COMPETENCE-RELATED PAY
Few organisations link competencies directly to pay
Competencies have a key role to play in people management processes, according to a new book published by the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development. But "very few" organisations use competencies alone to evaluate jobs and create grading structures.
Using clearly explained processes together with a set of key principles and a checklist, performance management experts Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde aim to help organisations construct a new framework of competencies or extend an existing framework.
The 144-page book provides practical examples and illustrations to show how competencies can be used to enhance all people management processes:
Using competencies to support pay and grading
Whiddett and Hollyforde define competency-related pay as "pay linked to competency ratings alone" and observe that this concept is "becoming less popular, not more". The authors reckon that the contribution that competencies make to job evaluation is in providing a more rounded picture of a job. As Whiddett and Hollyforde explain: "If competencies are used in other people-management activities, the message is that these behaviours are valued. If job evaluation is about measuring the elements of a job which an organisation values, it makes sense to include competencies in that process.
A final word
"People management is about both what people achieve (competences) and how they achieve (competencies). A thorough assessment of performance must at least take account of how well an individual completes work-related activities as well as how he or she goes about those activities. Of late, a lot more focus has gone into competencies, as they can be used as benchmarks in all aspects of selection and performance management. How people behave is critical to how they perform." -- Steve Whiddett, co-author of A Practical Guide to Competencies: How to enhance individual and organisational performance.
Want to know more?
Title: A Practical Guide to Competencies: How to enhance individual and organisational performance, by Steve Whiddett and Sarah Hollyforde, Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development.
Availability: You can order CIPD books from tel: 0870 800 3366/0870 800 4488, from business bookshops or via the CIPD website: www.cipd.co.uk
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development has more than 118,000 members and is the "leading professional institute for those involved in the management and development of people". To find out more visit www.cipd.co.uk
Posted 10 November 2003