productive and objective discussions about job factors and their realistic relative weights.

Independently Reasonable

Compensation can be a highly emotional topic that may initiate resistance to change and increase emotional turmoil. The organization and employees must view base pay rates as Internally equitable, reflect the market rates, legally sound, clear, and appropriate for all staff. This can only be achieved when the process is considered free from bias. That’s why we are here to help you.

At Houston Executive Consulting, we can conduct a job evaluation as a systematic way of determining the value/worth of a job in relation to other jobs in an organization. Your organizations need to make a systematic comparison between jobs to assess their relative worth to establish a rational pay structure.

Establish a compensation scheme that is competitive and equitable and that promotes employee engagement and high performance!