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Employment Equity Act, 1998 (Act No. 55 of 1998)

Code of Good Practice

Equal Pay/Remuneration for Work of Equal Value

5. Evaluating Jobs

 

5.1 Article 3 of the ILO Equal Remuneration Convention 1951 (No. 100) requires that "measures shall be taken to promote objective appraisal of jobs on the basis of the work to be performed".

 

5.2 While the Convention only applies to equal pay/remuneration for work of equal value between men and women, the need to conduct an objective appraisal of jobs is a necessary element of applying the principle in all contexts, in particular, to eliminate residual structural inequalities related to legislated and practised racial discrimination that applied in the labour market in South Africa.

 

5.3 In order to ascertain the value of the job for the purpose of applying the principle of equal pay/remuneration for work of equal value, an objective assessment in accordance with relevant and appropriate criteria must be undertaken.

 

5.4 The basic criteria commonly used to evaluate the value of jobs by an employer are—
5.4.1 The responsibility demanded of the work, including responsibility for people, finances and material. This includes tasks that have an impact on who is accountable for delivery of the enterprise's or organisation's goals, for example, its profitability, financial soundness, market coverage and the health and safety of its clients. It is important to consider the various types of responsibility associated with the enterprise's or organisation's goals independently from the hierarchical level of the job or the number of employees it involves supervising.
5.4.2 The skills, qualifications, including prior learning and experience required to perform the work, whether formal or informal. This includes knowledge and skills which are required for a job. What is important is not how these were acquired but rather that their content corresponds to the requirements of the job being evaluated. Qualifications and skills can be acquired in various ways including academic or vocational training certified by a diploma, paid work experience in the labour market, formal and informal training in the workplace and volunteer work.
5.4.3 Physical, mental and emotional effort required to perform the work. This refers to the difficulty related to and the fatigue and tension caused by performing job tasks. It is important not to only consider physical efforts but also take mental and psychological effort into consideration.
5.4.4 The assessment of working conditions may include an assessment of the physical environment, psychological conditions, time when and geographic location where the work is performed. For example, one may consider factors such as noise levels and frequent interruptions for office jobs as conditions of work.

 

5.5 Best practice indicates that the four criteria should form part of every job evaluation. These four criteria are generally regarded as being sufficient for evaluating all the tasks performed in an organisation, regardless of the economic sector in which the enterprise operates.

 

5.6 The weighting attached to each of these factors may vary depending on the sector, employer and the job concerned. These factors do not constitute any particular preference in respect of weighting allocation.

 

5.7 In addition, employers may take into account the conditions under which work is performed in evaluating the value of work. However, many employers take working conditions into account when determining pay/remuneration by, for example, paying an allowance, rather than as part of the job evaluation process.