Date: Mon, 6 Nov 2000 16:29 From: Phil Reusing
Seminar Notes
Thirty-six PEA members met with the Job Evaluation Project Co-chairs Tony Bute and Phil Reusing on Tuesday, October 24, 2000 at an event organized by the PEA Seminars Committee. PEA members Susan Corner and Brenda Gerth took notes at the meeting. The following questions and answers reflect some of the group’s discussions:
What do PEA members think of the existing system?
Some members said they believed the current system is outdated and doesn’t offer flexibility. Job descriptions are out of date. It seems designed to reflect supervisory responsibility and not the full responsibility of the position.
The current UVic classification system derives from the plans developed for the US and Canadian public service during the 1930s to 1950s. It was created in 1981 and was modeled after the plans in effect at UBC and SFU. Its purpose was to introduce standardization into the evaluation of professional positions. It is relatively simple but labour intensive to administer. Its primary strength is its ability to classify similar jobs into job families by levels or grades. Its fundamental weakness is its inability to compare different jobs in a systematic or fair way.
What are the advantages for PEA members of a point factor-based plan?
The point factor plan that has been developed will be capable of measuring the common elements of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions that are present to some degree in all professional jobs within the PEA group. The new plan should be more sensitive to incremental changes in jobs than the classification system. The plan will be gender neutral in its application. It will also be jointly administered by both the PEA and the University.
What is the process once an employee has completed the questionnaire?
All jobs will eventually be evaluated by using the questionnaire as part of the job evaluation process. The following describes the steps for members, supervisors and managers to have input into the questionnaire:
Step 1: The employee completes the questionnaire.
Step 2: The completed survey is given to the immediate supervisor for comments.
Step 3: After the supervisor’s input, the excluded manager will review the questionnaire as a whole.
Step 4: The questionnaire will then come back to the member for final comment.
Step 5: The questionnaire is submitted to the Joint Job Evaluation Committee for rating.
Step 6: Members will then have an opportunity to question their rating before it is finalized.
How were the Benchmark jobs selected?
A range of jobs from all PEA job families and classifications was selected randomly and then supplemented by the Committee to ensure that there was a representative sample of the kind of jobs being performed within the PEA group. The Benchmark group participants were then randomly selected from within the job classes selected to form the Benchmark sample. The Benchmark group is about 20% of the PEA population.
Why should I participate in this project?
A couple of PEA members talked about the importance of carefully and thoughtfully completing the questionnaire. One member talked about her past experience with job evaluation, and the huge amount of time it takes to complete the questionnaire. She also commented that, at the end of the day I am confident that it might be a fair representation. A PEA member on the Project Committee said, it’s a bit like a class assignment the more I put into my own questionnaire, the more I’ll get out of it. I am looking forward having greater understanding of my job and sharing this information with my supervisor.
Find out more about this process!
Check out the PEA website, attend meetings or contact members of the Project Committee if you have questions or concerns. The Project Committee E-mail is peaje@uvic.ca.
