The short answer: the rule on the five percent gender pay gap signal is not changing this year. That rule is already in the text of the directive and has not been substantively amended. What is shifting is the number of employers that will be affected by it. As the transposition deadline for the member states has passed and the first reporting cycles are underway, concrete figures per pay category are emerging for the first time. Only when such a figure exists can the signal occur.
In other words: the mechanism itself is not new, but the practice is. An employer that reports for the first time this year may for the first time this year see a category in which the difference is five percent or more and cannot be attributed to objective, gender-neutral factors. For that employer, the signal is genuinely something new, even though the rule has been established for longer.
What does not change in the rule itself
The five percent threshold, the link to a pay category, and the requirement that the difference is not explained by objective factors: these are fixed components of the directive text. The follow-up step also does not change. If the signal occurs, a period follows in which the employer and representatives of workers jointly assess the pay situation. That period and its approach are established and have not been amended this year.
What also remains unchanged is that a signal in itself is not a judgment on whether a difference is justified. It is an outcome of a calculation that gives rise to further investigation, not a finding of a violation. Those who confuse this risk drawing premature conclusions about something that still needs to be assessed.
What is shifting this year
What is changing this year is not in the rule but in the timing. Member states had to transpose the directive into national legislation, and that transposition deadline has now passed. This means that the obligations no longer exist only at European level, but are found in national laws that apply directly to employers. For employers at or above the threshold of one hundred employees, this brings the first reporting deadline closer, and with that reporting also the first possibility that a signal may occur.
Whether and when this applies to your organization depends on the national law that applies to you and when your first reporting must be submitted. This varies by member state and by sector. In the knowledge base per topic you can see per theme what is currently established and what still needs to be determined at national level.
For those for whom this is really relevant this year
The shift primarily affects employers that are subject to the reporting obligation for the first time this year, and employers that already reported but are going through a complete cycle for the first time. For smaller employers without a reporting obligation, little changes in practice: for them the emphasis remains on obligations that already apply without a threshold, such as the pay range in a job posting and the prohibition on asking for a candidate's current salary.
Because it is still unclear for many organizations whether, when and in what form the reporting obligation will apply to them, this is a question that lends itself to an initial check before you invest time in it. With a few questions you will see what already applies, what is coming soon and what only becomes relevant at reporting, without needing an account for that.
What you can prepare for now
Even if the reporting obligation is not yet relevant for your organisation, it is useful to know how the categories that will be reported on are established. These categories are based on a classification of functions according to objective, gender-neutral criteria, and this classification is independent of when the first report must be submitted. Those who have this classification in order in good time do not need to wait until the reporting year itself to begin. How such a classification is established and what information is required for it is described on the page on how the underlying calculations work.
The six months remain unchanged
The period that follows once a signal occurs has not been adjusted this year and has neither been shortened nor extended. What does change is that more employers will encounter this period for the first time in practice, simply because there is now a reporting figure for the first time on which the signal can be applied. For an assessment of what this means for your organisation, a lawyer or the competent supervisory authority remains the appropriate point of contact; payria.eu structures and calculates, but does not make judgements on individual differences.
Would you like to know whether and when this will apply to your organisation? Take the free quick-scan or browse through the topics in the knowledge base to see what is already established and what still needs to be filled in on a country-specific basis.