What is job evaluation?

Job Evaluation is concerned with measuring the demands the job places on its
holder. Most factors that contribute to this job pressure, e.g. physical strength required,
knowledge of mathematics required, are assessed and the result is a numerical estimate of
the total job pressure. When evaluations are carried out on all hourly paid personnel the
technique’s uses include establishing relative wage rates for different tasks. It is possible
to use it for all grades of personnel, even senior management.
Thus, job evaluation is different from performance appraisal. In job evaluation,
worth of a job is calculated while in performance appraisal, the worth of employee is
rated.

Definition of job evaluation

According to Kimball and Kimball,“ Job evaluation represents an effort to determine the
relative value of every job in a plant and to determine what the fair basic wage for such a
job should be.”

Principles of Job Evaluation

• Clearly defined and identifiable jobs must exist. These jobs will be accurately
described in an agreed job description.
• All jobs in an organisation will be evaluated using an agreed job evaluation
scheme.
• Job evaluators will need to gain a thorough understanding of the job
• Job evaluation is concerned with jobs, not people. It is not the person that is being
evaluated.
• The job is assessed as if it were being carried out in a fully competent and
acceptable manner.
• Job evaluation is based on judgement and is not scientific. However if applied
correctly it can enable objective judgements to be made.
• It is possible to make a judgement about a job's contribution relative to other jobs
in an organisation.
• The real test of the evaluation results is their acceptability to all participants.
• Job evaluation can aid organisational problem solving as it highlights duplication
of tasks and gaps between jobs and functions.

Job evaluation as a process is advantageous to a company in many ways:

 1. Reduction in inequalities in salary structure - It is found that people and their
motivation is dependent upon how well they are being paid. Therefore the main
objective of job evaluation is to have external and internal consistency in salary
structure so that inequalities in salaries are reduced.

2. Specialization - Because of division of labour and thereby specialization, a large

number of enterprises have got hundred jobs and many employees to perform
them. Therefore, an attempt should be made to define a job and thereby fix
salaries for it. This is possible only through job evaluation.
3. Helps in selection of employees - The job evaluation information can be helpful
at the time of selection of candidates. The factors that are determined for job
evaluation can be taken into account while selecting the employees.
4. Harmonious relationship between employees and manager - Through job
evaluation, harmonious and congenial relations can be maintained between
employees and management, so that all kinds of salaries controversies can be
minimized.
5. Standardization - The process of determining the salary differentials for different
jobs become standardized through job evaluation. This helps in bringing
uniformity into salary structure.
6. Relevance of new jobs - Through job evaluation, one can understand the relative
value of new jobs in a concern.

Meaning of Job rotation

Some companies implement job rotation as a way to keep employees stimulated and to
give them insight as to how other areas of the company work. It can also be used
as a way to relieve the physical stress that comes from performing repeated tasks.
For job rotation to be effective, employees should be willing to try new jobs and
not be put into a job for which they are not suited.

Definition of job rotation

Job design technique in which employees are moved between two or
more jobs in a planned manner. The objective is to expose the employees to
different experiences and wider variety of skills to enhance job satisfaction and
to cross-train them.

Benefits
Job rotation allows workers to get a taste of what it would be like to work in different
areas of a department or organization. This can serve as a welcome break from the
routine of a particular job and give the worker additional training that can make him a
more valuable asset to the company. For the employer, job rotation can aid retention by
keeping employees from getting bored and looking for another job. It can also make it
easier to fill vacancies from within, since candidates may have already been exposed to
the open position.