Exploring Grading Systems and Competency-Based Approaches in HR

Hi all,

I wanted some information on grading systems that are currently being used in traditional industries. Specifically, what other systems other than the Hay system are predominantly in use? Are there any grading systems based on competencies?

How can an organization build and maintain a competency-based grading system?

Regards,
Shaila

Dear Shaila,

First, prepare the J.D.'s & Job specifications for all posts, then assign the marking for the skills you require in that position. For example:

Position: Manager
Accountability: Department
Skills:
Computer - 50 out of 50 (Marks)
Communication Skills - 40 out of 50
Qualification: 90
Relevant Experience: 100
Etc.

Prepare the competencies required for each and assign marks to them accordingly. You will then get a grade structure with weightage for each position.

Hope this will help you.

Regards,
Nitin

Hi Nitin,

Can you further elaborate on the subject mentioned, or do you have some documentation in PDF or Word format for a clearer understanding? If yes, please post it.

Regards, Maneesh

The iPERFORM Job Evaluation System was developed taking into account the challenges with some existing job evaluation systems.

We have conducted 10 years of research to develop the iPERFORM system and some of our findings were:

• Most job evaluation systems were difficult to understand in terms of terminology.
• Most gave skewed grade outcomes and this impacted on pay and de-motivated employees.
• Most systems were outdated (some from the 60’s) and have never been enhanced to meet the challenges of the modern world of employment.
Most systems are very costly. Also, there is an over-reliance on the consulting companies to provide costly ongoing consulting.
• In South Africa, it has taken one sector over 12 years to implement a job evaluation system.
The iPERFORM Job Evaluation System is a modern and computerized system that can be used in any industry/ organization/ local government and public sector institutions. The method is simple and easy to understand and implement, and is cost effective. The advantages of using this system are:
• It does not take a fragmented approach to organizational development. It has seven sub-systems that are all inter-linked. This means that a job evaluation can only be undertaken if the Job Descriptions are of a high quality and that they are aligned to the Organizational Structure.
• It is competency based and has 5 broad bands.
• It has fewer job grades as compared (20) to other systems and it flattens Organizational Structures and reduces skill gaps on the organizational structure.
• It attempts to create skills flexibility and career paths.
• It achieves greater workforce mobility.
• It is inter-linked to Performance Management and Performance Based Pay which forms part of the iPERFORM Package.
• It is cheap (60% - 80% cheaper than the price of current systems).
• Takes a maximum of 15 minutes to evaluate a job. We took newly qualified HR Graduates and asked them to evaluate our job descriptions using our JE System. The accuracy rate for each outcomes was above 95%.
• Has a computerized formula to calculate salary scales for each job grade.

The iPERFORM Job Evaluation System uses competency based job factors which are considered to be common to all jobs and are clearly defined. There are five Competency levels with the following common factors:
• Qualifications and Experience
• Physical/ Mental Effort
• Decision Making
• Communication
• Key Performance Areas/ Competencies
The system provides a higher level of objectivity and validity and ensures that job descriptions are written of the highest quality to ensure that all the factors are adequately covered.
The system does not rely on comprehensive salary surveys. The system is linked to its own unique formulae in developing in-house salary scales and performance based pay.
view our website www.iperform.org.za or contact us info@iperform.org.za for more information