What is the purpose of a job family?

In the job framework, roles (jobs) will be organized first by job function and then by job family. These are the building blocks that group similar and/or related roles. A clear organization of roles will help you identify career options.

The graphic below demonstrates the general outline of the job framework:

Job Functions

The job function (A) is the largest category for the classification of related jobs—it contains related job families. Some examples of job functions include: Information Technology, Finance, or Student Services.

Job Families

Job families (B) are sub-categories inside a job function. These jobs perform similar types of work and may require similar skills, knowledge, and/or expertise. Job families are determined by the job function that contains them. For example, the Finance job function may contain Accounting, Payroll, or Tax job families.

List of job functions and families

Roles

All roles (C), or jobs, are contained within a job family. The graphic shows two roles listed beneath each family, but there could be many different roles, as well as roles in different career structures and at different career levels. Learn more about the career structures and career levels.

Job families are groupings of jobs related by common vocations/professions. Accordingly, they have many similarities. Jobs in a job family are similar in that they:

• Require similar knowledge, skills and abilities (competencies).

• Have a continuum of knowledge, skills and abilities that represent a career path from the lowest to the highest level job.
• Possess associated and related key behaviors.
• Have similar market competitive pay characteristics and conditions.

Why Job Families?

When determining the pay for a particular job, as it relates to all other jobs in an organization, there are differing ways to make that assessment. NU Values is a compensation philosophy that makes the organization of jobs into families a necessary step. In order to meet the University's compensation objectives-- “increased flexibility of program operation, enhanced growth and advancement opportunities, and improved competitiveness with the labor market” --it is necessary to have a way to organize jobs. Arranging jobs into job families is a widely used process, and it is the best solution for accomplishing the University's compensation objectives. For example, when labor market pay pressures affect an organization's ability to attract and retain talented workers, grouping jobs into families makes it easier to see and respond to those pressures.

Understanding the relative organisational position of each role can help to identify both career and succession planning opportunities. By grouping comparable roles, a clear view of the career path for each employee can be defined and mapped out. This framework established by job families can support conversations about career planning and pinpoint specific training requirements.

Clearly delineated role types also allow for greater consistency in performance reviews across the business. This lessens the pressure on line managers to take the initiative and have the right conversations at the right time with their team members because there is an agreed talent management approach across the organisation. For the wider business, it also helps to identify overlaps and gaps in responsibilities between business functions, strengthening the organisation’s structure.

As an additional benefit, a clear progression plan and defined pay scales within the job families system provide confidence and security for employees. This understanding of the payment thresholds and career path promotes improved productivity and increased employee satisfaction, both of which can have a positive effect on business growth.

What is a job family? Why is it important? And what separates it from a job function? Let’s dive in for some answers. 

Job Family Definition

A job family includes roles with similar education, skills, training, or experience. So, what is the difference between job function and job family? A job family is a group of job functions.

Harvard defines a job family as:

“A group of jobs having the same nature of work (e.g., Accountant or HR Generalist) but requiring different levels of skill, responsibility, or working conditions (e.g., entry-level versus senior level). The job family may also be referred to as a specialty area.”

and they define job function as:

“A broad category of jobs (e.g., Finance or General Administration or Faculty & Student Services) which includes multiple job families. The job function may also be referred to as a profession.”

Employees working in a specific job family might not have all the same duties, but they work in the same department. For example, an Accountant and a Financial Auditor are 2 similar (but different) roles in the Finance and Accounting job family.

Note: Check out our blog on What is a Job Function? to learn more about job functions. 

Job Families — Examples 

Job families might differ depending on which industry you are in (e.g., Higher Education vs. Fintech). Here’s a typical job families list used across most sectors:

• Administration
• Design
• Facilities
• Finance and Accounting
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Legal
• Marketing
• Operations
• Sales

So, how might a job family framework look in IT, Hospitality, and Finance? Here are 3 examples:

IT Job Families

The University of Tennesse system has a dedicated page for each job family. Their IT job family is made up of the 3 roles below, each with its own job functions:

Hospitality Job Families

Here is a job families framework from the hospitality industry. At each job family level, there are different roles. These roles might have similar duties, but they expand as a person moves up in the hierarchy:

Finance Job Families

The University of Wisconsin uses the chart below to outline their finance job families into sub-families (and sample jobs):

What is a Job Family Matrix?

A job family matrix is a helpful tool to organize information about different roles in a job family. Items to list in a job family matrix include:

• job title
• job code
• department
• salary/pay grade
• exempt/non-exempt status
• job summary
• core duties
• basic qualifications
• preferred skills or qualifications
• required certifications or licenses
• essential physical requirements
• working conditions

Here are 2 examples of a job family matrix template:

Harvard University’s HR Compensation – Professional job family matrix is in PDF format. But you can use it as a guide to create your own:

This job family matrix template from PDFfiller is downloadable, so you can make edits:

WHY I WROTE THIS? 

At Ongig, we love everything related to job descriptions. This includes job families that are the foundation for writing job postings. Check out our Text Analyzer software if you need help creating clear, consistent JDs (that are bias-free).

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