JOB EVALUATION
Challenges for implementing global grade structures changing significantly
Talent management is the top reason why employers pursue global levelling, according to a new survey by Mercer. The primary objectives for evaluating jobs and implementing a global grade structure are to support the development and career paths of employees (mentioned by 68% of survey respondents) and to facilitate the implementation of a global pay or rewards programmes (65%).
Antonis Christidis, Principal with Mercer’s Human Capital consulting business, said: “Organisations who have long used global levelling structures to underpin pay, now realise the impact this same infrastructure can have on the clearer definition of career paths and mobility-related decisions. We definitely talk more today to combined client teams that come from both the compensation & benefits and talent management departments than we used to do only a couple of years ago.”
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Survey background
Conducted this summer, Mercer’s 2011 Global Levelling Survey examines trends in strategies around grading and job evaluation. It includes responses from more than 380 organisations across all industries throughout the US and Canada.
Global levelling – defined by Mercer as the “process of systematically establishing the relative value of different jobs within an organisation” – provides a framework to effectively implement talent and compensation management across borders.
While global levelling has long been used for companies’ executive roles, an increasing number of organisations are implementing grade structures for their other employee groups. Mercer’s survey finds that 85% of respondents report grade structures for executives and just as many for managers and non-sales professionals.
Darrell Cira, Partner with Mercer’s Human Capital consulting business, said: “Years ago, only about half of multinational companies had global grade structures for employees that weren’t executives. This increase in the use of global grading for populations other than executives is likely directly related to organisations’ focus on facilitating talent mobility and implementing meaningful career paths for their employees.”
Challenges of global levelling
According to Mercer’s survey, more than a third (36%) of respondents expect to modify their current approach to global levelling or implement a new compensation management structure in the next two years.
Yet finding resources and time to do so may be challenging. The biggest obstacles organisations face with employing a global grade structure are:
resources and time, reported by almost two-thirds (63%) of organisations.
absence of a global HRIS (40%)
resistance of leadership (38%).
“The barriers to implementing global grades have changed considerably,” said Cira. “While the absence of a strong business case and lack of support from corporate leadership were frequently identified as major challenges in the past, the value of having a global grading structure has clearly become more evident to business leaders today.”
A final word
“Beyond simply helping with pay decisions, companies are seeking much more from their global levelling strategies, such as defining employee career paths, linking jobs to specific behavioural competencies and assessing pay equity.” – Darrell Cira, Partner with Mercer’s Human Capital consulting business.
Want to know more?
Title: 2011 Global Levelling Survey, Mercer, September 2011.
Availability: Visit www.mercer.com/surveys to find out more about Mercer surveys.
Mercer is a “global leader in human resource consulting, outsourcing and investment services”. Mercer’s 20,000 employees are based in more than 40 countries. For more information visit www.mercer.com.