What’s in a Board-Ready Job Grading Pack

Why “board-ready” matters

Job evaluation only creates value when decision-makers can follow the story. A spreadsheet of grades without method, profiles, or band logic rarely survives RemCo questions. South African buyers — private corporates, SOEs, SETAs, and mid-market groups — increasingly ask for the same deliverable pattern seen in public tenders: individual role reports, a consolidated summary, methodology, and a presentation for the committee.

Divine ICTP prepares human-led packs using Paterson or another recognised framework already in use in your organisation. We do not sell automated grading software. Where an estate already uses proprietary labels owned by other firms, we frame documentation and governance packs without claiming to licence or deliver those systems.

What typically sits in the pack

Use this as a contents checklist. Exact depth depends on role count, framework, and committee calendar.

1. Engagement scope

• Organisation context (sector, size band, bargaining or EE context as relevant)
• Roles in scope and explicitly out of scope
• Framework agreed for this engagement (e.g. Paterson; or another recognised framework already licensed in-house)
• Validation path: evaluation unit → grading committee → EXCO / RemCo / board as applicable
• Deliverables, timeline, and independence statement

2. Methodology note

• Why this framework fits the organisation
• What is evaluated: job content (purpose, accountabilities, decision rights, requirements)
• What is excluded: individual performance, person-fit, and automatic pay increases
• How consistency across roles is protected (comparators, moderation, audit trail)
• Limits of the exercise — what this pack does not decide

Grades describe the worth of the job. They are not a performance score and they are not a market salary by themselves.

3. Role profile outlines

For each role in scope, a short profile covering purpose, key accountabilities, decision rights and span, qualification and experience requirements, and working relationships. Profiles should be current enough for evaluation; stale JDs are a common source of grade creep and equal-pay risk later.

4. Grade summary table

A readable table of proposed grades (e.g. Paterson band and sub-grade) with a one-line rationale per role. Flag anomalies and roles held for committee discussion. Working papers behind the table should show who graded, when, and which comparators were used — the audit trail RemCo and auditors ask for when fairness is challenged.

5. Pay-band framework

• How bands relate to the grades
• Market path used: client-supplied survey extract, agreed peer set, or associate data — as scoped
• Positioning philosophy (e.g. midpoint policy) — client decision, documented
• Survey source, effective date, and peer definition stated explicitly
• Anomalies and recommendations for further review

Paterson (or any JE system) does not produce rand figures. Claiming “grade X equals market median” without a named survey vintage and peer set is indefensible.

6. Committee validation notes

• Questions the validation committee should pressure-test
• Relativities flagged for discussion
• Minutes / decision-record template

7. Board / RemCo presentation outline

1. Why this exercise now
2. Scope and method
3. Grade outcomes summary
4. Band framework
5. Risks and open items
6. Decisions requested

8. Next steps after sign-off

Implementation into HR systems, line-manager communication, and optional follow-on work (retained search for vacant critical roles; project support for structure redesign).

How RemCo uses the pack

Clean grades and bands feed rem policy design, internal equity conversations, and the structural story behind implementation reporting. For public companies and state-owned companies, recent Companies Act remuneration provisions raise the bar on narrative coherence — that is context for buyers, not legal advice from Divine ICTP. See RemCo readiness: grades, bands and rem narrative for HC inputs; engage qualified counsel for statute, King, and JSE matters.

What this pack is not

• Not a performance appraisal
• Not a salary survey product or proprietary pay database
• Not a Companies Act / JSE compliance certificate
• Not a substitute for licensed evaluation on proprietary systems Divine does not deliver