CUHK - HRO - Review Methodology

Job evaluation and grading diagnosis

The Job Evaluation (JE) process conducted by the Korn Ferry (KF) Consultants is based on 3 major factors of a job, viz., know-how, accountability and problem solving (not the current pay level), to measure the size of the specific job (in scoring points) as well as the relativities between jobs on a geometric scale with each step difference represents a 15% difference.

The KF Consultants then adopts a systematic process for ranking jobs logically and fairly by comparing job against job or against its pre-determined scale, KF Reference Levels (KFRLs), to determine the relative importance of jobs to an organization.

The JE process then enables KF Consultants to:

Clarify organization structure and job accountabilities
Use as foundation to build the grading structure
Maintain fair and equitable internal pay relativities between different positions
Make systematic and objective external market comparisons of remuneration with comparable work or roles to other organizations
Understand the job-related skills, competencies, and key performance indicators necessary to ensure job incumbents are successful

Based on the JE results, all jobs will be classified in the KF matrix table to reflect internal equity. An adaptive grading structure can then be designed by taking into consideration factors such as current challenges, internal relativity, market practice, competitiveness and sustainability. The proposed grading structure will serve as a basis in pay benchmarking and pay structure development.

Benchmarking study

KF Consultants conducted a market benchmarking exercise to evaluate the University’s present pay level and pay administration including but not limited to grading structure, pay range, allowances, variable pay, pay mix, pay policies, pay administration and annual adjustment mechanism for teaching and non-teaching staff.

Apart from collecting such information from peer UGC-funded universities, the KF Consultants also conducted a pay level analysis for non-teaching staff based on its general market database in Hong Kong.