Job categories

A job category groups positions that represent work of equal value: positions that, whatever their titles or reporting lines, involve comparable skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions. Use job categories to compare pay fairly across your company, to analyze pay equity, and to design your organization. Job categories are part of the Fair Base Pay module. Where a job family answers “what kind of work is this, and how senior?”, a job category answers “how much is this work worth, regardless of discipline?”. The two cut across each other. Two positions in the same family, such as a Junior Engineer and a Principal Engineer, usually land in different categories. Two positions in different families, such as a Marketing Manager and an IT Manager, can land in the same category if the work scores comparably.

Where to find job categories

Open Fair Base Pay in the side menu and select Job Categories. The list shows each category with its code, status, and number of positions. By default it shows Draft and Active categories. Use the filter to include Retired or Archived ones, and search by name or code.

Four-factor scoring

Every job category is scored on four factors, taken from the European Commission’s Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation Toolkit (EIGE): You score each subfactor against the level descriptions for that factor, and IQ can suggest scores to help. For Skills and Responsibility, IQ draws on the Organization and Readiness data already in exIQtive.com. A position doesn’t have scores of its own. It gets all four from its job category. Scores can be changed while the category is Draft or Active. Once it’s Retired or Archived, scores are frozen so history stays accurate.

Job value bands

A category’s Total Score runs from 0 to 73. Job value bands split that range into equal-width point ranges, so categories that fall in the same band are treated as work of equal value. A category carries its band as a point range, such as 30–43. You choose how many bands there are in Settings → Configuration → Jobs, in the Job Category Scoring card:

1. Enter a Number of bands, a whole number from 2 to 10. New accounts start with 5.
2. Check Resulting bands (points). It updates as you type and shows the range of each band.
3. Click Save, or Cancel to go back to the saved count.

With the default 5 bands, the ranges are 0–14, 15–29, 30–43, 44–58, and 59–73. With 10 bands, they are 0–7, 8–14, 15–21, 22–29, 30–36, 37–43, 44–51, 52–58, 59–65, and 66–73.

• Only Owners and Co-Owners can change it. They are the people who can see Settings. exIQtive.com checks this on the server as well as in the page, so no one else can change the count.
• Bands are calculated, not stored. A band has no name and no number, only its point range. Both ends of the range are inclusive.
• No gaps or overlaps. The ranges cover 0 to 73 exactly once, and the top band always ends at 73.
• Changing the count re-bands every category. The same score lands in a different range when the number of bands changes.
• Unscored categories have no band. A category without a Total Score shows no range.

Create a job category

Edit a job category

• Rename: open the category’s row menu (⋯) and select Rename. Available in any status. Names must stay unique in your account.
• Change scores: open the category and change the score of any subfactor. Scores can be changed while the category is Draft or Active, and they’re frozen once it’s Retired or Archived. Because positions follow their category, a score change applies to every position assigned to it.

Job category status

Use the category’s row menu (⋯) to change status:

• Activate: Draft to Active.
• Rename: available in any status.
• Retire: Active to Retired.
• Reactivate: Retired to Active.
• Archive: Retired to Archived. A category must be retired first.
• Unarchive: Archived to Retired.
• Delete: Draft only. Once a category is Active, retire and archive it instead.

Assign a job category to a position

A position is assigned to a job category, either by an administrator or with an IQ suggestion. The assignment is a live link, not a copy. If you change the category’s scores, every position assigned to it follows. The position now shows the category badge with its Total Score.

Change or remove a position’s job category

To change a position’s category, remove the current one first, then assign the new one. Select the cell, remove the value, then pick the new category. A position can have only one job category at a time. The Categorized view is read-only for Retired and Archived positions, and for people who can’t edit positions.

Scores come from the job category

A position gets its Skills, Responsibility, Effort, and Working conditions scores from its job category, and you can’t override them on the position. To change a position’s scores, change the category’s scores (this applies to every position in it), or move the position to a different category.

Common questions

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