What you need, in brief
To prepare the gender pay gap report for one hundred or more employees, you need three types of documents: an overview of your job categories with the employees assigned to each, compensation data per category broken down by gender and by fixed and variable pay, and a documented reference period that aligns with the calendar applicable to your organization. Without these three components, there is nothing to calculate.
The detail most often overlooked in this area does not lie in gathering the pay data itself, but in the alignment between your job categories and the categories on which you report. If these are not identical, the report will be incorrect, even if the underlying figures are right.
The foundation: job classification must already be in place
The report requires compensation differences per category of equal work. These categories do not emerge during the preparation of the report itself; they are the result of the job classification that precedes it. Anyone preparing the report without the classification being based on objective, gender-neutral criteria is effectively starting from the wrong end. The classification is therefore not a separate document alongside it, but the foundation on which the report rests. More on how this classification is developed and what documents are needed for it can be found in the knowledge base with explanations per topic.
The figures per category: what must appear in the report
Per job category, the focus is on average and median compensation, broken down by gender, and the same for variable compensation components. The number of employees per category also matters, because small groups can otherwise lead to figures with limited meaning. The Directive and supervisory authorities look at total compensation, not only at base salary; bonuses, allowances and other components must therefore be included. Which data are precisely needed and in what form varies by situation, and this is one of the reasons why a calculation module that computes per category delivers more than a calculation in a spreadsheet.
The two calendars and the reference period
A report corresponds to a fixed period, and which period that is depends on the calendar applicable to your organization. There is no single start date for all employers; larger enterprises report earlier than smaller ones within the one-hundred-plus group. This distinction is precisely why it is wise to establish in advance which calendar applies to your organization, rather than discovering this only when the report should already be ready.
Why this part is most sensitive
The detail most critical in the gender pay gap report is that the categories on which you report must correspond exactly to the categories from the job classification. If an employee moves between the moment of classification and the moment of reporting, or if the classification used in the report differs from the classification established earlier, figures emerge that can no longer be traced back to a consistent basis. This is not a matter of a wrong number, but of a structure that no longer holds. For precisely this reason, the report should not stand apart from the job classification, but should build directly on it.
What you can verify yourself, and what requires structure
Whether your organization already falls below the one-hundred-employee threshold, which calendar applies and which categories you have already established, you can have checked in a few questions. This provides an indication, not a legal judgment; for the explanation on which that indication is based, the reference in the official text is always provided free of charge with the answer. How the calculation module then computes the gender pay gap per category based on the data you provide, and what approach it relies on, you can read at the explanation of how the system works.
For the question of what it costs to run the job classification, the remuneration policy and the reporting in one workflow instead of as separate documents, the subscription overview the breakdown by component.
In brief
The gender pay gap report consists of a breakdown into categories, remuneration data per category broken down by sex and components, and a reference period that fits your calendar. The most sensitive point is the consistency between the classification and the report itself; this usually involves more work than collecting the figures.
Would you first like to see whether and when this will apply to your business, and which documents you specifically need? The free quick-scan provides an initial direction for this, without you needing to set up an account.