Reference no: EM133305545

Assignment: At a secondary school, how valuable is a school secretary relative to an audiovisual technician? What about a law clerk and an investigator at a law firm? How about an HR manager and a service manager at a baked goods manufacturer? How about a health technician compared to a transportation worker at a hospital? Given that the jobs in each of these pairs differ considerably in the nature of their duties and necessary skills, are we not trying to compare apples and oranges when we compare the value of each job to the other?

In fact, that is precisely the kind of task that job evaluation is designed to accomplish. In Ontario, the application of a gender-neutral job evaluation system, in conformance with the procedures applied under pay equity legislation in Ontario, determined that the jobs in each pair are similar in value, despite their other differences and despite the fact that they had previously been paid significantly differently. As a result of this process, the first job in each pair (which was held primarily by females) received substantial raises to bring it in line with the pay of the second job in each pair (which was held primarily by males). The secretaries received a raise of $7680 per annum, the law clerks received a raise of $4.28 an hour, the HR managers received an increase of $4.65 an hour, and the health technicians received a raise of $2.79 an hour.

Question: HOW DO YOU COMPARE APPLES AND ORANGES?