Step 4. Build or adjust your basic pay structure
Why?
The outcome of the job evaluation and classification feeds into a fair and transparent basic pay structure.
How?
- Translate rankings into pay grades by grouping jobs with similar scores in the same grade (e.g. breaking jobs into three to five grades).
- Decide on a midpoint salary for each grade, the central value of each grade’s pay range. Start with the lowest grade and build upwards following a logical progression factor.
- Set minimum and maximum monthly salaries around each midpoint, for each grade, so that workers can grow within the range over time.
- Compare current pay with the new ranking.
Important
If the job evaluation and classification shows that some jobs are underpaid compared with their value (based on their score and grade), you should first consider adjusting salaries upwards.
- Equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between women and men can be achieved by removing unjustified pay differences and by raising pay in undervalued, often women-dominated jobs so that they match equivalent men-dominated jobs of the same value
- Cutting salaries in higher-paid jobs is not a solution and can increase perceptions of unfairness
Once jobs have been evaluated and grouped into fair basic pay grades, the next stage is to check for gender gaps in complementary and variable pay components.
Mistakes to avoid
- Reducing pay to ‘fix’ imbalances (creates resistance)
- Ignoring allowances or bonuses, which can carry hidden gender biases