“Taking your career to the next level” can be more than just an expression. Job levels offer a roadmap, providing employees a view of their potential career path within a company. But like most maps, job levels only show the routes — saying little about the roadblocks, twists, and detours along the way.
Career progression factors into employee satisfaction and retention. That’s where job leveling matrices come into play. The People at Work 2023: A Global Workforce View report reveals that 40% of workers now prioritize career progression, compared to just 23% in the previous year.
By combining job levels with competencies in a single framework that turns abstract concepts like career progression and fair pay into concrete, manageable processes, HR teams and managers give their people a clear roadmap for professional growth. Let’s explore job leveling matrices in depth, looking at why they are used and how to put them into practice.
Who uses a job leveling matrix?
Job leveling, sometimes called job classification, is a system used by HR professionals to define roles, develop career pathways, and set hierarchies within an organization. A job leveling matrix is a structured framework that outlines titles and roles alongside the competencies, skills, and responsibilities required at each level. This tool provides a clear picture of career paths within an organization.
Companies of all sizes can use a job leveling matrix. Its core purpose remains consistent: Show people where they can go in their careers and make sure employee development aligns with company goals. LinkedIn research shows that 94% of employees would stay longer with a company that invests in their career development. This makes job leveling matrices a win-win for employees looking to advance and businesses aiming to keep their best talent.
Small businesses may use simplified versions of job leveling matrices to establish basic career paths, while larger companies often implement more comprehensive matrices to manage their diverse workforce and complex organizational structures.
Why is job leveling important?
For HR leaders and managers, job leveling is a strategic tool that addresses and clarifies important areas, including:
- Job roles and responsibilities
- Pay
- Talent management
Job leveling is an investment that pays off in employee satisfaction and organizational efficiency. A job leveling matrix shows managers and their teams how different roles contribute to their company goals. “It specifies why you’re doing your job and what you are trying to accomplish,” said HR advisor Heather Albarano, owner and CEO of RCR Consulting Group.
Job leveling structures create a shared understanding across the company, helping employees see their current position and potential growth opportunities in an organizational structure. This visibility often increases employee engagement and retention, as team members can envision their future within the organization. It also can help employees decide if they are on the right path professionally or want to change their career track.
When it comes to salaries, job leveling contributes to equity in pay. It establishes a framework for fair pay practices, aligning salary ranges with well-defined levels. This method promotes internal equity and helps companies stay competitive in attracting top talent.
In talent management, job leveling enhances performance evaluations, succession planning, and skill development efforts. Identifying high-potential employees and creating meaningful development plans becomes more straightforward and effective.
Job Levels and Competencies
Building a matrix template requires careful consideration to set up job levels and competencies according to business needs. “The first step is going to be working with managers to really understand the knowledge, skills, and abilities inside of a role,” Albarano said.
Job Levels
Job levels are the progressive roles employees can hold in a specific department or across the organization. For example, the job levels within a human resources team might look like this:
- Level 1: HR Assistant
- Level 2: HR Generalist
- Level 3: HR Manager
- Level 4: Senior HR Manager
- Level 5: HR Director
Experts warn that without job levels, promotions and job titles can seem haphazard or ambiguous. If you expect your company to grow in the coming year, now is the time to implement levels.
“If you don’t have job titles buttoned up or your job leveling is not systematic, it creates a situation where employees feel less than engaged. If you have no standardization around your job leveling, it feels arbitrary,” said Sehr Charania Lalani, a fractional chief people officer.
Job Competencies
Job competencies are skills or qualities that employees need to embody to succeed in their roles. Competencies are particularly valuable for managers, as they can be referred back to when giving employees feedback, writing performance reviews, or delegating tasks.
“Competencies serve as a framework to help focus employees' behavior on things that matter most to an organization and drive success. They also serve a purpose when selecting and developing talent, and, when done well, they provide clarity for employees and managers,” said Julie Lamothe-Jensen, founder and principal at Moxie HR Strategies.
Each role’s list of competencies should be succinct and reflect what matters most to that specific job. “Let's say you're an architectural firm that employs structural engineers. What competencies are required to successfully fill this role? Employees will need to be skilled in the design, planning, and oversight of construction, for example. Pick the top three to five competencies that are required to be an accomplished structural engineer and define them in a rubric,” Lamothe-Jensen said.
Examples of a Job Leveling Matrix
Using competencies and job levels in career conversations is a start, but when you combine them in a matrix, managers and their reports get more out of both. The easiest way to visualize this is to list competencies as rows and job levels as columns. The intersecting cells should include a description of what someone in that role needs to do to fulfill that competency.
Here’s an example focusing on one competency, ownership, in a job leveling matrix that an engineering team might use.
This example is just one row of the matrix. Separate rows for competencies like communication, technical ability, and analytical thinking would follow for this particular job family, engineers. Visualizing job tracks this way helps give employees a better understanding of what the next step in their career journey actually looks like.
Employee career growth is seldom completely linear — and there are plenty of gray areas that can’t be neatly accounted for without adding nuance to the matrix. For example, a “level 1” employee might be going above and beyond with respect to one or two specific competencies. In other words, they might already be halfway to their next promotion. While that disparity might seem like it would complicate matters, it’s helpful for development conversations.
In the below example, a software engineer has been identified by their manager as a future candidate for a promotion.
With regard to analytical thinking and communication, this engineer just needs to stay the course — no improvements are necessary to merit their next promotion. But to prove themselves concerning ownership and technical ability, the employee might need to take on a new project or complete a third-party training program. That’s where goal setting comes into play.
“This way, we end up with a bespoke plan in place to boost our teams’ competencies and ensure that everyone develops their skill sets fully in a way that can actually be measured rather than something we just decide on a gut feeling,” said Mark Webster, cofounder of Authority Hacker.
Milestones like those aren’t just goals, they help employees develop successful individual development plans. They can also serve as guides to saying no to a boss, respectfully declining assignments that do not serve the needs of their team or company.
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How to Implement a Job Leveling Framework
Creating a job leveling framework requires strategic planning and execution. Generally, HR teams and managers work together to build them. They start with the basics, looking at things like education, years of experience, and any special certifications needed for the job.
When building the matrix, HR and managers also need to determine if jobs requiring drastically different tasks require similar levels of knowledge and experience. “This helps create a fair system for ranking jobs across the company, even when the roles seem quite different on the surface,” Albarano said.
To develop a job leveling system that benefits both your organization and its employees, consider the following steps:
- Set goals. Identify employee pain points and set objectives for your framework.
- Assign responsibilities. Form a dedicated team to oversee the project.
- Gather input. Involve stakeholders to align the framework with company culture.
- Design the structure. Create a comprehensive structure covering all job descriptions, from interns to directors.
- Include lateral paths. Offer growth options for those not seeking management roles.
- Define promotion criteria. Clearly outline requirements for advancement at each level.
- Communicate. Share the framework with all employees and train managers on its use.
- Review the framework regularly. Schedule periodic assessments to keep the system relevant and effective.
Bring your job leveling efforts to life with Lattice.
A job leveling matrix shows workers how they can grow in their jobs, making it easier for employees and their companies alike to plan for the future. Managers can use job leveling matrices to have meaningful conversations about competencies and promotions with their employees.
Discussions about career progression don’t have to be awkward or difficult. Lattice Performance Management makes those conversations easier and more effective, helping to build a strong employee development culture. That way, next steps are clear and employees always know what benchmarks they need to reach to level up.
Over 5,000 organizations use our people management platform to drive performance and engagement. Let us show you how we can help your organization grow. Schedule a product tour today.
Level up your team: Lattice provides a job leveling matrix for managers and one for individual contributors.
