Acas publish guide to job evaluation systems

Acas, the employment relations service, has launched a new guide to help make businesses less vulnerable to equal pay claims through the use of job evaluation. The guide, which considers the benefits and risks of undertaking job evaluation, explains how a job evaluation risk analysis should be established and implemented.

The new Job Evaluation advice booklet is launched as the 2008 Acas’ annual report shows a 25 per cent rise in employment tribunals and potential employment tribunal claims. This rise was partly attributed to equal pay claims.

Job evaluation – which determines the relative importance of a number of different jobs whilst avoiding prejudice or discrimination – can be a complex process. This guide has been designed to help managers and employee representatives decide whether introducing a job evaluation structure is feasible and appropriate for their business.

Acas is urging businesses to be fully prepared before embarking on introducing job evaluation. A good number of the difficulties encountered by organisations will be avoided by adequate preparation. The booklet gives advice on the level of preparation required, which if undertaken properly, will create defensible pay structures and strong business benefits.

The booklet also explains how analytical job evaluation works in practice and discusses in more detail the use of factor plans. Non-analytical job evaluation schemes such as ‘paired comparisons’ or ‘job ranking’ do not provide a defence against equal value claims and are not included in this guide.

The guide can be downloaded for free at http://www.acas.org.uk./