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A Measure of Value
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In the American workplace, the early years of the 20th Century were a time of revolutionary change. This was an era of the assembly line. Over a period of years, it fundamentally altered the way work was perceived and performed. Jobs became more mechanized, more routine, more narrowly defined. They often involved just a single function and they varied little from one organization to the next. |
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Today, we are in the midst of another revolutions. Again it is driven by a technological breakthrough–this time, the microprocessor. And, again, we are witnessing change in the way work is performed–change every bit as sweeping and far more rapid. In this decade positions have become more complex, more varied. They often have multiple functions requiring more specialized skills and greater versatility.
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And because they are more often shaped to meet the needs of a specific industry or process, jobs are increasingly unique and different from each other. One result is that they have also become far more difficult to define and compare, especially for the purpose of determining pay. And yet, if compensation scales are to be equitable, this is something employers must do. They must have a system which enables them to describe each job accurately and measure its relative value to the organization. This method used by over 150,000 employers in this country is the National Position Evaluation Plan. The following explains how it works and how it best serves the best interests of both the employee and the organization. |
Evaluating jobs, not people, is the basis of the National Position Evaluation Plan.
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The purpose of this plan is to measure jobs in terms of the SKILL, EFFORT, RESPONSIBILITY, AND JOB CONDITIONS the job normally involves. The plan does NOT judge anyone individually it does NOT rate anyone’s ability to perform a job. In fact, the plan does not measure people at all; it measures jobs and only jobs! It does this by evaluating each job according to a set of factors validly suited to each particular segment of jobs. There are four units of the plan so that all jobs, from top to bottom in the organization, can be evaluated with a relative result. |
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The plan has been validated in several scientific studies. Organizations using the plan usually point to three main advantages.
First, because it is applied in exactly the same way to all jobs, regardless of their nature or importance, the plan is
EQUITABLE.
Second, since the plan is based on a system developed and implemented by people from outside of the organization, it is
OBJECTIVE.
And, third, because it focuses only on the work a job involves and not the person performing the work, the plan is completely
NON-DISCRIMINATORY.
The plan allows no favoritism, no bias.
Generally, the plan has five steps. In the first, positions are ANALYZED, studied to gather information about their duties and responsibilities.
The data is then detailed in a written JOB DESCRIPTION.
Using the description, jobs are EVALUATED. This involves measuring them according to eleven key factors and converting that measurement into a numerical point total for each job. These totals become the basis for CLASSIFYING positions on a scale of levels or job grades.
Finally, PAY RANGES are developed for each grade, making sure they are balanced in comparison to each other and those paid elsewhere in your region or industry.
ANALYSIS, DESCRIPTION, EVALUATION, CLASSIFICATION AND PAY DETERMINATION. Those are the steps in the plan. Let's look more closely at each.
POSITION ANALYSIS:
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Here, detailed information is gathered about a job's duties and responsibilities. It's all done by an experienced professional analyst from outside the organization, who obtains facts through direct observation, questionnaire and interviews with supervisors and managers. With this raw data, the analyst begins the plan's second step, preparation of a written description of each job. |
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POSITION DESCRIPTION: The description serves to organize the information, giving a clear and accurate statement of what the position's duties are and what their normal performance requires. |
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POSITION EVALUATION:
After the job is described, the analyst measures the job according to eleven factors that gauge the skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions involved. Each factor is subdivided into degrees. They allow the position analyst to measure the extent of which a given factor applies to each job.
POSITION CLASSIFICATION:
Classification consists of assigning each job to a grade. The process is simple. Once degrees and corresponding point values have been established for all factors, the points are added. Their total places the position in a pre-determined grade. Each grade has a specific spread of points.
PAY DETERMINATION:
Now comes the final step; the determination of pay ranges for each grade of work. As a part of the plan your organization's pay policies and compensation levels prevailing in your industry and within an appropriate geographic labor market are reviewed. Then, for all grades, pay ranges are established which are consistent with regional norms. It is within these ranges that each individual's pay will fall
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While the plan's eleven factors apply to every job, they are not equally important. To account for this, they are weighted by means of a point system which assigns higher point values to degrees of the more important factors, and lowers values to those of less importance.
Unit I of the plan is designed to evaluate manufacturing, maintenance, distribution, warehousing and service jobs. Since experience is the most important factor in these jobs, its degrees have the highest point value–22 each. The value of the other skill factors is indicated by assigning each of their degrees 14 points. Together, the skill factors typically represent 50% of a job's total point score.
Degrees for the other factors are weighted according to their importance as well.
The factors used in evaluating Unit I jobs are listed here.
Factors (opens in a new window)
A separate set of factors are used to evaluate both exempt and nonexempt jobs involving work of clerical, technical, supervisory, managerial, administrative, professional, service or sales nature.
This is the function of the National Position Evaluation Plan. And it is what employers expect to accomplish when they ask HARRINGTON & ASSOCIATES to implement the plan.
Through structured, objective implementation of the plan, employers can make certain that the evaluation of all positions is objective and nondiscriminatory.
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The plan, as implemented by HARRINGTON & ASSOCIATES, can help the organization establish pay ranges that are fair in comparison to each other and to other organizations. And, above all, we can help assure the organization's ability to effectively attract, retain and motivate qualified employees and to ensure that each employee's paycheck gives proper recognition for the work he or she accomplishes. |
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