Glasgow - Job Evaluation Update
Glasgow's WPBR pay scheme was designed to be very difficult to understand - the exact opposite of open and transparent which is what job evaluation in supposed to be all about.
The WPBR was not just one easy to understand JE scheme, but came with other elements that were 'invented' by council officials and the external consultants who helped Glasgow replace its old, pre-2007 pay arrangements based upon big bonus payments to traditional male dominated jobs.
The WPBR swept these bonus payments away yet at the same time the new scheme maintained all of the old pay differences between male and female dominated jobs.
And this was done by introducing WCD (Working Context and Demands) payments, NSWP (Non Standard Working Working Pattern) payments and, of course, the cockamamy 37-hour 'rule' - all of which discriminated against female dominated jobs.
So let's start with a couple of basic questions for Glasgow Claimants to bear in mind going forward in the months ahead.
Q. What is job evaluation?
A. Job evaluation is a process for assessing the skills and responsibilities of different jobs within the same employer
Q. Is a job evaluation scheme complicated or difficult to understand?
A. No, or at least it should be - a JE scheme should be perfectly easy to follow, even if it requires a little effort to get up to speed with how any particular scheme work.
Q. Will Glasgow's new JE scheme fix the problems with the WPBR?
A. Yes, so long as the information being fed into the new (Gauge) scheme is accurate and is not being manipulated in favour of, or against the interests of, particular job groups.
More to follow in the weeks ahead, so watch this space and if you have any questions please drop me an email at:
markirvine@compuserve.com
Glasgow - Job Evaluation Update (18/10/19)
Behind the scenes in Glasgow an awful lot of work is underway to replace the Council's WPBR Job Evaluation scheme which the Court of Session (Scotland's highest civil court) condemned as 'unfit for purpose' - in August 2017 and again in December 2017.
Now not many people are familiar with what job evaluation (JE) means and why would they - because people have demanding jobs and lots of other responsibilities when they get home from work.
So, I'm planning to publish regular posts on Glasgow's JE exercise in the weeks and months ahead which will share some basic information and help everyone to understand what's going on.
If readers have any questions, feel free to drop me a note, in confidence of course, and I'll share your questions (without mentioning any names) along with my answers.
The bottom line is that JE is not exactly 'rocket science' and so it should be possible for every council employee affected to understand the A,B,Cs of job evaluation and to keep track of developments as we go along.
So long as you read the blog site, of course, and 'put your hand up' to ask a question - if you don't follow anything first time around.
Glasgow - Job Evaluation Update (02/10/19)
The serious work to replace Glasgow City Council's discredited WPBR pay scheme is now getting underway an will continue for the next 18 months or so.
As regular readers know the scheme was dealt a fatal blow by the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, which declared the WPBR to be 'unfit for purpose' in August 2017.
Although it's worth remembering that the City Council appealed this decision and lost again at the Court of Session in December 2017 before finally agreeing in June 2018 that the WPBR really was a 'dead parrot'.
So here's a reminder from the blog site archive of how far we've come and what can be achieved when everyone is united behind a clear sense of purpose.
Glasgow - Job Evaluation (06/03/19)
Here's the latest missive from Glasgow's chief executive, Annemarie O'Donnell, which explains what the Council is doing about scrapping its 'unfit for purpose' WPBR and replacing this with a new job evaluation scheme (JES) and new non-discriminatory pay arrangements.
As regular readers know, I've written lots about job evaluation on my blog site over the years, so I'll have plenty to say over the coming weeks and months as Glasgow gets down to the serious business of cleaning up its current WPBR pay arrangements which took a terrible mauling in the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court.
So watch this space in the days ahead.
Glasgow and Job Evaluation - message from Annemarie O'Donnell
I want to keep you updated about the implementation of a new pay and grading scheme to replace Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR).
A new pay and grading scheme will make sure that everyone is paid fairly for the work they do. Everyone who works for the council family and whose pay and grading is determined by WPBR will be affected.
Job evaluation is the route to creating a fair grading and pay scheme. All jobs in the council have to be evaluated so that each job is fairly categorised in the first instance, and then a pay and grading system will be chosen to determine the pay for each job category. This will make sure that everyone is paid fairly for the jobs they do.
The job evaluation process the council has chosen is used by the majority of Scottish councils to assess jobs and complies with the Equal Pay Act.
On Thursday 7 March the City Administration Committee will be asked to consider the following two year implementation plan and timeline for the process of job evaluation. The pay and grading scheme will be developed over the same timeline but detailed in a separate report for committee to consider.
You can read the paper which will be considered by committee here but the outline of the process is set out below.
Proposed implementation plan - March 2019 to March 2021
March to April 2019
A dedicated team will be established to plan the job evaluation process and staff will be trained on how to carry out job evaluations. The team will be made up of job analysts from council staff, including HR teams and trade union nominations.
April to June 2019
The first step in job evaluation is to create a list of all jobs in the council to be evaluated (these are called discreet jobs). This will largely be a desk top exercise with input from service HR teams and senior management teams.
The list of jobs will then be benchmarked against other Scottish local authorities to make sure that our job categories are as detailed as they can be (these are called benchmark jobs). For example, we know that there are various types of home care jobs and benchmarking will make sure we capture as many categories as we can before we start evaluating jobs. This makes sure that jobs are evaluated in the correct way, as described below.
July 2019 to December 2020
Job evaluation will begin in July and be phased. The phasing in each area of the council has yet to be agreed. By the end of 2020 everyone will have received a job outcome describing the key tasks and skills required to do their job.
December 2020
Everyone will receive a statement of particulars detailing the grade and pay applicable to their job outcome.
March 2021
The new pay and grading scheme will be implemented along with any changes to payroll.
April 2021 to March 2022
You’ll then have the right to appeal your job outcome and grading.
Involving you in job evaluation
There are thousands of jobs in the council family and we don’t need to interview everyone individually. Jobs will mainly fall into two categories:
· Generic jobs - a number of jobholders who do broadly the same work, these groups can be covered by a single evaluation with a representative number of staff being interviewed for each category.
· Unique jobs – all other jobs are more likely to be evaluated with one-to-one interviews.
Interviews will be carried out by trained job analysts and information will be captured using an electronic questionnaire – the same questionnaire is used for everyone
By June we will be able to tell you more about the detailed plan to evaluate jobs in your area and how we will keep you updated about the implementation. In the meantime, if you have any questions or suggestions you can email me at Annemarie@glasgow.gov.uk
Annemarie O’Donnell
Chief Executive
Glasgow, Equal Pay and Dead Parrots (19/06/18)
The Evening Times reports that Glasgow City Council is finally accepting that its WPBR pay scheme really is a 'dead parrot'.
Now no mention is made of the fact that the Court of Session, Scotland's highest civil court, condemned Glasgow's WPBR pay arrangements as 'unfit for purpose' way back in August 2017 - after a huge legal battle.
Nor is any mention made of the fact that the Council's discredited pay scheme was only put to the sword after a fantastic campaign by Glasgow's equal pay claimants - supported by A4ES, GMB and Unison.
A casual reader of the Evening Times could be forgiven for thinking that this decision was reached by 'enlightened' council officials and political leaders who woke up one day and decided - all by themselves - that the workforce suddenly deserved fair and transparent pay arrangements, untainted by the blatant sex discrimination associated with the WPBR.
So since the Council is not giving credit where credit is due, let me say a big THANK YOU to the thousands of equal ay claimants across Glasgow who made this day possible.
