Competences

Competencies involve the way in which an employee undertakes a task i.e. their knowledge, skills, attitude and behaviour. Competencies are a measure of an individual’s:

• knowledge of job content, practices and policies and overall work of the council;
• skills to deliver services effectively, interact with people and use resources appropriately to bring quality to their work;
• behaviours and traits which are observable and determine how well the employee performs their role.

Competencies have four levels, whether core, job specific or management. For each post within the council, competencies are identified and the level to which an employee is expected to perform within that competence is determined. Level 1, represents the most straight forward demonstration of competence and the levels progress up to 4 which demonstrates the highest level of competence required.

When determining the level of competence required for the post, you should take into account the expected knowledge, ability, complexity of tasks and need for supervision.  At level one, an employee performs routine tasks and requires supervision, whereas at level four an employee would be operating at a much more strategic level with council / resource wide implications.

In determining the competencies and level required for each post, you will have considered the descriptions provided and how they would be applied to the work carried out in that post. The descriptions have been worded to ensure they are reflective of the wide range of posts and services within the council. It is assumed that as an employee moves through the levels, they will have met the requirements described by the previous level.

There is no direct correlation between the levels of the competencies identified for each role within the Council through job families and with the Grade Levels associated with rate of pay identified through the Job Evaluation Handbook.