The Factor Plan
The factor plan is Sysarb's system for evaluating roles objectively and in a gender-neutral way as part of the pay equity analysis. It determines how roles are grouped, compared, and positioned in the Job Architecture.
Every role is evaluated across 10 factors divided into three categories. Each factor has defined levels — the higher the demands the role places, the higher the level and the more points. The total score determines the role's placement in the Job Architecture.
⚠️ Important: Always evaluate based on the role's minimum requirements — not on what the most skilled person in the role can achieve.
The three categories
The 10 factors are grouped into three categories with the following weighting:
Knowledge & Skills – 54%
Responsibility – 38%
Working Conditions & Effort – 8%
Knowledge & Skills – 54%
Measures the knowledge and skills required to perform the role competently.
1. Education – 14%
Assesses the level of theoretical knowledge the role requires. Levels follow the European and Swedish qualifications framework (EQF/SeQF). The assessment is based on the knowledge level required — not the individual's actual educational background.
Level 1 (5 points) — Requires professional skills obtained through brief instruction.
Level 2 (10 points) — Requires professional skills obtained through short on-the-job training.
Level 3 (15 points) — Requires professional skills obtained through specific courses and structured training.
Level 4 (20 points) — Requires professional skills normally acquired through a three-year upper secondary education or equivalent practice.
Level 5 (40 points) — Requires professional skills normally acquired through vocational college, apprenticeship programmes, or individual university courses.
Level 6 (60 points) — Requires professional skills normally acquired through a degree at the basic level of university.
Level 7 (70 points) — Requires professional skills corresponding to a degree at an advanced level of university.
Level 8 (80 points) — Requires professional skills corresponding to the highest scientific standard.
💡 Tip: Evaluate against the base requirement for the role — not what would be ideal. Education and experience complement each other; question any evaluation that sets both high without clear justification.
2. Experience – 14%
Assesses the work-related experience required to perform the role independently and to a satisfactory standard. All new employees receive an induction and some guidance. For more senior roles, prior experience from similar work is typically expected.
Level 1 (8 points) — Requires no professional experience. After a standard induction, the role can be performed independently.
Level 2 (16 points) — Requires up to one year of experience.
Level 3 (24 points) — Requires 1–3 years of professional experience.
Level 4 (40 points) — Requires 3–5 years of professional experience.
Level 5 (50 points) — Requires 5–8 years of professional experience.
Level 6 (60 points) — Requires 8–10 years of professional experience.
Level 7 (70 points) — Requires more than 10 years of experience.
Level 8 (80 points) — Requires more than 15 years of experience.
💡 Tip: For managers, count both leadership and specialist experience. Consider whether experience from other industries is transferable.
3. Social Skills – 10%
Assesses the interpersonal and communication requirements of the role — including the ability to convey and receive information, build long-term relationships, manage conflicts of interest, and influence others.
Level 1 (12 points) — Requires pleasant treatment and cooperation, mainly within own unit or nearby units in the workplace.
Level 2 (24 points) — Requires good communicative and empathetic ability in interactions with both contacts within the organisation and customers.
Level 3 (36 points) — Requires very good communicative ability and social skills to handle conflicts of interest.
Level 4 (48 points) — Requires high communicative ability to communicate complex issues.
Level 5 (60 points) — Requires persuasive and diplomatic skills in negotiations.
4. Cognitive Skills – 16%
Assesses the cognitive demands of the role — from performing routine tasks to identifying problems, evaluating options, analysing information, and developing new methods.
Level 1 (8 points) — Works with repetitive and relatively routine tasks completed mainly on a daily basis. Approaches are known and typically involve choosing from predefined alternatives.
Level 2 (24 points) — Requires the ability to identify and solve problems. Known solutions and domain expertise are used to solve recurring problems.
Level 3 (48 points) — Requires the ability to solve new problems, often based on known approaches and available information. More complex issues are resolved with domain expertise.
Level 4 (64 points) — Requires the ability to evaluate new problems and to analyse and modify known solutions. Working methods and solution alternatives are not given or defined and often require new thinking.
Level 5 (80 points) — Requires analysis of new problems, compilation and evaluation of information and other sources, and development of new solutions. Has multifaceted problems with demands for several perspectives — theories, methods, guidelines, legal interpretations, and impact analyses.
Level 6 (96 points) — Requires development of innovative concepts and strategies. Often involves research and/or development work in very complex contexts.
Responsibility – 38%
Measures the responsibility the role carries for decisions, people, and resources.
5. Impact – 18%
Assesses operational responsibility and organisational influence — covering planning, development, results, and follow-up from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. A key consideration is the scope of authority: does the role affect only its own tasks, the team, the division, or the entire organisation?
Level 1 – Strongly limited (15 points) — Has a scope of action that is strongly limited and restricted to one's own workstation or personal work area.
Level 2 – Based on guidelines (30 points) — Responsible for performing own tasks based on guidelines and instructions, with a focus on efficiency and reliability in execution.
Level 3 – Own work (45 points) — Responsible for planning and organising own tasks, and contributes to planning and development work within their workplace.
Level 4 – Unit/strategic (60 points) — Has either the scope of action to make operational/strategic decisions within own unit, or influence on work within their domain through decisions at a strategic level.
Level 5 – Units/strategic (75 points) — Has either the scope of action to make operational/strategic decisions within own and subordinate units, or influence on work within their domain through decisions at a strategic level.
Level 6 – Division (90 points) — Has the scope of action to make strategic decisions that affect the entire division.
Level 7 – Organisation (105 points) — Has the scope of action to make strategic decisions and implement measures that affect the entire organisation's strategy and results.
6. Leadership – 10%
Assesses responsibility for directing and distributing work, providing feedback on work performance, results, and salary, following up on goals and guidelines, and managing recruitment, development, and offboarding of employees.
Level 1 – Own assignment (0 points) — Responsibility limited to own assignment and inducting new colleagues.
Level 2 – Coordination (8 points) — Coordinates tasks within a team; trains and guides colleagues.
Level 3 – Work supervision (16 points) — Supervises a group of employees without formal managerial responsibility.
Level 4 – Unit, blue-collar (24 points) — Leads employees in operational execution (primarily roles without academic degree requirements). Responsible for operational decisions within own team (first management level).
Level 5 – Unit, white-collar (32 points) — Leads employees in specialist assignments (primarily roles with academic degree requirements). Responsible for operational decisions within own team (first management level).
Level 6 – Department, 2nd level (40 points) — Leads managers. Directly responsible for employees within own department (second management level).
Level 7 – Division, 3rd level (48 points) — Leads multiple levels of hierarchy (third management level).
Level 8 – Organisation, 4th level (56 points) — Leads multiple levels of hierarchy from the fourth management level.
7. Responsibility for People – 5%
Assesses responsibility for the health, development, care, supervision, and wellbeing of third parties — patients, students, clients, service users, or others the organisation exists to serve. This factor does not cover the organisation's own employees.
Level 1 – Normal care (0 points) — Responsibility is limited to normal consideration and care for others.
Level 2 – Professional responsibility (8 points) — Holds personal professional responsibility for others' health, care, development, or safety.
Level 3 – Independent (16 points) — Independently assesses and meets others' needs, influencing their health, care, development, or safety by following rules, guidelines, or programmes.
Level 4 – Change (24 points) — Independently influences, changes, and makes decisions about interventions relating to others' health, care, development, or safety.
Level 5 – Decisive/programme (32 points) — Independently evaluates, influences, changes, and makes decisive decisions about interventions, guidelines, or programmes relating to others' health, care, development, or safety.
⚠️ Important: This factor can be removed if no roles in the organisation involve exercise of public authority or responsibility for the wellbeing of third parties.
8. Responsibility for Resources – 5%
Assesses direct responsibility for and management of the organisation's tangible assets (equipment, machinery, properties, goods, inventory, environmental and natural resources) and intangible assets (source code, trademarks, patents, data). Responsibility for technical regulatory decisions — such as building permits, planning, and traffic matters — is also assessed here.
Level 1 – Normal diligence (0 points) — Responsibility is limited to normal diligence in handling resources.
Level 2 – Professional responsibility (8 points) — Holds personal professional responsibility for using, storing, and maintaining resources of relatively large financial value.
Level 3 – Large values (16 points) — Has independent responsibility to develop, maintain, or manage resources of large financial value by following rules, instructions, or programmes. Consequences of negligence and violations become noticeable for the organisation.
Level 4 – Serious consequences (24 points) — Has independent responsibility to develop or manage resources of extensive financial value where consequences of negligence and violations are serious for the organisation.
Level 5 – Overall (32 points) — Holds overall and strategic responsibility for resources within the organisation. Negligence, violations, or misuse in decisions typically leads to extensive financial and operational consequences.
Working Conditions & Effort – 8%
Measures the physical and psychosocial demands that are an inherent part of the role.
9. Physical Working Conditions – 4%
Assesses the role's basic physical demands over time, including unpleasant environments such as high noise levels, pollution, odours, and elevated risk of personal injury or infection — provided that occupational health and safety regulations are followed. The likelihood of injury or violent situations occurring in the workplace is also assessed here.
Level 1 – Good (6 points) — Performs work indoors or outdoors where some exertion occurs, but for relatively short periods and where relief is available. The risk of personal injury or illness is low.
Level 2 – Strenuous (12 points) — Performs work that for shorter periods can contain physically strenuous situations. There is a limited, but present, risk of personal injury or illness.
Level 3 – Risks (18 points) — Performs work that at every shift contains physically uncomfortable working positions and strenuous physical situations. There is an increased risk of accidents, injury, or illness.
Level 4 – Major risks (24 points) — Performs work where physically uncomfortable working positions and very strenuous physical situations are a natural part of the role. There is a very high risk of accidents, injury, or illness.
10. Psychosocial Working Conditions – 4%
Assesses the role's psychological and emotional demands over time, including time pressure and stress levels.
Level 1 – Good (6 points) — Performs work that mainly consists of routine and recurring tasks where conditions exist to plan and organise the work.
Level 2 – Some strain (12 points) — Performs work that regularly involves time pressure while unforeseen and unplanned tasks arise requiring situational adaptation.
Level 3 – Daily strain (18 points) — Performs work that daily contains mentally strenuous tasks such as requirements for availability, situational adaptation, deep concentration on complex tasks, time pressure, communication difficulties, stressful relationships, and/or threats of violence.
Level 4 – Highly demanding (24 points) — Performs work that for the greater part of working hours contains mentally strenuous tasks such as requirements for availability, situational adaptation, deep concentration on complex tasks, time pressure, communication difficulties, stressful relationships, and/or threats of violence.
💡 Tip: Focus on the nature of the work — not the organisational culture. Burnout risk and a fast-paced environment reflect culture, not the role itself, and should not push this factor to a higher level.
Key principles for evaluation
Evaluate the role — not the person. Base the evaluation on the role's requirements, regardless of who currently holds it.
Minimum requirements, not maximum potential. Set each level based on what is needed to perform the work competently after a standard induction.
Avoid double-counting. Education and experience complement each other — question any evaluation that sets both high without clear justification.
Calibrate against comparable roles. Always compare against roles at a similar level to maintain consistency across the Job Architecture.