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Grading, salaries and benefits
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For good working relationship it is essential to set fair and appropriate salary levels and benefits.
Salaries shuld be linked with the specific job that someone carries out. For example, a manager would normally be paid more than an administrator.
Benefits usually apply to all staff, although they may depend on the type of contract they have. For example, different benefits may be given to permanent staff than staff on fixedterm, temporary or casual contracts.
Grading and salaries
There are three key issues to take into account when considering salaries:
* Salaries should be consistent with the organisation's grading structure- the higher the grade the higher the salary. This ensures that the principle of equal pay for equal work is followed.
* Salaries should be fair consider what other similar organisations are paying people for carrying out similar jobs.
* The grading and salary system should be transparent and easy to understand. This means that staff can clearly see where their salary fits within the organisations overall grading and salary structure. This helps to ensure fairness and consistency because it enables staff to keep the organisation accountable.

To set a salary for a particular job, four steps need to be taken:

STEP 1: Write job profile
First it is necessary to consider what a particular job involves. This can be set out in a job profile.
JOB PROFILE FOR A DRIVER:
1. Job description
* Reports to the logistician
* Ensures vehicle is maintained
* Dsives staff to designated locations safely
* Conducts errands, collects item
2. Person specification
* Clean driving licence
* Two years driving experience in rural areas
* Punctual, accommodating, polite, patient
* Drives carefully and aware of good safe driving practice
STEP 2: Evaluate job
In order to set a grade for a job, the job profile needs to be evaluated. One way of doing this is to use a systematic method of scoring jobs so that they can be compared with one another to ensure faimess and consistency.
Evaluation of jobs should be carried out by a member of the human resources department and the line manager of the job being valuated. Between them, they have an overview of the organisation and have a good understanding of the job. Here we give an example of a simple system. Whatever system is used should be used to evaluate 'all' jobs within the organisation.
Designing the system
Three criteria are used, against which job profiles can be assessed. The criteria may differ from organisation to organisation, but the three criteria we use in this example are:
Level of skills: The level of skills that would normally be considered essential to do the job.
Levels of responsibility: The amount of responsibility the person in the job has, such as managing other members of staff or financial responsibility.
Levels of representation: The extent to which the person in the job represents the organisation externally.
Method for evaluating a job
Start with te first column of the table which represents responsibility. Look at the job profile and identify which level of responsibility is appropriate. Give the job an appropriate score for responsibility. Sometimes jobs fit between levels. In this case, an appropriate score can be given between the points stated on the table.
Then repeat this process for skill and representation. When all three criteria have been scored, add the points together to arrive at the total number of points for the job.
STEP 3: Assign a grade
Evaluating a job by giving it a score is only the first step in the grading process. The job must also be compared to the other jobs in the organisation to ensure that the job evaluation has been carried out fairly. Therefore, once the job has been evaluated and a score has been identified. It should be checked against the organisations grading structure.
The grading structure is based on the scoring during the job evaluation. The jobs with more point are at a higher grade than those with fewer points. The names of the job families will very according to the organisation. Each organisation should consult with staff to establish a grading structure that reflects its own needs, purposes and values.
After comparing a job evaluation score with the organisations grading structure, it may be necessary to assign the job to a slightly higher or lower grade than the score indicates, in order to make the job consistent with other jobs in the organisation.
STEP 4: Set the salary
Some organisations have one salary per grade. In this case, when a job is assigned a grade, the salary is easy to identify. However, many organisations have a salary range for each grade, so it is necessary to identify a particular salary for each job within that salary range. When an organisation sets its salary levels it is helpful to understand what similar organizations are paying their staff for similar roles.
When identifyind salaries, take the following issues into account:
* Local labour legislation and employment practice such as employment tax, minimum wage and social security. Where possible, gain advice from a local employment lawyer or consultant.
* Local common practice on salaries, allowances and other benefits.. This includes researching other organisations (based locally if possible) involved in similar work. Where there are no local organisations, collect information from a nearby town or main city and adjust the data according to the local cost of living. To identify common practice, it is best to contact at least eight similar organisations. It is recommended that a human resources specialist visits other organisations as it can sometimes be difficult to compare jobs between organisations. Organisations use different job titles, and duties carried out by similar roles may not be identical.
It is therefore helpful to gather organisational charts and job profiles from other organisations and understand how each organisation calculates its salaries, in order to decide whether it is a fair and consistent method.
* Location of the job. If the job is based away from the main office, it may be necessary to carry out separate research for this location. However, the time needed to do this can only be justified if the cost of living is substantially different from the main office.
Budget available to pay salaries. in principle, salary levels should not be driven by available funding. instead, salaries should refleet the salaries paid by similar organisations to their staff. however, sometimes funds are limited, which may have an impact on salary levels
. Since analysis of salary data can be difficult and take a lot of time, it is advisable to seek help form a member of staff with financial expertise or a local professional consultant. A local salary survey carried out by another organisation could also be useful. However check that the survey data is accurate and meets the organisations requirements.
Here we provide some ideas for analysing salary data and setting salaries:
* Draw a table in which to put salary data collected from other organisations. Use only data from organisations with similar roles, and with fair and consistent salaries. Each row in the table represents a job that is being compared acroos organisations. The columns represent different organisations.

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