EU pay gap reporting software: how to report across multiple entities

Pay gap reporting is where an organisation provides details on specific metrics, like gender pay gaps, as required by the relevant legislation. For businesses in the EU, this falls under the EU Pay Transparency Directive. In the UK, it’s covered by the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017.

Businesses in the UK must calculate and report on gender pay gaps annually if they have more than 250 employees on their snapshot date (31st March for public authorities, or 5th April for private and voluntary sector organisations). 

The information provided must include:

• Mean (average) hourly gender pay gap

• Median (middle) hourly gender pay gap

• Mean bonus pay gap

• Median bonus pay gap

• Proportion of male and female employees who received bonus pay

• Proportion of male and female employees in lower, lower middle, upper middle, and upper quartile pay bands (as defined in regulation 13 of the legislation)

Organisations that meet the requirements need to publish this information on their own website and upload it to the government portal by the deadline date (30th March for public authorities, or 4th April for private and voluntary sector organisations).

Employers with 250 or more employees can also choose to publish an action plan alongside their gender pay gap data. From Spring 2027 this will become mandatory, subject to legislation.

The UK isn’t an EU member state, but there are situations in which the EU Pay Transparency Directive still applies. If a business has 100 or more employees working in EU member states, they must comply with the directive — including the requirements for pay gap reporting.

Organisations that meet the threshold must report on:

• Mean gender pay gap

• Median gender pay gap

• Gender pay gap across complementary or variable pay (like bonuses)

• Average pay levels for roles, including a breakdown by gender

While the reporting requirements are similar to those in the UK, it’s essential to collect and publish the right data to comply with each EU member state.

Reporting pay gap data across multiple entities or countries requires a strategic and localised approach. For both the UK and the EU, data should be reported per entity rather than aggregated into one figure for the entire group. 

Headcount thresholds and reporting obligations are per entity, so you might find that one local subsidiary triggers reporting requirements while another doesn’t. If headcount fluctuates, one entity might need to report one year but not the next.

The easiest way to simplify, manage, and futureproof reporting needs is to standardise internal data collection and reporting:

• Standardise language: Decide on the terminology you’ll use for employment types, workers/employees, sex/gender, bonus payments, benefits, and any other metric you’ll need to report on. Once everything is correctly categorised it’s easier to run reports on the right data fields.

• Create clear job levels and roles: Map out existing and planned roles and introduce a structure that allows you to determine which roles are of equal value. 

• Introduce salary bands: Organise your pay and benefits into defined salary bands, so you can support transparency requirements and report on pay band-based requirements more easily.

Standardising the way you record and report on pay data across the organisation makes it easier to generate reports on a per-entity or group-wise basis when required. 

Gender pay gap reporting software helps organisations meet their reporting requirements with the help of automation. The result is a more efficient process with less room for human error, and a publish-ready report with figures you can confidently stand behind.

The core functions of pay gap reporting software include: 

• Data management: Consolidates relevant HR data (like demographics, hourly rates, salary bands, and bonuses) from your HRIS (human resources information system) and other systems for easier analysis

• Automatic calculations: Runs the calculations for mean, median, proportions, and other metrics that you need to report on

• Report generation: Automatically builds a submission-ready report for each entity, tailored to specific legislative requirements

Some pay gap reporting software tools also offer compliance tracking, checklists, and the ability to automatically generate submission-ready reports. 

The right pay gap reporting software is the one that aligns with your reporting requirements, supports compliance in the locations you employ in, and fits within your budget. It’s also essential that the software you choose integrates with your HRIS and any other tools you use for HR data collection and analytics. 

Compare vendors on:

• Location and legislation coverage: Do they only cover EU pay gap reporting requirements, or can you also use the software for compliance with the UK and other jurisdictions?

• Integrations: Does the software integrate with your existing tools? Can you build your own connections via API?

• Access and security: Is single sign-on supported? How are access controls assigned? Is the platform secure and compliant with the GDPR and UK GDPR?

• Customer support: What customer and technical support will you have access to? Are the hours or support methods restricted?

• Onboarding and implementation: Is there a guided implementation process? How long does it take? What does the onboarding process look like?

• Pricing: How much does the software cost? Is it a monthly or annual subscription? Are there any hidden fees? What’s the minimum contract term?

Pay gap reporting is a relatively recent requirement, so there are fewer vendors in this space compared to other types of HR software. Pay equity and gap reporting software options for the UK and EU include Sysarb, PayAnalytics, Payscale, Figures, and Ravio. It’s wise to compare vendors against your requirements, ask them the questions above, and speak to peers to find the best match for your needs.

Pay gap reporting software is useful for larger organisations with multiple entities or employees across different countries. Smaller, less complex businesses don’t necessarily need dedicated software to prepare calculations and submit reports. 

Consider pay gap reporting software if you: 

• Have 250+ employees

• Already have (or plan to establish) multiple entities or a presence in EU member states

• Want to simplify or standardise HR data reporting

• Want software to handle the calculations for you

• Need to manage reporting requirements for both the UK and EU member states

If you don’t meet the requirements above, you may not need dedicated software right away. The UK government offers advice on how to make your calculations, and there’s also a free pay gap calculator you can use to convert raw data into pay gap figures. Some HR platforms can also automatically calculate pay gap reports — including Personio.

Pay gap reporting software can be useful, but it still relies on clean, accurate data from your HRIS — something that HR software like Personio excels at. You can also run gender pay gap reports directly within Personio, so there’s no need to invest in standalone software unless you want to.

Personio’s compensation management and pay equity features include:

• Central system of record for all HR data, including demographics and pay-related metrics

• Automatic gender pay gap reports

• Compensation cycles and reviews

• Salary bands, performance ratings, and compa-ratios

• Guidelines for decision makers to improve fairness

• Multiple currencies and built-in exchange rates

• Support for one-time compensation

• Automatic data updates across the system

• Secure access controls

• Integrations with compensation and pay equity tools like Figures and Ravio for deeper analysis and reporting

Gender pay gap reporting software automates data consolidation, calculations, and reporting for organisations that must comply with legislation or want to understand pay gaps within their organisation better. 

In the UK, organisations with 250 or more employees on their snapshot date must report on gender pay gaps. They must also comply with the EU Pay Transparency Directive’s and its reporting requirements if they have 100 or more employees in EU member states.

Personio can help UK and EU organisations with gender pay gap reporting. HR teams can use Personio’s pay gap report to automatically generate a report with the data required for submission. Personio also acts as a central hub for all HR data, with HR analytics and compensation management features that allow employers to understand pay equity and improve transparency across the organisation.