EU Pay Transparency Directive Software Buyer’s Guide 2026

The unadjusted pay gap is the raw difference in average or median pay between women and men — the figure that appears in required reports. The adjusted pay gap controls for legitimate, objective wage influencing factors — role, career level, tenure, performance — and isolates the portion of the pay difference that cannot be explained by those factors. The Directive's 5% threshold applies to the adjusted gap. A rigorous adjusted analysis uses multiple regression on the natural log of pay, with factor weights derived from your actual pay data rather than manually assigned — ensuring results reflect your real pay practices, not your stated policies.

A Joint Pay Assessment is triggered when the adjusted pay gap in a category of workers exceeds 5%, cannot be justified by objective criteria, and has not been remediated within six months of reporting. The assessment must be conducted in cooperation with employee representatives and must identify the reasons for the gap and a concrete remediation plan.

Both matter, but for different reasons. Pay equity — directly addressing the gender-based pay disparity — should be the primary focus because that is what the Directive requires. If women in a category of workers are systematically underpaid relative to men after controlling for objective factors, that disparity must be remediated. Pay alignment — bringing individuals whose actual pay falls below their predicted pay up to that benchmark, regardless of gender — is a separate and complementary exercise. Pay alignment adjustments alone will not fully resolve a gender pay gap, since adjusting both men and women toward predicted pay dilutes the gender-specific remediation. That said, individuals who remain below their predicted pay after a pay equity remediation are still a legal exposure point under equal pay claims. The best EUPTD software supports both analyses and helps you understand the cost and compliance implications of each approach.

Any employee may submit a written request for their own pay level and the average pay levels of colleagues performing the same work or work of equal value, broken down by gender. Employers must respond within two months, and must provide a substantiated explanation for any pay difference within 30 days of a follow-up request. The burden of proof shifts to the employer in any equal pay claim that follows.

By conducting the pay equity analysis under the direction of legal counsel, the work product can be structured to preserve attorney-client privilege — a protection that standard NDAs do not provide. Under the Directive's shifted burden of proof, this is increasingly important. Trusaic works with your organization's counsel to ensure this structure is in place.

If you have entities in member states with earlier transposition timelines, RTI and salary range obligations may already apply. Even where national law is not yet in force, the analysis, WIF framework development, and HCM integration work required for first-cycle reporting must begin now. Trusaic helps you build the compliance infrastructure today, so you are ready when the obligation lands — not scrambling after it does.

Trusaic's end-to-end EU Pay Transparency Solution addresses every requirement of the Directive — from identifying and closing unjustified pay gaps, to preventing new ones at the point of hire, to generating audit-ready reports across all 27 member states. Trusaic has the world's most trusted pay equity methodology, which is the foundation to complying with the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

Yes, Trusaic offers the best Article 7 Right to Information solution in the market, which is trusted by compensation and rewards leaders at Fortune 100 companies. Our bi-directional integrations with global HCM platforms like Workday Extend and SAP SuccessFactors allow pay equity data to flow securely from the Trusaic platform back into the HCM. Employees can then access their RTI reports directly within their existing HR systems. This eliminates manual report generation and reduces compliance risk. For organisations that prefer platform-based access, RTI reports can also be generated and delivered securely through the PayParity platform, with role-based permissions and full auditability.