Job evaluation: mystical or statistical?

Abstract

People can't be completely objective in assessing how much any job is worth--employees, managers, and salary administrators all bring their own biases to job evaluation. And the two most widely used systems--market pricing and conventional evaluation plans--are fraught with weaknesses. Howard Risher breaks through the subjectivity barrier with a new approach that overcomes many of the problems in matching salary to position: multiple regression analysis. An analytical technique that enables managers to integrate internal and external factors in compensation decisions, regression analysis describes "what is", and not "what should be", with regard to compensation levels. (However, "if management disagrees with the values expressed, the equation can be readily modified to a 'what should be' statement"). The use of multiple regression analysis in assessing job worth is explained in down-to-earth, recognizable terms, and Risher shows salary administrators how to reduce costs, time, and headaches with this factually based evaluation system.