Hay Job Evaluation Methodology: The Short Profile

In the Hay job evaluation methodology, the short profile is used as quality assurance (quality control) checks. It is also called the Profile Check. It helps job evaluators review as to whether they have develop the right “configuration”, “relative contribution”, or profile for the job being evaluated.

Job “Shape” or Short Profile shows the relationship between Problem Solving points and Accountability points. The short profile is used to check the accountability and decision making evaluation.

The profile itself is not an indicator of the level of the job. There are high level jobs in scientific research that have a minus 3 profile while there are low level management jobs have a plus 3 profile.

What is a Job Profile?

Jobs have shape as well as size. The profile of a job refers to the shape of the job. It is important in 3 ways:

• It is an independent check on the judgements made about job size.
• It describes the nature of the contribution expected from a job.
• It helps to establish a ‘best fit’ between people and jobs.

Job Shape VS Job Size

The evaluation score of a position gives an indication of its size, relative to other jobs. It answers the question, “How big is this job?”

However, the relationship between the scores for the Problem Solving / Thinking and the Accountability / Decision Making factors is indicative of the shape of the job and answers the questions, “What sort of job is this?” “Is it characterized by thinking (Problem Solving) or action (Accountability), or is the balance about equal?”

Source: Executive Group Position Evaluation Plan, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

4 Factors in Hay JE Methodology

In the methodology, the 3 Know-How, Problem Solving and Accountability are all linked together. Working Conditions is more “contextual” in nature. The full points would look something like this:

Just as a recap, here are the descriptions of the 4 factors.

How Does the Short Profile Work?

“Short profile” assesses the relationship between Accountability (AC) and Problem Solving (PS); with considerations given to Know-How.

PS and AC also have a relationship that provides information about the general nature of jobs that when examined either validates the evaluation or challenges the results.

Jobs with significantly more Accountability points relative to Problem Solving are usually very end results-focused, action or line jobs. When Problem Solving is greater than Accountability, jobs are typically more research-oriented, staff or administrative-oriented.

Jobs with essentially the same AC and PS points tend to have an administrative/action orientation.

Source: Hay Measurement, Hay Group

The profile is determined by identifying the step difference between PA and AC. The step difference is determined by locating the PS points on the step value guide and counting up or down until you have located the AC points. The number of steps taken in this procedur establishes the step difference. The direction (up +, down – ) defines the nature of the difference. You can see the job profiles of the job examples in the 2 illustrations below.

Source: Quality Assurance Checks:Short Profiles, HayGroup

Source: Time Rahul, R&D & Compliance, Karma Management Consultants

Source:Role of Job Evaluation in Salary Administration:Case Study of a Large Company in Hong Kong, written by Tsui Lap Fung, The university of Hong Kong

Up, Down and Level Profiles

• An action or results oriented job (PS is primarily oriented toward generating end results. Problem Solving takes a secondary position in this position. Therefore, the points given to Accountability / Decision Making will be higher than those for Problem Solving / Thinking. This relationship is known as an Up, or “A,” Profile.
• A balanced or level job (PC=ACC) is one in which the Accountability / Decision Making and Problem Solving / Thinking points are the same. The position will be staff-oriented and have responsibility for managerial or supervisory functions. This is known as a Level, or “0,” Profile.
• A thinking or research oriented job (PS>ACC) exists to apply Know‑How in the analysis, investigation and identification of situations. The Problem Solving / Thinking points will be greater than those for Accountability / Decision Making. This is known as a Down, or “P,” Profile.

If we turn the earlier “Relationships between Factors AC to PS” diagram 90 degree anti-clockwise, we will obtain the following chart.

Source: Quality Assurance Checks:Short Profiles, HayGroup

Here is the explanation of the above chart. While there are no hard‑and‑fast rules, particular types of jobs do tend to have predictable profiles:

A2 A3 These profiles are found in line management jobs which have a clear and well defined responsibility for achieving results, such as regional director for operations.

Up, Down and Level profiling allows the validity of evaluations to be checked against typical job profiles. Discrepancies, if found, may indicate an incorrect evaluation. However, they might also indicate an inappropriately structured job. Therefore, it is important to avoid letting profiles drive the evaluation process.

Source: Executive Group Position Evaluation Plan, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat

Method of Calculation

Here is the method for checking the accountability / decision making evaluation.

Step 1:Determine the step difference between PS and AC, using the Hay step-values table

• Find the Problem Solving (PS) points on Step Value table.
• Count up or down until you reach the Accountability (AC) points.

The following is the step value table. The difference between each value is 1 stop. 1 stop equals 15%

STEPS
3200
2800
2432
2112
1840
1600
1400
1216
1056
920
800
700
608
528
460
400
350
304
264
230
200
175
152
132
115
100
87
76
66
57
50
43
38
33
29
25
22
19
16
14
12
10
9
8
7
6
5
4

Step 2: If AC > PS, then A profile. If PS> AC, then P profile. If PS=AC then Level profile. The short profile number is determined by the amount of step difference.

• If you count up two levels, the job is said to be +2 or A2 or “up 2.” If you count down one level, the job is said to be -1 or P1 or “down 1.” If the points are equal, the job is said to be = or level.

Step 3: The percentage profile can be read off an intersection of problem solving % and step difference.

Characteristic Hay Profiles (Percentage of KH-PS-AC) Table

Here is how the characteristic Hay Profile table looks like:

Source: Job Evaluation Manual, Financial Management Board Secretariat, Northwest Territories.

The following is the short profile table without the scores. A4, A3,A2, A1 corresponds to 4UP, 3 UP, 2 UP, 1UP respectively. P1, P2, P3, P4 corresponds to 1 DOWN,2 DOWN, 3 DOWN, 4 DOWN.

%PS	TO FIND PROFILE: IN COLUMN BELOW THAT CORRESPONDS TO STEP DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AC & PS POINTS, READ PROFILE OPPOSITE % PS
	ACTION PREDOMINATES				AC-PS	PROBLEM SOLVING PREDOMINATES
A4	A3	A2	A1	LEVEL	P1	P2	P3	P4
87%

If we look closer at part of the short profile table (now with the scores) , this is how the Action Predominates and Level looks like

A4			A3			A2			A1			LEVEL
87%	29	26	45	32	27	41	33	29	38	35	30	35	36	32	32
76%	32	25	43	34	26	40	36	28	36	38	29	33	40	30	30
66%	36	23	41	38	24	38	40	26	34	42	27	31	44	28	28
57%	39	22	39	41	23	36	43	25	32	45	26	29	46	27	27
50%	42	21	37	44	22	34	46	23	31	48	24	28	50	25	25
43%	45	20	35	47	21	32	49	22	29	52	22	26	54	23	23
38%	49	19	32	51	19	30	53	20	27	55	21	24	56	22	22
33%	53	17	30	55	18	27	56	19	25	59	19	22	60	20	20

If we look closer at part of the same table (now with the scores), here is how the Problem Solving Predominates looks like.

P1			P2			P3			P4
87%	38	33	29	40	34	26	41	36	23	42	37	21
76%	42	31	27	43	32	25	44	34	22	45	35	20
66%	45	29	26	46	31	23	47	32	21	49	32	19
57%	48	28	24	49	29	22	51	30	19	53	30	17
50%	52	26	22	53	27	20	55	27	18	56	28	16
43%	55	24	21	56	25	19	58	25	17	59	26	15
38%	59	22	19	60	23	17	62	23	15	62	24	14
33%	62	20	18	63	21	16	65	21	14	66	22	12

Example

Source: Job Evaluation Manual July 2001, Financial Management Board Secretariat, Northwest Territories.

Let us use the above example to demonstrate how we derive the short profile.

The score for problem solving is 29.

The problem solving percentage is 25%

The score for accountability is 33.

From the step value table, we found that AC is 1 step up from PS.

So the job is a +1 or A1 or up1

Next look at the intersection of column A1 and the PS percentage 25%, we find the 3 possible answers for the profile 65, 16, 19.

Normally, the middle number would be selected.