When Employees Compare Each Other..what To Do !!!???

Dear Seniors,
There are two major profiles in my organization.
1. Research Analyst (for Post graduate people)
2. Research Associate (for graduates)
When some Associates perform better than other associates we move them to some of the work which is related to Analyst.
Now at the time of appraisal, some Associates have asked that their salaries should be at par with Analysts as they are doing similar work.
But in fact the associates have lesser competancy and analytical skills than Analysts.
It has become pretty diffucult to convince them that their work is not as technical and difficult than that of Analysts.
Please assist us in finding a solution to such a problem. As their expectations are high and not matching with the work they are doing.
Regards,
Gunjan

You can create one salary grade range of minimum - mid and maximum as range to explain that growth chart by same nature of job but different level of experience and expertise to differentiate between the positions.
badlu

Hi! Gunjan,
Baldlu is right I agree with him or else you can ask them (Associate) to perform the same and complete job of the analyst if the stand up to your expectations then you can give them that salary what the expect fulfiling all eligibity by qualification or you can do same what Badlu suggested.

I totally convinced with Mr. Badlu.
In addition to that you can have list of key result areas and ask each and every employee to rank themselves on a scale of 0 to 10 and justify the same. You can have performance review one to one meeting, consider this as one of the area where one can prove their ability (like in an interview). And most important part is immediate boss's ranks on different KRAs. I feel by following this procedure you can control your problem.
Harry

Hi Gunjan,
You can create a new designation which is between the analyst and the associate position and the KRA of that position can include a part of both the job responsibilities and then you can upgrade your resource by providing some trainings which can make them come at par with the analysts.
Thanks!!
Dhoop

Dear Dhoop, BadLu, Harry and Maria,
Thanks a lot for guiding me.
In my organization every employee is assigned multiple tasks as per his competancy.
Now, at the time of appraisal, he compares his performance with the guy who has been doing other work + one/two of the similar tasks as he is doing. The problem comes there.
We are working on it and if any one of u comes with any more ideas then do revert.
Making a designation in between sounds good!
Regards
Gunjan