Student 1-
My current job does not really apply job evaluations, although, they should. What my company does is that they have department supervisors observe the productivity of their employees to evaluate (word of mouth honestly) if they are doing as much as possible in as little time. There are no regular raises because there is not enough evaluation to see where compensation is needed. Bonuses used to not be a thing until COVID. Our work loads and expectations grew tremendously given that we provide health care to elderly patients in need and they introduced bonuses. However, our benefits are not good whatso ever and most of us have outside health insurance and savings plans. Of course, my goal is work somewhere that offers me all that and more, but like most Americans, I must settle with what I have due to the circumstances for now. If I had the opportunity to recommend job evaluations to my employer, I would explain to them that they are necessary to promote our development. They would help to keep up with employee progress in comparison to company growth. When you show employees that you are keeping track of their productivity with concrete results, it encourages them to strive to do better even if they are already excelling. We would also be able to see what areas need improvement and come up with a plan of action. These evaluations would help identify which employees deserve higher compensation to minimize risks of losing them; especially if they are assets to our company progression.
Student 2
In the very limited work experience I have in the corporate, and the few occasions I have come across job evaluation, compensation system, and benefits systems conversations, it was primarily conducted by the HR professionals in the organization, and very rarely were my managers or superiors involved in these conversations. In my past experiences, having a job evaluation conversation doesnt mostly provide great insights into the job. If I remember correctly, a couple of times I had these conversations at the organizations I worked at, this conversation was not really something that happened after getting hired or frequently during the job tenure. Oftentimes, it was during the interview process that the recruiter or the HR personnel briefly discussed the job responsibilities and the duties. Very rarely did the managers or supervisors have this conversation with tier employees. I believe this is something really important for any employee to excel in their jobs. Unless the employee knows the scope of the job, the duties and responsibilities, and the level of decision making the employee can take the liberty of, it is extremely difficult for them to effectively and efficiently discharge their duties.
Conversations regarding compensation systems were primarily led by HR Personnel who would go over the salary and compensations such as annual bonus, paid time off, etc. This is something that the HR personnel discussed during the interview process in a brief and also after being appointed to the new job, in detail. It was primarily during this conversation after getting hired that the HR personnel also spoke about the benefits system at the organization, and discussed all the various options/choices available to the employees be it the health insurance, PTO, Employee Stock Purchase Program, etc.
In my limited experience, I believe, these interactions related to job evaluation, compensation system, and benefits are primarily to attract new talent, retain the existing and newly hired talent while keeping them motivated to show a willingness to work and efficiently achieve the organizational goals while adding value to the job/organization. In my personal experience, these conversations could have been more technical and specific in nature to help the employee better understand the scope of the job, the duties and responsibilities, and things as such in more detail to ensure the employees are successful in the job. Also, sometimes, the benefits system could offer limited or no choices at all to the employees depending on the organizational policies.
Student 3
I would rate the effectiveness of job evaluation, compensation systems, and benefits programs a 10 being very effective for the contribution to organizations success based on my current knowledge of these topics. I believe that all 3 topics are very important and effective. Job Evaluation is very important because the evaluations can help identify the high-achieving employees and help raise company productivity. By using these results, the executive team can determine who deserves a pay raise and who deserves their pay to be adjusted downward based on their employee performance. Compensation systems and benefits programs will lead to stronger job satisfaction. A great compensation program allows employees to invest themselves more into the organization and gives them a stronger sense of satisfaction when the organization succeeds. All three of these topics are clearly necessary for an organization’s success and they are all very effective.
Student 4
Hello All,
I would rank job evaluation as a 9 out of 10 in terms of contributing the success of the organization, if it appropriately conducted. If it is not appropriately done, my ranking would be much lower. Like anything, if this is appropriately done, there is opportunity for a lot to be gained in terms of individual growth and production, as well as productivity for the department and business as a whole. If management is effectively trained in how to evaluate and conduct a job evaluation, this can prove to be very effective. If properly conducted, employees will understand what areas need improvement, what areas or skills they currently hold that are strong assets and should continuously be implemented or further developed in their performance, and lastly, the manager/supervisor and employee should develop a course of action or plan to ensure the employee can increase their level of performance. Employees should leave a job evaluation knowing what their strengths and weaknesses are, as well as where their current performance output places them within the department.
Compensation system would be ranked as an 8 out of 10, from my outlook. Have a strong compensation system in place can be useful to drive employee productivity upward if the compensation is based on performance. This can be based on merit increase, incentives or bonuses. Granted, not all individuals are driven by money, but from a work standpoint, it can prove to be a useful method if an increase in productivity is sought from an organizational or department standpoint. Companies can get creative with this and combine or substitute personal and/or vacation time earned with the compensation system. This can only be effective for those who are eligible for such an additional compensation. If employees within the company are unionized, they may not be entitled for a bonus or any sort of merit. If a company does not have a good compensation system in place, this can cause employees to not care about pushing themselves to go above expectations and just be content with doing the bare minimum, as well as potentially cause them to become disengaged.
Lastly, benefits would rank around a 6 for contributing to the success of a company. The reason for this lower rank when compared to job evaluation and compensation system, is due to the various factors that can potentially outweigh this as being a factor for the company’s success. A few scenarios that came to mind are if an individual working is still under their parents benefits or if they are under spouse/partners benefits. This would make benefits seems insufficient to the employee. Benefits could also be highly sought by an employee if they may be offered the better benefits for their family or if good benefits make a decent pay seem more attractable. There are many factors that can differential benefits from being desired or inadequate from an employee’s point of view.
Student 5
Five different business professionals include:
- Office Administrator
- Graduate Medical Education (GME)
- Human Resource (Record Management)
- Payroll
- Public Relations
The employer listed above performance their job evaluations different from one another. However, the purpose is equally amongst the five since job evaluations in the early process of creating a compensation system for the organization/department. An example, office administrator re-visits job evaluations at the beginning of the new year. This process is taken in the beginning of the year since all employees are up for raises and evaluation. Compare to Payroll its job evaluations are re-visits every quarter. Not granting an increase to their compensation system. The negative is, Job evaluations are not always completed on time. Positive all employees look forward to their job evaluations.
The compensation system was mixed with both positive and negative reviews. The positive was, all value workers received from their organization an increase for their labor. The negative was, the increase was not enough due to their roles and responsibilities which we reflect on the job evaluations. I believe when a job evaluation fails to meet the organization’s criteria it reflects on upper management and human resources.
Four out of the five professional business worked in a hospital setting. The office administrator worked for a private company. Hospital setting professionals were content and fortunate for their benefits. Most important health insurance due to the rate cost starting at $32 dollars. The private setting was not fortunate with their benefits especially with their health insurance since the starting rate was $250 dollars.
Student6
Engineer-
- Job evaluation is almost like a foreign language in this company as job evaluations are an electronic survey, and the results are never discussed once submitted.
Positives: n/a
Negatives: Nothing is ever brought to surface, and employees internalize any questions, comments, and concerns that they have. No changes are ever made because they are never discussed
- Compensation system is based on salary and performance bonuses.
Positive- generous salary and yearly bonus, tuition reimbursement, car mileage reimbursement, inexpensive health benefits
Negative- no pension or retirement plan
C) Benefits are additional incentives to an employees salary.
Positive- tuition reimbursement, car mileage reimbursement, inexpensive health benefits
Negative- no pension or retirement plan
Lawyer-
A) Job evaluations are not up for discussion and are not made a priority. The only employees that are evaluated are attorneys and if you kiss up to the boss, your evaluation is a guaranteed to be positive. Managing partners are not evaluated, as it is a very top down atmosphere.
Positives- N/A
Negatives- Job evaluations are not taken seriously enough. Without them
B) Compensation is competitive but it is not clear what constitutes for a bonus. Bonuses are not consistent and vary in range.
Positives- High salary
Negatives- Performance related bonuses are not always given, and their monetary value are not always consistent. Can be discouraging for hardworking employees who do not feel appreciated.
C) Benefits are very minimal, and they are very expensive as the company is a private employer. Everything is paid for our of pocket. Health coverage is not great.
Positive- decent vacation time, flexible work from home schedule if not at court.
Negatives-Long hours, expensive health coverage
Hospital Administration-
- Job evaluation is when your supervisor/supervisors evaluate your performance and how well you execute the duties of your roll, a positive receiving recognition for the duties I perform well in my will and hearing suggestions on how you can improve in my current roll. A negative would be not receiving the financial bonus as recognition for good work.
- Compensation systems is an employees financial compensation/ paycheck. A positive in my roll is that my paycheck is always the same, there is no quota to meet, i get paid for working my usual hours, i also have an opportunity to make over time if approved in advance. A negative would be that if i work a minute over or an extended amount of time over to complete a task, I will not be paid.
- Employee benefits are additional items that a work place offers. such as insurance, education reimbursement, 401(k). A positive is being able to live a happy and healthy life style and prepare for a future. A negative is not having your preferred health insurance. For example, in regards to my health insurance plan, I must see a specific provider in net work, and if I see one outside of the network, it will b will be expensive.
Financial Analyst-
A) Setting goals in the beginning of the year based on the job description and self-evaluating performance by the end of the year. Job performance also includes completing a manager evaluation and having discussion based on both parties performance.
Positives: Both parties have ability to evaluate one another and discuss findings. Negatives: Evaluations are not taken seriously and changes are never made.
B) Analysts received competitive salaries as well as performance based bonuses that were up to managers discretion.
Positives: competitive salary. Bonuses also provide financial motivation for employees.
Negatives:
C) Basic benefits provided (medical, dental, vision)
Positives: health insurance offered Negatives: very little vacation time, not enough sick time, no mental health days.
Teacher-
- Job evaluations are crucial to making the employee, and employer better in their roles, and making the work environment a better place. Job performance evaluations consist of discussing what works, and what needs improvement, setting career goals and objectives to meet.
Positive- can be helpful and constructive
Negative- can put a lot of pressure on the teacher and because it is scheduled, the evaluations and observations may not be reflecting their performance accurately
B) Compensation could be better. First couple of years are very challenging for teachers but over time the salary can be very high depending on the school district, and location.
C) Teachers have great benefits such as vacation time, pension, medical benefits, parental leave
After having these discussions, I have realized how crucial job performance evaluations are to helping making work environments better, and making employees feel heard and appreciated regardless of the field of company. I also heard how important different factors are to different people. There are pros and cons to each job, and each company. It is important for employees to weigh what is most important to them and what is negotiable and non negotiable.
