Why Should Employers regularly review & update their Job Evaluation Systems?

When done well, job evaluation (JE) can attract and retain top talent, maintain workplace harmony, and avoid damaging legal battles. Yet, as meaningful job evaluation is rooted in up-to-the-minute data, it’s far from a one-off project. An organization’s system needs to be reviewed and updated regularly to reflect changes in the workforce, keep pace with external changes and take into account ever-shifting market rates.

Internal Changes

An organization’s JE needs to accurately reflect the present reality of its staff whilst also anticipating future strategy and evolution. So, significant adjustments in your staff structure or company culture? It might be time for a JE system review.

This could include introducing new roles, implementing a round of redundancies or merging or splitting certain departments. Any such changes will inevitably affect internal relatives in an organization, as well as individual job descriptions. 

Equally, a JE system also needs to reflect any changes in job scope. If new job functions start to creep into a role, or perhaps technology makes a certain function obsolete, these need to be taken into account too. 

External Changes

Industries are dynamic and, in 2023, they’re evolving rapidly. Job roles may undergo changes due to technological advancements, market shifts or regulatory changes.

Equally, there can be shifts in the skills or education needed for a certain role. As skill requirements evolve, JE systems should adapt to reflect the values and competencies associated with each role.

Laws and regulations related to job evaluations, pay equity and non-discrimination can also change. To stay nimble and compliant, employers need to make sure that their JE system keeps pace with all the latest legal requirements. 

Job-Grading-Software

Benchmarking

Although a JE system is designed to establish internal relativities, it should be regularly benchmarked against market rates if it’s being used as a foundation for compensation planning. This ensures that employees are receiving fair, competitive pay. 

When market rates surge, it becomes vital for employers to ensure their compensation packages remain competitive. A JE system that takes market rate fluctuations into account will ultimately allow organizations to adjust salary structure and attract and retain the best talent.

Fixing Discrepancies

Finally, it’s essential that JE systems are updated as soon as any discrepancies or concerning trends are spotted within the workforce. This could be based on gender or other factors such as race, disability or age. 

As an organization's JE system is often the foundation of their pay structure, any JE discrepancies could have huge ramifications in terms of pay equity. Let them linger? Your organization could find itself in court fighting a costly legal battle. 

Job Evaluation Best Practices

You might have heard that a job evaluation system should be updated every 2-3 years. But honestly? In order to maintain a relevant, effective JE system, it should be reviewed annually or in the case of significant structural or job scope change. 

Any resulting  JE adjustments should be communicated clearly to employees. This is because a change in the JE system could translate into a change in pay. So, it’s best practice to foster transparency and be ready to objectively explain why JE changes have taken place. 

Making Job Evaluation Simple With gradar

The truth is, expecting your HR departments to regularly review and update your JE system themselves can be seriously complex and time-consuming. On the flip side, regularly engaging specialist consultants and proprietary systems is often a huge expense. So, what’s the solution?

Enter gradar. We’ve created an accessible, affordable and transparent job evaluation system for all businesses. HR departments and smaller organizations alike can tap into the power of objective, effective JE that can easily be reviewed on a regular basis.

Considering wider factors such as professional knowledge, specific responsibilities and interpersonal skills, gradar offers a deeply analytical and highly objective approach to job evaluation.

Our system not only determines the internal relativities in an organization using a point factor based approach, but it offers progressive features such as pay gap analysis and the ability to translate results into job codes from multiple salary surveys, aligning with labor agreements.If it sounds like gradar could help your business, get in touch with our team today.