Pay structures and job architecture
Clearer frameworks for roles, grades and pay decisions.
Well-designed job architecture helps organisations understand how roles fit together, how grades are defined and how pay decisions should be made.
Many organisations reach a point where their pay and grading arrangements have developed over time but no longer feel clear, consistent or easy to manage. A structured review can help bring greater clarity and confidence to future decisions.
EBRS supports housing associations, charities and smaller organisations with practical advice on job architecture, grading structures and pay frameworks. We help clients create clearer, more consistent structures that support fairness, affordability, progression and effective decision-making.
When it comes to pay structures, one size does not fit all. To tailor yours, we will look at what works well and what issues you have with your current system, and also take account of how you see your organisation developing.
We've helped clients who want to :
consider how roles should be organised into levels or families.
develop grade descriptors or level definitions.
align role assessment outcomes to grades or bands.
review market pay evidence alongside internal structure.
We will design options that will suit you now and for the future. These can include pay progression mechanisms, performance management systems and bonus schemes where appropriate.
We will cost out the approaches and can advise on how they could impact on your employees. We can then help you to communicate and implement the results.
-
Job architecture is the framework that describes how roles are organised across an organisation. This links together role size and market pay within an internal structure.
It may include:
job levels, grades or bands
role families
salary ranges
progression principles
job titles
career pathways
role profiles or level descriptors
For smaller organisations, job architecture does not need to be complicated. The aim is to create a framework that is proportionate, understandable and useful.
-
Grouping similar roles into grades can greatly simplify pay management. Job categorisation can help to achieve this transparently.
Creating a more formal framework for pay makes it easier to explain to employees. They can see where they fit within the organisation and see the opportunities for career development and for earning more.
Pay progression can be linked to general market movements, to a measure of their performance, or to a combination of both.
-
Pay can be linked to incremental points or managed more flexibly within a pay range. There are pros and cons to each and we can advise on what might suit your organisation.
We will help to ensure that your structure is flexible enough to adapt to unexpected changes in market rates.
It is important to test out different options to assess how they will work and to ensure that they are not discriminatory.
-
To reward performance effectively, you need to measure and reward the right outcomes, and that the systems you use must be perceived to be fair.
We can develop mechanisms that appropriately incentivise your employees, either through basic pay or bonus schemes.
-
The introduction of a new structure may be planned as part of broader HR changes, such as the introduction of a competency or behaviours framework, or to the development of a new performance management system. We can advise and assist with changes of this nature too.
-
The Construction Youth Trust is a charity that helps young people access employment opportunities in the construction industry.
They asked us to develop a robust pay structure to help them as their organisation grows.
We started by evaluating their roles and then benchmarking pay and benefits.
Next, we devised a grade structure, providing options for managing pay within this to reflect the geographic spread of their staff.
We also advised them on how their reward strategy could be reviewed to support their organisational needs.
We discussed our findings and a series of options with their senior team, before providing them with a detailed report and recommendations.
“We enjoyed working with Karl who was very responsive to the needs of our organisation during this period of rapid growth and development.
We now have a pay scale structure with the ability for our staff to progress without having to change job.
EBRS made the whole process very easy for us.”
Having trouble balancing market evidence and internal consistency?
Find out how EBRS can help you bring these perspectives together so that pay and grading decisions are better evidenced, more consistent and easier to explain.