What is a Job Family?

A job family is a group of people that work in similar jobs and have similar job descriptions. A job family describes roles in the company and typically consists of a supervisor and several employees who perform a specific function or set of parts. Additionally, members within the job family will have similar expenses because they perform the same type of work.

What are the benefits of job families?

Companies categorizing the job families follow a well-structured team pattern and know where they are going. Job families have many benefits –

Clearer career paths for employees

When an organization has a clear set of job families it becomes easier for employees to map out their career. Having defined job titles, functions and skills ensures that the employees of the same job family know their role better. It also shows them the framework they need to follow to move up in the company.

Simplified pay structure

Employees of the same job family receive similar pay structures. This encourages pay equity and promotes employee satisfaction because employees know what they are paid. Having pay transparency ensures that employees are paid according to the market standards.

Understanding current skills

Each job family is categorized based on a specific skill set. For example, the members on the graphic designing team need to have specific skillset like – they must be experts in Figma, Photoshop, etc. Job families make it easier for employers to understand what skills a particular team needs to benefit the company and identify skill gaps.

How are jobs included in a job family?

Jobs can be included in a job family based on four factors –

Based on Skill: For example, a job family has several roles which require the same skill as the SEO team, all of them need to be skilled at keyword research.

Based on Function: This is the most common factor used to describe the job family. For example, the Finance team or the HR team are job families based on what they do.

Based on Occupation: In some organizations, job families are defined by the occupations they do, like professors or administrators.

Based on business unit: Job families can be created based on business units as well. This is especially applicable in the manufacturing industry.

What are the examples of job families?

As discussed earlier, job families can be created based on occupation, function, skills and business units. So, the content team can be a job family which has the main function of creating content.

Job Family – FAQs

What is the difference between a job family and job function?

A job function is divided into many job families, and a job family in turn is divided into a lot of job roles. Job family is a section under job function.

What are job family competencies?

Job family competencies include all the skills and quality a job family needs, like for a Finance family job role, an employee will need accounting skills.

What is a job family matrix?

A job family matrix is a graphic representation of the job functions in an organization. It classifies the different job functions, families and roles. It also includes the job competencies a job family should have.