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Job Grade System
- A System that Maximizes the Motivation and Capabilities of Each and Every Employee -
In 1990, while developing positive business aimed at further growth, there were needs to establish a personnel system that could motivate and enhance capabilities of each and every employee and to maximize results more.
The concept Bayer used was to position the jobs of each employee at the centre of the personnel system. The “Qualification Grade System” in use until then rated each employee’s accumulation of experience and capabilities using qualification grade and was based on the expectation that if somebody had a high level of ability, they would also have high levels of experience and capabilities and this would lead to higher results. In addition, salary payment criteria were also set in accordance with an employee’s qualification grade.
However, the use of qualification grades was based on age. Even though an employee might be rated with a high qualification grade, the job he or she actually did might not have been so significant, etc. There were problems emerged, i.e., the “qualification grade” did not match the “significance and weight of responsibility of the work the employee was actually doing.”
Consequently, Bayer decided to place “jobs” at the centre of its personnel system, introducing a job grade system, the core system currently used globally at Bayer, employing the method of measuring objectively the weight of a job, its degree of importance and the level of responsibility associated with it.
We have tried to classify the questions “What is a job grade system?” and “What kind of merits are there when a company introduces a job grade system?”
A job grade system is one that measures the degree of importance and level of difficulty of the job (role). In other words, the “size of the job that each and every employee is responsible for uses common indicators and expresses the job with “grades”. This is the basic system used in order to realize fair compensation in accordance with the results that employees achieve.
For example, suppose we look at the two jobs, General Manager of the Sales Division and General Manager of the Development Division. With this information alone, we do not know how difficult or how big either job is. It is not the case that these two jobs are the same because they both have the title “General Manager”. These two positions could exist at any company, but the expectations held towards them may differ depending on the industry and they may differ even within the same company depending on the circumstances in which the company is placed.
Consequently, Bayer decided to use the same method used throughout the Bayer Group worldwide, one of job grades for each job, in order to measure objectively the size of every job. The details of these grades vary depending on changes in the organization and fluctuations in society and business conditions so the company tries to review them regularly.
At Bayer, we have set job grade categories for managers and general employees as shown below.
It is possible with this job grade system to confirm the size of responsibility within the company and the positioning of the jobs that each and every employee is doing. The grades can also be used in transfers and job assignments as indicators for the placement of the right human resources in the right positions in consideration of the weight of the job and the extent of responsibility. In addition, the company can also pay the appropriate salary in accordance with the size and weight of a job due to the setting of salary standards for base salaries and bonuses for each job grade.
Because individual employees can understand clearly in the form of their job grades the level of expectation of the company in regard to their own jobs and also roughly envisage their future annual incomes, the job grades systems also lead to enhance the transparency of salaries.
By designing the salary system on the basis of job grades in this fashion, for example, if a young and talented employee is selected to become a Sales Office Manager, unlike under the ability grade systems used previously, he or she will be paid a base annual salary and bonuses at levels matched to the position based on the job grade for a Sales Officer Manager.
- A System that Maximizes the Motivation and Capabilities of Each and Every Employee -
In 1990, while developing positive business aimed at further growth, there were needs to establish a personnel system that could motivate and enhance capabilities of each and every employee and to maximize results more.
The concept Bayer used was to position the jobs of each employee at the centre of the personnel system. The “Qualification Grade System” in use until then rated each employee’s accumulation of experience and capabilities using qualification grade and was based on the expectation that if somebody had a high level of ability, they would also have high levels of experience and capabilities and this would lead to higher results. In addition, salary payment criteria were also set in accordance with an employee’s qualification grade.
However, the use of qualification grades was based on age. Even though an employee might be rated with a high qualification grade, the job he or she actually did might not have been so significant, etc. There were problems emerged, i.e., the “qualification grade” did not match the “significance and weight of responsibility of the work the employee was actually doing.”
Consequently, Bayer decided to place “jobs” at the centre of its personnel system, introducing a job grade system, the core system currently used globally at Bayer, employing the method of measuring objectively the weight of a job, its degree of importance and the level of responsibility associated with it.
We have tried to classify the questions “What is a job grade system?” and “What kind of merits are there when a company introduces a job grade system?”
A job grade system is one that measures the degree of importance and level of difficulty of the job (role). In other words, the “size of the job that each and every employee is responsible for uses common indicators and expresses the job with “grades”. This is the basic system used in order to realize fair compensation in accordance with the results that employees achieve.
For example, suppose we look at the two jobs, General Manager of the Sales Division and General Manager of the Development Division. With this information alone, we do not know how difficult or how big either job is. It is not the case that these two jobs are the same because they both have the title “General Manager”. These two positions could exist at any company, but the expectations held towards them may differ depending on the industry and they may differ even within the same company depending on the circumstances in which the company is placed.
Consequently, Bayer decided to use the same method used throughout the Bayer Group worldwide, one of job grades for each job, in order to measure objectively the size of every job. The details of these grades vary depending on changes in the organization and fluctuations in society and business conditions so the company tries to review them regularly.
At Bayer, we have set job grade categories for managers and general employees as shown below.
It is possible with this job grade system to confirm the size of responsibility within the company and the positioning of the jobs that each and every employee is doing. The grades can also be used in transfers and job assignments as indicators for the placement of the right human resources in the right positions in consideration of the weight of the job and the extent of responsibility. In addition, the company can also pay the appropriate salary in accordance with the size and weight of a job due to the setting of salary standards for base salaries and bonuses for each job grade.
Because individual employees can understand clearly in the form of their job grades the level of expectation of the company in regard to their own jobs and also roughly envisage their future annual incomes, the job grades systems also lead to enhance the transparency of salaries.
By designing the salary system on the basis of job grades in this fashion, for example, if a young and talented employee is selected to become a Sales Office Manager, unlike under the ability grade systems used previously, he or she will be paid a base annual salary and bonuses at levels matched to the position based on the job grade for a Sales Officer Manager.
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