EU-wide guidelines on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification: Step-by-step toolkit

With the job profiles in place, the job evaluation committee moved on to the critical step of scoring each role, following Tool 5. They held a half-day workshop to review the factor and subfactor plan in detail. The group took time to interpret the six-level scale (0–5) for each subfactor to ensure consistency across all roles.

One area of focus was the subfactor ‘interpersonal and communication skills’. The job evaluation committee agreed on the following points.

• Level 3: this role requires regular communication with team members and occasional external contacts to exchange information or solve routine problems (e.g. a waiter taking orders and relaying them to the kitchen).
• Level 4: this role requires regular engagement in complex negotiations, persuasive communication or conflict resolution with clients, stakeholders or senior management (e.g. a sales representative negotiating catering contracts or an event coordinator managing client complaints).

These discussions were crucial. By agreeing on examples and interpretations in advance, the job evaluation committee ensured that soft skills, often overlooked in traditional job evaluation and classification, were recognised and valued on the same basis as technical expertise.