Job Evaluation Framework (Hay Method)
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Job Evaluation Framework (Hay Method)
Job Evaluation Framework (Hay Method) Company Name: Evaluation Scope: Project Lead: Hay Consultant / Licence: HAY METHOD FOUNDATION & SETUP - Educate stakeholders on the Hay Method's three core factors. - Establish the job evaluation committee and governance structure. - Obtain or develop the Hay Guide Charts for the evaluation. - Define the scope of the job evaluation exercise. - Collect comprehensive role documentation as evaluation inputs. EVALUATING KNOW-HOW - Assess the depth and breadth of technical and professional knowledge required. - Evaluate the managerial and planning breadth of the role. - Rate the human relations skills required for effective performance. - Determine the total Know-How score using the Guide Chart. - Validate Know-How scores across comparable roles for internal consistency. EVALUATING PROBLEM SOLVING - Assess the thinking environment — how constrained or open-ended is the role's context. - Evaluate the thinking challenge — the complexity of problems typically encountered. - Calculate the Problem Solving score as a percentage of Know-How. - Validate Problem Solving scores against organizational expectations. EVALUATING ACCOUNTABILITY - Assess the freedom to act — the degree of personal discretion in the role. - Determine the magnitude of the role's impact on organizational outcomes. - Evaluate the nature of the role's impact — direct or contributory. - Calculate the total Accountability score using the Guide Chart. - Validate the profile shape — the ratio of Accountability to Know-How. IMPLEMENTATION & MAINTENANCE - Map Hay points to salary grades and pay structures. - Communicate job evaluation results to managers and employees. - Establish a process for evaluating new and changed roles. - Conduct periodic re-evaluation of benchmark roles to maintain calibration. - Train successive cohorts of evaluators to maintain institutional capability. - Integrate Hay evaluation data with HRIS and workforce planning systems.
Everything you need to know
01What Is the Job Evaluation Framework (Hay Method)?
The Job Evaluation Framework (Hay Method) is a ready-to-use, points-based approach for sizing the relative worth of roles inside an organisation. Rather than ranking jobs by title or gut feel, it scores each role against three core factors: Know-How, Problem Solving, and Accountability. Those scores, read against guide charts, produce a consistent points total that you can map to grades and pay structures. The framework walks from foundation and setup, through evaluating each of the three factors, to implementation and ongoing maintenance. Its value is internal consistency: two very different jobs can be compared on the same rational basis, which supports fair pay decisions and a defensible grading structure across the whole organisation.
02Why compensation and HR teams use the Hay Method
Teams turn to the Hay Method when pay grades feel inconsistent, when new or reshaped roles need placing, or when they want a structured, widely understood basis for internal equity. Because it evaluates the demands of the role rather than the person in it, it separates job worth from individual performance, which keeps grading objective. The three-factor logic also travels well across functions, so a technical, a managerial, and a professional role can all be assessed on comparable terms. For organisations building or defending a pay structure, it provides a rigorous, auditable method and a common language that managers and employees can be taught to understand.
03What the Hay Method covers
The framework is built around setup and three evaluation factors, followed by rollout. Foundation & Setup educates stakeholders on the three core factors, stands up an evaluation committee, obtains or develops the guide charts, defines scope, and collects role documentation. Evaluating Know-How rates depth and breadth of knowledge, managerial and planning breadth, and human relations skill, then validates across comparable roles. Evaluating Problem Solving assesses the thinking environment and thinking challenge and expresses the result as a percentage of Know-How. Evaluating Accountability weighs freedom to act, magnitude of impact, and whether impact is direct or contributory, then checks the profile shape. Implementation & Maintenance maps points to grades, communicates results, evaluates new and changed roles, re-evaluates benchmarks, trains fresh evaluators, and integrates data with HR systems.
04How to use this free template
Open the template above and start with the setup section, listing your committee, scope, and the roles you plan to evaluate. Work each role through Know-How, Problem Solving, and Accountability, recording your scores and validation notes as you go. When a role is complete, copy the finished evaluation into your grading records, or download it as a PDF or DOCX, or open it in Google Docs to circulate to the committee. No signup is needed, and you can reuse the template for every new or changed role.
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