Choosing the best gender pay gap reporting tool

Published: 7 November 2024 | by Michael Hissey, Senior Product Marketing Executive at Brightmine

In the United Kingdom, any employer with over 250 employees must report gender pay gap data on the Gender Pay Gap Service. This has been the case since April 2018 when the UK Government passed legislation requiring employers to publish gender pay gap information, with the aim of advancing gender equality between men and women and reducing the overall UK gender pay gap.

With deadlines looming this Spring (30 March, 2025 for most public authority employers, and 4 April 2025 for private, voluntary and all other public authority employers), it’s incumbent upon employers to create action plans for verifying this analysis early, as those deadlines can come up fast.

Reporting on gender pay gap data requires a certain amount of data analytics work and statistical analysis. The larger an organisation is, the more involved this work becomes, and it takes up a significant amount of time, attention and effort on the part of HR, compensation and people analytics teams. Various products are available on the market that can help with this work, but not all are intuitive or easy to use. We’ll provide an overview of them below so that your team is prepared to choose the ones that will make reporting your gender pay gap straightforward, simple and stress-free.

What are gender pay gap tools?  

Gender pay gap tools are designed to help employers run statistical operations on their payroll data to uncover the statistical differences in pay between men and women. The UK Government requires that the following calculations be performed:

• Percentage of men and women in each hourly pay quarter.
• Mean (average) gender pay gap for hourly pay.
• Median gender pay gap for hourly pay.
• Percentage of men and women receiving bonuses.
• Mean (average) gender pay gap for bonus pay.
• Median gender pay gap for bonus pay.

The reason an organisation would use a gender pay gap tool as opposed to conducting this work in-house (through software akin to Microsoft Excel, for example) comes down to efficiency. Tools that are tailor-made for this task significantly reduce the time, workload and amount of company resources that must be dedicated towards conducting analysis and reporting your gender pay gap.

The role of a gender pay gap tool in reporting 

Gender pay gap tools make it easier for HR and people analytics teams to do their jobs. Not all HR professionals (especially at smaller organisations) will necessarily be trained in statistical analysis, and so these tools provide a vital service by taking the risk, guess work and difficulty out of such an important (and mandatory) task. They help organisations ensure that their reporting is correct, thus hedging against the risks of human error.

In addition, advanced gender pay gap tools, such as Brightmine Pay Equity Analytics, formerly Cendex, help employers do more than just report on their gender pay gap. They take analysis further by providing tools that can analyse gaps across age, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and other demographic characteristics. In doing so, Brightmine helps organisations advance diversity and inclusion by empowering them to demonstrate that they care about ensuring fair average pay across any given position — truly bringing to life the notion of equal pay for equal work, no matter your background.

Gender pay gap reporting requirements in the UK 

According to the UK government, there are five tasks that must be completed prior to any of the aforementioned calculations being completed:

• Make a list of employees to include and their gender.
• Add ordinary pay.
• Add bonus pay.
  • Bonuses paid to full-pay relevant employees.
  • Bonuses paid to part-time relevant employees.
• Add weekly working hours.
• Work out your employees’ hourly pay.

The guidance for the above steps can be found within the statutory guidance section of the UK Government website — suffice it to say, each step listed above requires multiple degrees of validation, time and analysis that can be better spent on other tasks — which is why gender pay gap tools are an essential part of any HR team’s arsenal.

  

Who uses a gender pay gap tool? 

HR professionals with a focus on total compensation and people analytics are likely to use gender pay gap tools. This job family encompasses everyone from HR analysts to the VPs of total rewards and VPs of people analytics. What do they have in common?

How to choose the best tool for gender pay gap reporting  

Choosing the best gender pay gap tool for your organisation is an important responsibility. When analysing your options, review the following: 

Conclusion

With deadlines fast approaching, it’s a good idea for HR leaders at companies across the UK to decide on which gender pay gap reporting tool you’ll use. Brightmine Pay Equity Analytics has all of the capabilities and support you need to do this work and more. It helps you ensure that you’re compliant with reporting and enables your organisation to provide a better employee value proposition by promoting transparency, equity and diversity.

If you’d like to learn more? Book a demo.