Job Evaluation Manual: Specialized Racing Products

Table of Contents

Sub Factor 1 - Education 2

Sub Factor 2 - Experience 2

Sub Factor 3 - Communication Skills - Verbal 3

Sub Factor 4 - Volume of work 3

Sub Factor 5 - Importance of Accuracy 3

Sub Factor 6 - Accountability 4

Sub Factor 7 - Exposure to accident: Hazard. 4

Sub Factor 9 - Physical Activity 5

Market Fit 10
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Compensation Costs and Adjustments 10

Establishing Pay Grades and Pay Ranges: Equal Percentage Approach 11

Strengths and Weaknesses 11

Factor Determination
We have prepared a job evaluation manual for the company Specialized Racing Products.
Below is a list of factors and their descriptions including education, experience, communication,
work volume, accuracy, accountability, exposure to hazards, time pressure, and physical activity.
Each factor has been given a degree depending on the level of importance, and then weighted
through a job evaluation system.

Sub Factor 1 - Education

Education refers to the general nature or results of specialized/vocational training. The

following degrees measure an individual’s education in the context of what is necessary to
perform the job duties in a satisfactory manner. The academic achievement of an individual is
not being rated. Please rate the education factor before rating the Experience factor. Please also
note that trades apprenticeships consist of both an educational and experiential aspect which
should be considered separately.
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Degree One Grade 12 graduation or equivalent

Degree Two Grade 12 equivalent plus an additional

program

Degree Three Completion of an undergrad degree

Degree Four Completion of a Graduate/Masters

Sub Factor 2 - Experience

Experience is the participation in an activity related to the job previously. It provides the
opportunity to acquire the general skills, training, knowledge, and work habits that are necessary
to succeed in an organization. Experience can be earned from school, co-ops, internships, and
past job experiences.

Degree One 0-1 years of related experience

Degree Two 1-3 years of related experience

Degree Three 3+ years of related experience

Sub Factor 3 - Communication Skills - Verbal

Communication Skills is the ability that allows you to give and receive different types of
information depending on the method of communication. The verbal aspect of communication
skills is the ability to speak clearly, effectively, and understand what is being said. Important
skills and knowledge to have in regards to communication is being able to speak appropriately
with a wide variety of people, whilst maintaining eye contact, and tailored language to your
audience.

Degree One Low Interpersonal Communication (employee

to employee communication)

Degree Two Medium Interpersonal Communication

(mainly internal communication with some
external communication)

Degree Three High Interpersonal Communication (variety of

communication dealing with both employees,
and customers regularly)
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Sub Factor 4 - Volume of work

Volume of work is the demand for an employee to produce work outputs. It involves the
employees' use of time and overall productivity levels. Volume of work is measured by the
amount of production an employee outputs. It is limited by the quality and competency of work
done.

Degree One Low demand for high volumes of work.

Degree Two Demand for moderate levels of work volume.

Degree Three High demand for large amounts of work

volume.

Sub Factor 5 - Importance of Accuracy

Importance of accuracy is the measure of how critical it is to complete a task without

error. It is the degree to which an employee's work is accurate, detailed and competent. It is
measured by the amount to which the organization will be affected by a lack of accuracy, as well
as how easy the error is to correct before the public is able to see it.

Degree One Errors are easily corrected and easy to find.

Degree Two Errors are moderately difficult to resolve and

somewhat easily resolved.

Degree Three Errors are difficult to detect and strenuous to

resolve.

Sub Factor 6 - Accountability

Accountability is setting and upholding expectations that are related to an individual’s job
title. It is often seen as personal responsibility for an individual's tasks. It entails meeting
deadlines as expected, fulfilling job duties, and ensuring the team is successful. Accountability is
measured in the degree of complexity, amount of deadlines and time commitment needed.
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Degree One Low Accountability

Degree Two Medium Accountability

Degree Three High Accountability

Sub Factor 7 - Exposure to accident: Hazard.

Hazard exposure is the “state of being in which a person or a group of people remain in
an imminent risk of danger” (NIOSH 2017). It is important to note that hazards are a different
entity from danger because the hazard is the object or phenomenon that created potential danger.
Degrees are separated by how often the job involves being exposed to this hazard, and how close
one has to work with it.

Degree One Minimal to no exposure to hazards

Degree Two Occasional exposure to hazards

Degree Three Constant exposure to hazards

Sub Factor 8 - Time Pressure

Time pressure is the importance of completing work in a timely manner. It is the degree
to which a job requires an employee to complete tasks while conforming to the constraints of
time-gated deadlines. Time pressure is measured in the degrees to which an individual
performing a job would be constrained by certain time-based obstacles or deadlines.

Degree One Tasks are not time sensitive

Degree Two Tasks have some degree of time sensitivity

Degree Three Tasks are all time sensitive

Sub Factor 9 - Physical Activity

Physical Activity refers to the physical fatigue experienced as a result of performing the
duties of the job. Contributing factors include the frequency of fatiguing tasks, being required to
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hold awkward or uncomfortable postures, and the requirement to lift, push or pull objects. The
degrees to measure physical activity are based upon the general “Weight” of the task, referring to
how exertive or fatiguing the task is, in combination with the time an employee is required to
perform said tasks for.

Degree One Little to no physical activity for short time

Degree Two Moderate activity for short time

Degree Three Intense activity for short-moderate time

Degree Four Intense activity for an extended time

Factor Weights
Below is a table listing each factor and their degrees. Points have been allocated to the
degrees of each factor to determine their level of importance. A total of 2,000 points was used.

Factors Total Degree Degree Degree Degree Points

Points One Two Three Four Allocated

1. Education 300 150 200 250 300

2. Experience 300 200 250 300 N/A

3. Communication 150 50 100 150 N/A

4. Work Volume 200 100 150 200 N/A

5. Accuracy 250 75 150 250 N/A

6. Accountability 150 50 100 150 N/A

7. Exposure to 250 50 150 250 N/A

Accident: Hazard
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8. Time Pressure 200 75 150 200 N/A

9. Physical Activity 200 50 100 150 200

Education

For specialized manufacturers such as SRP, a great deal of education is required for
certain positions. However, we needed to have a higher variety of degrees since certain job titles
do not require as much education. We decided to add four degrees with the first starting at 150 to
allow room for secretaries and sales representatives.

Work Experience

We felt that SRP should be placing a great deal of value in experience for their jobs such
as machinist, general manager and field sales representatives. While it was not as important to
have a high level of experience with inside sales, the minimum requirement to work in the other
positions is one year. Due to this, we have decided to place the lowest degree at 200 points, with
the increments increasing by 50 for each.

Communication

Communication was a skill we found to vary greatly in importance, but not nearly
demanded as much as other factors. This gave us another chance to increase weights
incrementally as the requirements move from spending 100% of one’s time in the back to
splitting to a field sales representative out speaking with potential customers every day.

Work Volume

Work volume for each of these positions was important for us because while most of
these jobs are working similar hours, there are jobs working overtime who deserve some extra
compensation, put in the second degree, and some jobs requiring large amounts of travel, which
would be more weighted towards the third degree. These weights feel well distributed as there is
not a large degree of variation in work volume, but what there is should be compensated for.

Accuracy

Accuracy is an important factor for SRP since designing specialized products for a
specific type of buyer requires a high need for precise work. If their product does not meet high
standards, their buyer may look for other businesses who design the same products. We decided
to assign a low value of 75 to degree one because inaccuracies in a sales pitch or an inside sales
mistake in data entry/stocking would be expected, while higher degrees look at drafters and
machinists for the accuracy of their work because of the precise nature required from racing
instruments.

Accountability
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Mistakes that can be damaging to the company is a liability that must be accounted for
when designing a job evaluation manual for a manufacturer. As such, we’ve decided to include
accountability as a factor in our job evaluation. Beginning with a very low score, as positions
such as the secretary specifically state that they will be given problems from the general manager
that will not greatly impact the company should they be performed incorrectly, we decided not to
put many points into this category because there are not many positions in which accountability
is emphasized.

Exposure to Accidents

Hazard pay is extremely important working in shop conditions. As stated in the machinist
working conditions, there are “significant safety risks from equipment and environment”
requiring “constant vigilance and care”. As such, we decided that there would be a jump of 50
from degree one to two, for those who spend little to no time in the shop to fall under degree one,
150 for degree two, symbolizing a more regular exposure to hazardous conditions, and then a
jump to 250 for those who spend most of their time being exposed to danger and displaying
constant vigilance.

Time Pressure

We felt that timeliness would be an important factor since SRP designs specialized
products for specific companies. We imagine that most of these products would need to be
completed within a certain deadline. Additionally, a good portion of the positions stated a
potential need for overtime during peak business seasons.

Physical Activity

In a store environment, there is a great deal of variance in the intensity of physical tasks required
of each job. We wanted to show this with a large, linear increase over a wide number of degrees.
Drafters and secretaries require very little physical activity, with sales reps doing slightly more,
carrying and lifting products. The general manager assists in repair and work but is not doing it
full time, therefore the load is higher while the duration is shorter. Finally, the machinists will be
doing heavy labor for a long time, making the compensation required much higher.

Application of the Job Evaluation System

The two tables below are the application of our job evaluation to determine a ranking of
each position. Each job title has been given a set of points depending on the factors necessary for
an applicant to hold the position. This application has been performed by two different
individuals to determine the accuracy of our system.

Job Description 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ranking Total Points

General 300 300 150 200 150 150 50 150 50 3rd 1500
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Manager

Drafter 250 300 100 200 250 150 50 200 50 2nd 1550

Field Sales 200 250 150 100 150 100 50 75 100 4th 1175
Representative

Inside Sales 150 200 150 100 150 100 50 75 100 5th 1075
Representative

Secretary 150 200 150 150 75 50 50 150 50 6th 1025

CNC Machinist 150 300 100 200 250 100 250 150 150 1st 1650

Job Description 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Ranking Total Points

General 300 300 150 150 250 150 150 200 100 1st 1750
Manager

Drafter 150 200 150 150 150 150 150 150 100 4th 1350

Field Sales 150 250 150 100 175 100 250 75 200 2nd 1450
Representative

Inside Sales 150 200 150 100 175 100 50 75 50 6th 1050
Representative

Secretary 150 250 150 100 150 100 50 150 50 5th 1150

CNC Machinist/ 200 250 100 200 150 100 150 75 200 3rd 1425
Operator

Testing the Job Evaluation System

There appears to be a concern for the reliability of the job evaluation system. As seen in
the tables above, one can see that between the two applications of the job evaluation system there
tends to be a disagreement between what are the most important roles within the company. This
is further backed up by the fact that none of the jobs received the same amount of total points
between the two applications. This comes from the result of ambiguous factor definitions,
inconsistent degree statements, and the job titles not being overly specific. Along with the fact
that each person has their own subjectivity to the perceived value of each factor.
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The sources of the discrepancies can be due to a couple of factors, such as ambiguous
factor definitions. This is when factors are unclear or there are multiple constructs it can be
difficult to accurately evaluate job descriptions. When making a job evaluation system factors
can overlap, meaning that it will show little to no variance job titles that fall under these factors.
An example of this would be if you make a factor of 1-5 years, as that is a big experience range.
This means that many different job titles can fall under this factor even though the degree of
experience will matter more in certain positions. A way to combat these discrepancies would be
to provide a rating guide. This would help direct the individual rating the system to accurately
and consistently apply the job evaluation criteria. By making sure that the job descriptions are all
up to date will further add more validity to the evaluation system.

Market Fit

With industry average a general manager is paid the highest with a salary of $120,000,
with a large gap to the next highest jobs. CNC Machinist/ Operator is paid $71,000 followed by
field sales representative with $67,000. Drafter and inside sales representative both receive
$65,000 in salary, finally secretary is paid the least with $45,000. Applying the job evaluation
system it is found that the higher paid jobs are generally evaluated higher, although discrepancies
are found between the two tests. General manager is certainly a highly valued job, both with
industry average and with the job evaluation. However, the massive $49,000 difference between
general manager and the next highest, CNC Machinist/ Operator, can not be justified. This issue
is found again between the lowest paid job, secretary, who gets paid $20,000 less then the next
lowest, despite not having massive differences in the job evaluation. Drafter is a position that
despite being paid the tied 2nd lowest in terms of industry average was valued high in both of
our job evaluations. This discrepancy most likely is a result of the drafter having relatively low
education, despite a large level of responsibility in the organization.

Compensation Costs and Adjustments

It can be difficult determining the value of a position, so it is best to compare with the
market value. Since the compa-ratio is below 1.0 (.88,) employees are being paid below the
midpoint. This shows that employees are under the competitive market wage average when it
comes to their job titles. We should adjust this area in order for SRP to find suitable applicants
for the position. As of now, employee salaries are not using up the majority of the budget
allocated to labor costs. The company can afford to pay its employees a higher rate, or provide a
deeper compensation package. Making use of this gap can give the company new ways of
motivating employees with intrinsic and extrinsic rewards directed towards achieving the goals
of the company.

Mean = (120000 + 65000 + 67000 + 65000 + 45000 +71000) / 6 =72166.67

Midpoint = (120000 - 45000) / 2 + 45000 = 82500

Compa-ratio = 72166.67/82500 = 0.88 or 88%

Establishing Pay Grades and Pay Ranges: Equal Percentage Approach

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Strengths and Weaknesses

The first thing we noticed about our pay grades is that the pay floor is extremely high.
We’ve left no room for a more entry level job such as inside sales reps due to the fact that it
would be extremely difficult to justify an entry level position making six figure salaries. There
also are some tuning issues present in that by some problem in our weighting, likely in the
experience category, causing the number of employees required in each pay grade to be pushed
to the point where we are hiring four people in our highest pay grade, and only one in the other
two. This system obviously has to see adjustments before being used in any capacity. Weightings
will have to be reassessed as well as the differences between said ratings.

A benefit of our pay grades is that it removes the high discrepancy between secretary and
CNC Machinist that is found in the market analysis. This would also reduce the pay discrepancy
between General Managers and other employees in the organization. Ensuring that employees
are not getting paid drastically more/less with similar qualifications and value.

References
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Singh, P., & Long, R. J. (2022). Strategic compensation in Canada. Nelson Top Hat.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, July 3). Hazards & Exposures. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved November 24, 2022, from
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hazards.html