Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System Training Course

Course overview

Organisations need a defensible way to compare jobs across functions, countries and business units without confusing job size with individual performance, market pay or reporting-line status. The Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System provides a common job-levelling language, but its value depends on consistent role analysis, evidence-based factor assessment and disciplined calibration. This course equips compensation professionals to grade roles accurately, explain decisions to senior stakeholders and maintain a grading architecture that supports pay structures, career frameworks and workforce planning.

Participants work through the Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System methodology, from defining the job being evaluated to selecting and documenting the evidence used in a grade decision. They practise analysing job purpose, accountabilities, scope, decision making, knowledge requirements and organisational impact; applying grading guides; distinguishing legitimate job differences from title inflation; and reconciling grades across job families. The course also addresses grade governance, quality assurance, job-description standards, evaluation panels, appeals and the use of grade data in compensation design.

Teaching combines instructor-led demonstrations with realistic job documentation, worked grading cases, peer challenge panels and calibration discussions. Each participant builds a practical Global Grading System application pack for a selected or simulated role: a role-analysis worksheet, evidence log, proposed grade rationale, comparator analysis and stakeholder communication note. This deliverable can be adapted for use in the participant's own organisation, subject to its Willis Towers Watson licensing and governance arrangements.

The programme is designed for experienced HR, reward and people-management practitioners who already work with job descriptions, organisation structures or pay decisions and now need a consistent global grading method.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Analyse job documentation using a structured role-analysis worksheet to isolate enduring job content
• Apply Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System factor definitions and grading guides to evaluate role size
• Distinguish job value evidence from employee performance, market scarcity and personal qualifications
• Construct a documented grade rationale supported by accountabilities, scope and comparator roles
• Conduct cross-functional calibration discussions that resolve inconsistent grade interpretations
• Build a job-family comparator map to test internal grade alignment and progression logic
• Design a grading governance workflow covering submissions, evaluation panels, approvals and appeals
• Prepare a stakeholder briefing that explains a grade outcome and its compensation implications

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Compensation and Benefits Managers — who need a defensible structure for job grades and salary architecture
• Reward Analysts — who evaluate jobs and maintain grade, pay-range and job-family data
• HR Business Partners — who advise leaders on role design, titles, promotions and grading requests
• Job Evaluation Specialists — who require consistent application of Willis Towers Watson grading guides
• Talent and Organisation Development Managers — who connect career levels and role architecture to workforce plans
• HR Operations and People Analytics Leads — who govern job data and report on grade consistency across the enterprise

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working experience in HR, reward, organisation design or people management, including the ability to read a job description and interpret basic organisation charts, reporting relationships and pay-grade structures. Familiarity with concepts such as job evaluation, job families, salary ranges, internal equity and market benchmarking is helpful. Participants should be comfortable reviewing written role evidence and using Microsoft Excel for simple comparisons. Prior use of the Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System is not required, and no statistical modelling or programming knowledge is needed. Organisations using proprietary WTW materials should confirm their own licence access before applying course materials internally.

Training methodology

The course uses instructor-led explanation of the Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System alongside progressive practical work on realistic job profiles. Participants annotate role evidence, use grading worksheets and guides, compare roles within job families, and challenge proposed outcomes in facilitated calibration panels. Case studies include ambiguous job descriptions, fast-growing roles and cross-border comparators, requiring participants to identify missing evidence before reaching a grade decision. Small-group workshops produce documented rationales, while the final session converts learning into an organisation-specific implementation and governance plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Global grading foundations and role evidence

• Purpose of global job grading in compensation and career architecture
• Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System terminology and grading workflow
• Distinguishing job size from performance, person capability and market pay
• Job purpose statements and enduring accountabilities
• Evidence hierarchy for job descriptions, organisation charts and stakeholder interviews
• Job-family architecture and the role of career levels
• Role-analysis worksheet and evidence-log construction

Workshop: Participants analyse a flawed job description and produce a structured evidence log identifying the information required before grading.

Day 2: Applying grading factors and guides

• Interpreting Global Grading System factor definitions
• Assessing knowledge, expertise and role breadth from documented evidence
• Evaluating problem solving, judgement and decision-making latitude
• Assessing accountability, organisational impact and scale
• Using grading guides without mechanically matching job titles
• Identifying factor interactions and avoiding double counting
• Recording factor-level rationale in the grading worksheet

Workshop: Participants apply factor guidance to a detailed operational-management role and produce a first-pass grade rationale.

Day 3: Comparators, job families and calibration

• Selecting valid internal comparator roles
• Building a job-family comparator map
• Testing vertical progression between adjacent career levels
• Testing horizontal consistency across functions
• Diagnosing grade compression, grade gaps and title inflation
• Facilitating calibration-panel challenge and consensus
• Documenting dissent, assumptions and final evaluation decisions

Workshop: In a cross-functional calibration panel, participants compare three roles and produce an agreed comparator map with documented decisions.

Day 4: Governance and compensation application

• Grading governance roles, decision rights and approval thresholds
• Job-submission standards and minimum documentation requirements
• Quality assurance checks for grading consistency
• Appeals, re-evaluation requests and change-control procedures
• Linking grades to salary ranges and compensation structures
• Using grade data in pay-equity and workforce analyses
• Communicating grade outcomes to managers and employees

Workshop: Participants design a grading governance workflow and draft a manager-facing explanation for a contested grade outcome.

Day 5: Integrated grading case and implementation planning

• End-to-end evaluation of a complex multi-country role
• Resolving incomplete or conflicting role evidence
• Preparing a concise grade recommendation paper
• Presenting rationale to a simulated reward committee
• Responding to stakeholder challenges without disclosing inappropriate comparator detail
• Implementation planning for job-family review and data cleansing
• Personal application plan and post-course quality controls

Workshop: Participants complete and present an end-to-end Global Grading System application pack containing evidence, comparator analysis, grade rationale and implementation actions.

Tools & standards covered

Willis Towers Watson Global Grading System, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Power BI, ISO 30414

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions