Case Study
Job Architecture - the Baseline for any Performance
A early-stage startup with around 100 employees lacked a consistent approach to job levels, titles, and salary structures. Employees complained about unclear career progressions, salary inconsistencies, and managers faced challenges in recruitment and retention. This eight-week project launched a structured job architecture, achieving transparency over performance expectations and career progressions.
Challenge
- The company had no standardised job levels or titles, leading to inconsistencies in pay across departments and a lack of transparency for employees on their career progression.
- Managers responsible for hiring struggled with offering salaries due to the absence of structured guidelines on new hire placement.
- Both employees and managers lacked clarity on how career paths would fit into the organisation’s framework and vision.
Strategy
1. Defining job families
- Grouping jobs by similar nature of work (e.g. Marketing & Sales, Engineering, Information Technology) structured roles around similar training, skills, and expertise.
- Team experts segmented these families further into job functions (such as 'Sales' and 'Sales Operations') for better role differentiation.
2. Establishing job levels and generic titles
- Distinct job levels were derived based on competencies, skills, and similar compensation, referenced by tech industry frameworks for titles and career progressions as baseline structure.
- Grouping ensured consistency across departments while allowing room for team-specific adjustments.
3. Introducing career tracks
- Creating individual contributor, expert, and management tracks provided fair career progression without forcing senior employees into management.
4. Company-wide alignment
- Discussions with department heads and aligning with the executive team ensured a consistent launch execution to all employees.
- After a final edits, all employees were mapped into the new structure and integrated into the firm's HRIS.
Results
- A comprehensive job architecture provided structural clarity across the organisation. Over 20 workshops with senior management ensured a collaborative and well-aligned approach.
- All employees were mapped into the new framework, providing clarity on career progression and compensation outlook.
- Improved communication supported people managers in guiding employee questions, hiring, and compensation using the new framework.
- Title and seniority adjustments were made where necessary to align with market standards and to promote internal fairness.
Impact
By implementing a structured job architecture, which included defined job families, job levels, and clear title guidelines, the company achieved greater transparency, improved talent acquisition, and a solid foundation for performance management programs.
Manager engagement is critical: Leaders need time to assess their teams and align them properly within the new structure. Establish an iterative levelling process.
Lessons learned
Don't rush, and phase implementation: Avoid setting expectations and job levels simultaneously to allow employees time to digest.
Flexibility is key: While a standardised framework is essential, allowing some adaptations helps to maintain agility, retention and market competitiveness.