Choosing subfactors
The owner dedicated some time to familiarising herself with the toolkit guidance, the factor and subfactor plan and Tool 3 – Supporting Excel (micro-organisations). She selected six subfactors that together covered the four main factor groups (skills, responsibility, effort, working conditions).
- Knowledge: reflecting both technical baking expertise and practical product knowledge
- Problem-solving skills: capturing how different jobs are expected to handle various situations, from dough failures to customer complaints
- Physical skills: acknowledging that many bakery tasks require dexterity and strength
- Responsibility for people: reflecting accountability for workers’ training, customers’ safety and general well-being
- Physical effort: recognising that staff stand for long periods, lift heavy items and engage in repetitive work for hours
- Environment: reflecting the heat, noise and exposure to flour dust or cleaning products that staff experience during their shifts
This mix allowed her to compare jobs fairly while ensuring that skills and responsibilities often overlooked in women-dominated or service roles (e.g. emotional effort and customer-facing responsibilities) were recognised.