JOB EVALUATION AND ITS TWO COMMON METHODS

Christian Bernard M. Vinuya

Job evaluation is the process of analyzing and assessing various jobs systematically to ascertain their relative worth in an organization. Its objective is to determine the relative worth of each job for the purpose of wage and salary differentials. Relative worth is determined mainly on the basis of job description and job specification. Job evaluation helps to determine which job gets paid higher or lower through the establishment of salary grades. This principle believes that employees need to be compensated depending on the grades of jobs they perform and that remuneration must be based on the relative worth of each job. Ignoring these principles may result in ill effects on employees’ morale.

The following are some methods commonly used by companies or organizations as a means of job evaluation. The first one is the Ranking Method which ranks jobs in order based on each job’s perceived value. The Department of Education (DepEd) uses the similar method following DepEd Orders no. 7, s. 2015 and no. 36, s. 2014 wherein the salary grades of each personnel of the department is clustered. The next method of job evaluation is Classification Method wherein generic job characteristics are grouped to reflect levels of skills or responsibilities at a number of predetermined grade classifications. However, this method can be challenged because one size does not fit all jobs.

The Ranking Methods

The simplest method of job evaluation is the ranking method. According to this method, jobs are arranged from highest to lowest, in order of their value or merit to the organization. In some companies, jobs can also be arranged according to the relative difficulty in performing them. The job at the top of the list has the highest value and on the bottom have the lowest value. The variation in payment of salaries depends on the variation of the nature of the job performed by the employees. The ranking method is most suitable for small organization. This may be simple to understand but is highly subjective in nature and may offend some employees.

Position Classification or Grade Description Method

According to this method, a predetermined number of job groups or job classes are established and jobs are assigned to these classifications. This method places groups of jobs into job classes or job grades. Separate classes may include clerical, managerial, teaching, non-teaching, etc. This method is less subjective compared to ranking method. This system is very easy to understand and acceptable to almost all employees because it takes into account all the factors that a job comprises. However, there are some disadvantages for this method such as the difficulty to write all-inclusive descriptions of a grade and neglect of sharp differences between jobs.

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The author is Personnel Section at Department of Education, Regional Office

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