The article analyzes the essence of the concept of “qualification”, the evolution of approaches to understanding the essence and content of professional qualification, its interpretation in international and Russian regulatory documents. The reasons for the transition from unified qualification guides to professional standards as documents that systematically describe the requirements for the level of qualification of an employee, including education, professional experience and other important characteristics are considered. The system description of labor function and specific labor actions set forth in the standard allows taking into account the possibility of different levels of professional skills. The analysis of the dynamics of introduction, actualization and exclusion of professional standards from the unified register is presented, based on which it is concluded that it is necessary to include the monitoring of requirements for personnel qualification in the number of mandatory areas of personnel work. Approaches to qualification assessment as a basic basis for the formation of remuneration system in the organization, providing objectivity of the established remuneration and contributing to the growth of staff motivation to professional development are considered.