Higher Education Role Analysis
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[edit] What is HERA?
Higher Education Role Analysis (HERA) is designed to analyse all roles found in Higher Education. It produces a total points score which is used to assess the relative value of the roles in a consistent and equitable manner. This score can be used to assign roles to appropriate grades or bands in a salary structure. It also creates role descriptions and profiles which support other human resource management functions such as career planning, training and development needs analysis, recruitment, selection and promotion. The written questionnaire is supported by computer software.
HERA is owned by the Educational Competences Consortium Ltd. Membership gives access to user support, training and consultancy, networks, provision of information and continued development of the product.
[edit] Guidance for role analysts
HERA, as a working tool comprises two main documents:
* The Questionnaire * The Notes for Guidance
It should only be used by those trained to do so.
The Questionnaire
The questionnaire is used to structure the analysis of the roles and contains 50 statements, grouped into 14 elements. Evidence of role requirements is gathered against each of the statements and assessed using the appropriate response table.
What evidence should be gathered
The evidence should provide examples of activities and responsibilities a role holder holds and is required to perform, in typical circumstances and situations, not the rare or extreme cases.Higher Education Role Analysis
However, for some of the elements, allowance is made for occasional requirements. It is clearly stated where this is the case. This provision has been made as it is known that some role holders are expected to perform certain duties, for example, only at specific times of the year.
Some role holders may have duties additional to the requirements of the role for which they may or may not receive extra payment, for example being a First Aider. Often these are agreed on a personal basis and are over and above normal role requirements. Activities of this nature should be excluded.
Some staff hold what might be described as multiple roles, for example a senior lecturer who is also expected to spend one day a week as a staff development officer. The activities carried out in both roles are part of the overall requirements and are performed on a regular, on-going basis. In cases such as this, the analysis should be based on all aspects of the role.
How to make the assessment
1 Consistency and Equity
As great care is needed to ensure that scoring is carried out in a consistent and equitable manner, Notes for Guidance have been produced to help interpretation. It is expected that each institution will develop its own notes to reflect its own context and local circumstances. 2 Training
The scheme should only be used by those who have received appropriate training and are able to use the scheme to the standard required. The training and continued development of those using HERA is key to achieving consistency and equity and a code of good practice has been developed to guide its use.
3 Verification
The evidence should be verified by someone who knows the role well and is authorised to do so. If there is any difference of opiinion, this should be resolved before the role is finally scored.
4 Scoring
A response is allocated to each of the 50 questions to reflect the role requirements, as evidenced by the examples. This response is translated into a numeric score. The calculation of the score can be performed manually or, more quickly and accurately, using the customised computer programme with the scheme.
5 The results
The computerised scoring process produces three outcomes:
Total points score which enables roles to be placed in a rank order
Role description which is a narrative outlining the role requirements using the question terminology
Role profile which is a graphical portrayal of the role, element by element
The computer programme also produces a number of reports which aid comparison of roles and understanding of role requirements and support quality checks.
HERA is a registered trademark.
[edit] Criticism of HERA
It is argued a malicious implementation of HERA may force staff to prematurely retire or seek for new jobs in another organisation, thus freeing of staff many departments which could then be effectively outsourced. Outsourcing departments like Accounts,Payroll and Procurement is now common practice.
