Investigation Into Job Evaluation Issues In The Public Service

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Investigation Into Job Evaluation Issues In The
Public Service
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Purpose of Job Evaluation

• To provide a systematic way of establishing
  relativities between jobs within and without
  organisations.
• A method of measuring and valuing the relative
  importance of positions within an organisation is
  important in view of legislative requirements.

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WHAT IS JOB EVALUATION
Job Evaluation Is No More Than A Ruler That
Measures What Already Exists It Does Not Define
The Job It Does Not Make The Rules
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BACKGROUND

• Job Evaluation was implemented in the Public
  Service to
• promote equal pay for work of equal value
• serve as a framework for decentralised grading
  management
• inform organisational development
• Job Evaluation was implemented with effect from 1
  July 1999, but only became active with effect
  from 1 January 2000
• From the beginning there were perceptions and
  allegations around the validity, accuracy, and
  fairness of job evaluation outcomes.

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BACKGROUND -2-

• Since then, several studies have been conducted
  to investigate and address these concerns
• internal benchmarking exercise (2000)
• Deloitte and Touche conducted a verification
  exercise in 2002.
• PWC conducted a study during the Personal
  Expenditure Review during 2006.

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BACKGROUND -3-

• Following the findings of the PER it was
  determined in the remuneration policy of the
  Public Service that Equate should be maintained,
  but had to be reviewed focusing on
• The need for the utilisation of an alternative
  job evaluation system for specific categories of
  staff (Professionals / Specialists)
• Refining and updating of elements of the Equate
  system
• Overlaps between Job Weight Ranges
• The creation of a central database containing job
  descriptions and job evaluation results.

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BACKGROUND -4-

• DPSA was also aware of the following
• Inconsistency in grading of similar jobs across
  departments
• Perceptions that some jobs were not graded
  correctly
• Misuse of the job evaluation system to provide
  salary progression
• Some parts of the system were outdated, and no
  longer applicable
• Additional categories that could be added to
  enhance the system.

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BACKGROUND -5-

• To address the above, an investigation was
  undertaken by P3 Africa (Which has since changed
  its name to Swicon 360 People).
• The ground rules of the investigation included
  the following
• The DPSA provided internal expertise for the
  review panel.
• Swicon 360 People Consultants provided an
  independent and external expertise
• Departments were closely involved in the process
  as they were asked to supply both inputs to the
  process, and were consulted on the recommended
  changes.

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FINDINGS 1

• Using independent evaluation, a correlation
  between 3 different systems, showed that Equate
  provides specialist jobs equitably and in line
  with the expected relationship with between
  specialist/professional and administrative/managem
  ent jobs.
• There is however a PAY lag between specialists in
  the Public Service, and the private sector. The
  problem is therefore a pay issue and not a job
  evaluation issue.
• This will be addressed by the presentation on the
  OSD later today

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FINDINGS 1

• The consultant noted that the Equate approach is
  well suited to the massive size of the Public
  Service, and no other system would provide better
  standards.
• The Equate system evaluated jobs accurately and
  results in a good internal equity for all jobs.
• It is therefore not required to consider a second
  system in the Public Service.

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FINDINGS 2 Updating and Refinement of Equate

• The factors, the elements, and the questions that
  needed to be updated and refined were identified
  in consultation with departments.
• Based on this information, the questionnaire and
  DIG (Definition and Interpretation Guide) were
  updated and refined
• Superfluous questions and categories were removed
• Date/Time linked questions were updated
• New Categories were added where required
• Editorial changes, to improve the phrasing,
  understanding and consistent interpretation
  thereof.

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FINDINGS 2 Updating and Refinement of Equate

• Results were workshopped with all Departments,
  and adjustments effected where justifiable.
• The result is an updated and refined
  questionnaire and DIG.
• Based on these results, the rule base has to be
  amended, which is phase 2 of the project
  (Northgate Arinso and DPSA)
• The final decision on the proposed amendments
  will only be possible when the practical
  application thereof is tested following the
  amendment of the rule base.

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FINDINGS 3

• A Central Database of all evaluations needs to be
  established, and maintained going forward.
• It is the intention that Equate will move to a
  Web Enabled platform that will collate results
  and descriptions across the Public Service.
• Policies and Procedures will be developed to
  drive and manage the central database.

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FINDINGS 4

• The overlaps between grades were considered, and
  proposals made to phase it out over time. This
  has in the meantime been overtaken by other
  developments (in accordance with PSCBC resolution
  3 of 2009 and the implementation directive, the
  discretion to make decisions in the overlap area
  was removed.)
• The co-ordination process was considered, and it
  was found to fully comply with the best practices
  used in the market. The results of co-ordination
  should be issued as a directive binding across
  all departments.
• The Directorate of Job Evaluations should change
  to become more the gatekeepers of standards, and
  have less involvement in day to day evaluation.

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FINDINGS 4

• With regard to the co-ordination process, the
  Directorate of Job Evaluation should have a veto
  right where required.
• The role of Palama should be should be clearly
  defined as a training provider, and the DPSA
  should control all standards, approve all course
  materials, and QA courses run by Palama, as the
  guardians of job evaluation.
• Job Analysis and Job Description Writing should
  be seen as critical to enable good governance in
  Job Evaluation
• Job Descriptions should be linked to results on
  the new system

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FINDINGS 4

• Job analysts to undergo refresher training at
  least every three years to ensure a single
  central standard exists.
• Communication of the system and the standards
  around the system are critical.

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The Way Forward
The amendment of the rule base to be completed by
NorthGate Arinso The Rules, Policies and
procedures to implement the amended system and
database will be developed It is the intention
of the DPSA to run Implementation Workshops.