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Skill Rating

A skill rating is the scale you judge ability on: beginner, competent, proficient, expert. You build the scale once here as a set of levels, and Employee Skill then awards one of those levels to a person for a skill.

Where
People Directory › Setup › Skill Rating
Who uses it
The implementation consultant with the HR or production lead, once at setup
When
Before employee skills are recorded
Needs first
Skill
Shape
One record per scale, with a line per level on the scale

What it is for​

Recording that somebody has a skill is only half the answer. The supervisor needs to know whether they can be left alone with it. A scale is how that is recorded consistently, rather than one supervisor writing good and another writing OK.

One record is one scale, and the lines are its levels. Most clients need exactly one scale used by every skill. Create a second only if two kinds of work genuinely need to be judged differently, for example a four step shop floor scale and a three step office one.

Agree the words before you build the scale. The value of a rating is that two supervisors use it the same way, and that comes from the definitions being agreed, not from the record existing.

Every field, in plain words​

Skill Rating​

FieldWhat it meansWhat to put in itNotes
Skill RatingThe short code for the scale.SHOPFLOORRequired. Must be unique.
NameThe scale written out.Shop Floor Competence ScaleRequired. Translations are kept per language.
BlockRetires a scale.Leave clear.Ticking it stops the scale being offered on new records.

Levels​

One line per step on the scale, from the lowest to the highest.

FieldWhat it meansWhat to put in itNotes
Line #The line number.Fills itself. Leave it.
LevelThe number of this step on the scale.1 for the lowest, counting upRequired. Enter the levels in order so the scale reads correctly top to bottom.
NameWhat this level is called.Beginner - needs supervision at all timesRequired. The field offers the skill list as a lookup, so you may be shown skill names when you click into it. Write the level name you want here.
FactorA number held against the level.0.25 for the lowest step, rising to 1.00 for the highestRequired. Nothing outside this screen calculates with it, so use it to record the weight the client wants attached to the level, and keep the series consistent across your scale.

How to configure it​

  1. Create the skills on Skill first.
  2. Agree the scale with the people who will use it. Four steps is the usual answer. Five becomes an argument about the middle one.
  3. Create the scale: code SHOPFLOOR, name Shop Floor Competence Scale.
  4. Add a line per step. Level 1, named Beginner - needs supervision at all times, factor 0.25.
  5. Continue up the scale: level 2 Competent - works alone on routine jobs factor 0.50, level 3 Proficient - handles non routine work factor 0.75, level 4 Expert - can train others factor 1.00.
  6. Write the level names as descriptions of behaviour, not as adjectives. Needs supervision at all times is checkable, good is not.
  7. Save, then award ratings to people on Employee Skill.

Scenarios​

Two supervisors rate the same man differently​

Almost always because the level names are adjectives. Rewrite them as what the person can be trusted to do without help. The scale then describes an observation rather than an opinion, and the two supervisors converge.

We want the office rated on a different scale from the floor​

Create two scales. Keep the number of levels the same in both if you ever want to compare them, because a level 3 of 4 and a level 3 of 5 are not the same thing and nobody will remember that in a report.

What it is connected to​

  • Needs Skill to exist first.
  • Employee Skill is the consumer. It records an employee, a skill, the rating awarded, when it was assessed and by whom.
  • The ratings feed the skills gap conversation that drives Training Need, but the training screens do not read this scale directly, somebody carries the finding across.

If something looks wrong​

  • "It will not save a line" - the level, the name and the factor are all required on a line.
  • "The level names are showing skill names" - the name column offers the skill list as a lookup. Enter the level name you intend rather than accepting a skill from the list.
  • "The scale reads out of order" - the levels were entered out of sequence. Number them from the lowest step upwards.