Job Evaluation: Arresting (the) Grade Creep

One of my clients, a compensation professional in a large service organization, is struggling mightily in the face of a constant stream of requests for job re-evaluations and upgrades.  It can difficult to spend time on the pay initiatives that will truly add value to the organization when you are forced to play Pay Equity Cop, defending against the never-ending creep of salary grades and salaries. 

The reasons for the re-evaluation requests vary, some quite legitimate and others less so.  Is the functional area in question truly changing or growing in scope, requiring different roles and responsibilities to accomplish the key charges?  Or is it a case of a new manager trying to curry favor with her/his subordinates by getting all their job grades raised?  It often takes quite a bit of probing to learn the true reason behind a request.

From a micro-level, I have suggested that some of my clients introduce a brief questionnaire into the process, asking that the requesting managers provide some information and detail as to the nature and history of the situation.  Specifically, I suggest questions like the following:

• Has the job in question gained additional job responsibilities since it was last evaluated?  If yes, please describe these additional responsibilities in the space provided.  Include information on where and by what job these responsibilities were performed before being added to this job.
• Have any of the responsibilities for the job in question been re-assigned since it was last evaluated?  If yes, please note the re-assigned job responsibilities in the space provided and include information on where and by what job these responsibilities are now being performed.
• Has there been any change in the education, experience and skills required to perform this job since it was last evaluated?  If yes, please describe the changed requirements in the space provided, and note the reason behind the change in qualifications.

On a macro level, a never ceasing stream of requests for job re-evaluation and upgrade can be symptomatic of a wide range of underlying problems - anything from a spike in the labor market in a particular discipline which is rippling through the organization to a lack of managerial discipline and accountability around pay.  Ultimately it is in the best interest of the compensation professional to try and get to the real root of the problem, and see what can be done to address the underlying issue.

Comments

[Frank Giancola]

Your list of questions of management is excellent to put the situation in perspective. Many organizations just accept the upgrade request blindly and jump into the analysis.

Your suggestion that the root of the request be known is wise, since major changes in a position are often not the real reason. Here are some "root" causes that I have experienced.

I have found that many times that the affected employee is considering a move to another part of the organization or that his/her management knows of potential new openings that it is anticipated the employee will be interested in, so an effort is made to promote them in their current job to prevent losing them.

As you have sugested, a similar situation occurs when positions have non-competitive salaries with the outside labor market, and management is concerned that people will leave. This can occur without a change in duties, but management knows of no other way to get a pay increase than to make a case that the job has changed. In these situations, an "economic" adjustment is more appropriate but the organization may be held back because they have no precedent for such increases.

Another common reason for being swamped with upgrade requests is that the employer has not established job familiies with an established progression of promotions, so that each time there is significant growth in responsibilities and duites, a special upgrade request is necessary.

[Peggy Andrews]

Ann -

Great encouragement for comp and HR folks to think about the underlying causes for questions about pay rather than just playing the role of Cop.

One other thing I would encourage Comp/HR professionals to do is to take the time to educate employees on why they are paid the way they are. It doesn't do employees any favors to allow them to get into a salary situation that is out of line with the market. It inflates their own sense of their skills and labor market value and could set them up for a fall later. Some folks may get irritated with you when you try to offer this kind of coaching/encouragement, but the savvy worker wants to know this information. See more here: http://careerencouragement.typepad.com/the_career_encouragement_/2006/09/job_search_rule.html

Happy Tuesday!
Peggy