Job Evaluation: Interview With an HR Assistant Report

On November 20, 2010, I spoke with Ms. Clair Reeds, the human resources assistant in charge of employee relations at MeDa Inc. The purpose of our meeting was to gather information on job evaluation within their organization. Ms. Reeds began by explaining to me the purpose of carrying out a job evaluation. She stated that job evaluation is principally done for the purpose of clarifying roles and responsibilities attached to specific positions and defining the cross-cutting relations between various positions. Ms. Reeds also pointed out that job evaluation is performed to provide general guidelines in structuring the compensation scheme vis-à-vis the value attached to each job. She confirmed that the job evaluation method used in her organization is ranking. This method, she explained, was sufficient for their organization’s need, because of its simplicity in administration since their organization is medium in terms of the size of its workforce.

Ranking as a method of job evaluation involves “ranking” positions according to their importance in relation to others. In speaking with Ms. Reed, I learned that MeDa Inc. has incorporated Moslaw’s needs hierarchy to inform the organization’s decision in evaluating the positions. By so doing, the most desired and worthy position within the organization is ranked highest while the least important lowest (Goble, 1970).

MeDa Inc. uses a number of factors to determine the level of importance or worth of a job, Ms. Reeds enumerated them as follow:

1. responsibility attached to the position, which included but was not limited to, accountability, decision making authority and degree of supervision required
2. level of skills required to handle the job, which encompasses, knowledge and qualifications, and competency in handling complex tasks
3. Metal and physical effort required to undertake the duties of the job
4. the general working condition of the job
5. the degree of difficulty in performing the job

Ms. Reeds also reported that in her organization ranking is carried out first within each department. The information gathered from each department is then collated and integrated to form the organization’s ranking. Even though this method has proved to be effective for MeDa Inc., Ms. Reeds intimated that it has its shortcomings. First, the biggest setback is the difficulty experienced when determining the correct rank whenever a new job position arises within the organization. Secondly, she pointed out that, majority of employees regarded this method as being too subjective. However, she was quick to explain that job evaluation was about position and not individual. Therefore, the employees complaining of this method being subjective was unfounded.

When carrying out job evaluation organizations seek to achieve a number of things. MeDa Inc. according to Ms. Reeds performs Job evaluation to achieve the following:

1. determination of structure for remuneration and grading of employees
2. rationalization of the pay system within and between various departments
3. evaluation of benefits provisions for each job
4. rationalization of pay with respect to other similar organizations
5. restructuring of the organization in times of change

MeDa Inc. hires an independent compensation and benefits specialist to carry out job evaluations whenever the need arises. However, Ms. Reeds indicated that the Employees’ Relations Manager in the human resources department does regular appraisals.

Reference

Goble, F. G. (1970). The third force: The psychology of Abraham Maslow. New York: Grossman