Simplest Method for a Job Evaluation

Grouping by job sets such as executives, clerical, technical and other groups, simplifies the ranking process in large organizations.

Companies perform job evaluations to establish a basis for pay structures as well as to help with the hiring process and career counseling. In his book, "The Job Evaluation Handbook," Michael Armstrong states that ranking is the simplest and most feasible method of administering a job evaluation. The ranking method compares the worth of various jobs within the organization. It takes into consideration skill, physical effort, mental effort, supervisory responsibility, fiscal responsibility and working conditions, among other areas.

Ranking Method Process

Experts of various jobs form a committee within an organization to evaluate job content and job descriptions and rank the jobs in order of importance to the organization. Committee members rank the jobs based on their own perceptions. There are no standard guidelines for the decision. For example, the committee may assign more value to jobs with the need for management or technical skills or decision-making skills and less value to an assembly worker.

Ranking Method Disadvantages

The ranking method is simple and effective when there are fewer than 30 jobs to be evaluated, otherwise it can be difficult to administer. The method is inefficient in that there is no standard for comparison. Each time a new job is added to the organization the ranking process needs to be repeated to compare existing jobs with the new job to determine its rank.

Ranking Method Job Sets

With a small organization, all jobs can be ranked at once. But with a large organization, to simplify the process it is necessary to divide jobs into sets based on job levels such as clerical, management, executive, technical and other categories. The worthiness of each job is then ranked within each group.

Variation to Ranking Method

Paired comparison is a variation of the ranking method. In the paired comparison, the most and least valued jobs are identified first, then followed by the next most and least valued until all jobs are evaluated. Slotting is another variation of the ranking method in which new jobs are compared to existing jobs and slotted into the hierarchy at the appropriate level.

References

• HR Guide to the Internet: Job Evaluation: Methods: Ranking
• Microsoft Office: Conduct a Job Evaluation
• HR.com: Understanding Job Evaluation

Resources

• "The WorldatWork Handbook of Compensation, Benefits & Total Rewards"; John Wiley and Sons; 2007
• "Compensation Guide"; Onestep; 2008
• "The Job Evaluation Handbook"; Michael Armstrong, et al.; 1995