---
title: How the EIGE point factor job evaluation method works
description: How the EIGE point-factor method evaluates jobs against the four factors of skills, responsibility, effort and working conditions to support equal pay for work of equal value.
---
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October 6, 2026
# How the EIGE point factor job evaluation method works
## The EU Pay Transparency Directive requires you to group jobs by work of equal value, and to explain why each job sits where it does. That takes a consistent way to measure the value of every job. This article explains the EIGE point factor method, the approach SkillsTrust uses by default, and how it works in practice.
### **How jobs get evaluated**
Job evaluation is the process of working out the relative value of each job. There are four common ways to evaluate jobs to create your job architecture: ranking, classification, factor comparison and point factor.
| **Job Evaluation Method** | **What is it?** |
| --- | --- |
| **Ranking** | Jobs are ordered from highest to lowest based on an overall judgement of their relative value. |
| **Classification** | Jobs are assigned to predefined Job Levels based on descriptors or typical responsibilities and skills. |
| **Factor Comparison** | Jobs are compared against key benchmark jobs to determine relative value across shared compensable factors. |
| **Point Factor** | Jobs are evaluated by scoring them against defined factors such as skills, responsibility, effort and working conditions. |
The EU-wide Guidelines for Gender Neutral Job Evaluation, published by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), recommend the point factor method with predefined factor definitions, subfactors, scoring scales, weights and formula for large companies with 250+ employees or 15+ roles.
Using a formal job evaluation method is not mandatory under the directive. That said, if you are building a job architecture from scratch, there is little reason not to use the standard that has been endorsed as best practice. If anyone asks in years to come which methodology was used, the answer is the EU method published by EIGE, and the details are available publicly.
The point factor method as endorsed by EIGE is the default framework on the SkillsTrust platform.
### **How the point-factor method works**
The point factor method treats each job like a scorecard. Every job is scored against four factors set out in the directive: skills, responsibility, effort and working conditions. The scores are added up, and the total decides which level the job sits at. The higher the demands of the job, the higher its score.
The most important rule is that you are scoring the job, not the person who happens to hold it. If someone has a master's degree but the job does not require one, the job is not scored as if it did. A person's qualifications, experience and performance still matter, but they belong to a separate exercise: deciding where that person sits within the pay range for their job. Job evaluation looks only at what the job itself demands.
#### **Concept 1: Factors and subfactors**
The four factors, skills, responsibility, effort and working conditions, have been known since the directive was published in 2023. What the EIGE guidance added is the detail within them: 14 subfactors that roll up into the four factors. There are five for skills, four for responsibility, three for effort and two for working conditions.
Each subfactor is scored on a scale. For most subfactors the scale runs from 0 to 5. A 0 means the subfactor is simply not relevant to the job. A 5 means a very high level of that demand.
Knowledge is the one exception. It is scored from 0 to 8. The wider scale gives finer differentiation where jobs call for different types or depths of specialist knowledge.
| **Factors** | **Subfactors** | **0** | **1** | **2** | **3** | **4** | **5** | **6** | **7** | **8** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Skills** | **Knowledge** | | | | | | | | | |
| **Interpersonal and communication** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Problem-solving** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Planning and organisational** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Physical** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Responsibility** | **People** | | | | | | | | | |
| **Goods and equipment** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Information** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Financial resources** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Effort** | **Mental** | | | | | | | | | |
| **Psycho-social and emotional** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Physical** | | | | | | | | | | |
| **Working conditions** | **Environment (physical, psychological or emotional)** | | | | | | | | | |
| **Organisational environment** | | | | | | | | | | |
For the full EIGE definition of each factor and subfactor, see the [Factor and sub-factor plan](https://eige.europa.eu/gender-mainstreaming/toolkits/gender-neutral-job-evaluation/supporting-materials/factor-and-sub-factor-plan).
#### **Concept 2: Points and weights**
Levels on each subfactor scale are converted into points based on weighting. The total points across all four factors is the job's score. The total points a job can score is 1,200.
Not all factors carry equal importance. Skills counts for the most, then responsibility, then effort, then working conditions. Two subfactors carry the most weight of all: knowledge and responsibility for people, each worth up to 12 per cent of a job's total score. These are the levers that move a total score the most.
| **Factors** | **Subfactors** | **Points** | **%** | **Weights** |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **Skills** | **Knowledge** | **144** | **12%** | **40%** |
| Interpersonal and communication | 96 | 8% | | |
| Problem-solving | 96 | 8% | | |
| Planning and organisational | 72 | 6% | | |
| Physical | 72 | 6% | | |
| **Responsibility** | **People** | **144** | **12%** | **35%** |
| Goods and equipment | 84 | 7% | | |
| Information | 96 | 8% | | |
| Financial resources | 96 | 8% | | |
| **Effort** | Mental | 60 | 5% | **15%** |
| Psycho-social and emotional | 72 | 6% | | |
| Physical | 48 | 4% | | |
| **Working conditions** | Environment (physical, psychological or emotional) | 84 | 7% | **10%** |
| Organisational environment | 36 | 3% | | |
| **Total** | 1200 | 100% | | |
#### **Concept 3: From points to categories**
The 1,200 possible points are divided equally into 10 levels, or groups. A job's total score decides its group: 0 to 120 is group one, 361 to 480 is group four, and so on up to group 10.
Most organisations will not use every level. The methodology allows for 10 by default, but a knowledge sector business, for example, often has no jobs at all in groups one or two. In practice, if you are using the default 10 levels, the extremes are rare. A job would only land in group one if it scored zeros and ones almost everywhere, and only in group 10 if it scored near the maximum on everything at once, which is an unusual mix. Most jobs fall between group two and group nine.
##### Source
Directive (EU) 2023/970 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 10 May 2023, on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms (Official Journal of the EU L 132, 17 May 2023).
EU-wide Guidelines on Gender-Neutral Job Evaluation and Classification, European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), March 2026. Available at eige.europa.eu.
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