Grades, steps and the design question

A grade is a level in the organisation's hierarchy of roles, used for pay ranges, eligibility and progression. That is the short definition and it is enough — the interesting part is the shape of the structure, not what the object is. Grades with steps, and grades without. A stepped grade defines discrete points within the grade, each with its own rate — common in the public sector and in unionised environments, because progression is defined rather than negotiated. An unstepped grade is a range with free positioning: a minimum, a midpoint, a maximum, and a person sitting somewhere on it. The design question is: how many grades, and do they have steps? And that one is genuinely not yours. It is driven by the client's reward strategy — how they have decided to pay people — and your job is to model the decision rather than make it. If…

In this module: Module 7 · Grades, Grade Rates and Grade Ladders

1. 1Grades, steps and the design question
2. 2Creating grades and grade steps
3. 3Grade rates
4. 4Grade ladders and progression
5. 5Grades in assignments and positions
6. 6What breaks
7. 7Lab: grades, rates and a date-effective increase