What is the pay gap and what does the directive say
The pay gap is the difference between the average earnings of women and men, expressed as a percentage of men's earnings. This is not the same as unequal pay for the same work. It is a broader indicator, which, according to the draft Polish law, is presented for both basic pay and separately for variable pay.
The EU directive on pay transparency and equality (also known as the Pay Transparency Directive) covers two areas: transparency, meaning the right to information about pay levels and the criteria for setting them, and reporting on the pay gap. The problem of pay differences between women and men affects practically every country. The preamble to the directive states that in 2020, the pay gap in the European Union was 13%, with significant differences between Member States, and had only slightly narrowed in the previous decade. Inequalities in the labor market have always been observed worldwide.
The primary goal of the regulations is to enforce equal pay for the same work or work of equal value, as stated in the Polish version of the directive (the draft Polish law uses the term "work of equal value"). What does this mean in practice? The gender pay gap is not a single number. To objectively understand the scale of the problem, considering the specifics of the work and skills, it is necessary to prepare comparable data, i.e., to classify employees and their remuneration into comparable groups. EU regulations define indicators descriptively. The details of how to calculate them are left to the national law of each Member State. This distinction is important because the same company may report a slightly different pay gap in two EU countries while fully complying with the regulations. Understanding and differentiating what is established at the EU level and what at the national level is the first step in implementing the requirements.
Directive 2023/970 obliged Member States to implement local law by June 7, 2026. A few countries managed before the deadline. Poland also did not implement the reporting regulations on time.
How to calculate the pay gap: mean and median
The formula itself is simple, as it is based on the arithmetic mean and median. The catch is that "average remuneration" is not one obvious number. When calculating the average, several issues need to be resolved: what fraction of a full-time equivalent the employee occupies, which components of remuneration are included in the calculation, and whether remuneration from the contract or actually paid remuneration is taken into account. These questions are answered by local regulations in force in EU countries.
Mean: pay difference
The average gender pay gap is the difference between the average remuneration of women and the average remuneration of men, relative to the average remuneration of men and expressed as a percentage. The directive (Art. 3(1)(c)) and the draft law UC127 (Art. 2(12)) as of April 29, 2026, define it in the same way. The draft implementing regulation of April 24, 2026, expresses this indicator with the formula (SPWK - SPWM) / SPWM x 100%, where SPWK is the average remuneration level for women and SPWM for men. With this order, the result is negative when men earn more: if men earn an average of 30 PLN per hour and women 27 PLN, the gap is minus 10%. This is the same magnitude as a 10% difference in favor of men, just expressed with a sign resulting from the order adopted in the definition.
What constitutes "average remuneration" is defined: Art. 3 covers both basic, supplementary, and variable components, such as bonuses, allowances, and in-kind benefits. Art. 9 requires separate reporting of basic pay and variable components. Details that may affect the result, such as the treatment of remuneration for people on parental leave or sick leave, are regulated by national law. Therefore, two countries may derive slightly different numbers from the same payroll.
Median pay gap
The median is the middle remuneration: by arranging the remuneration of all employees from lowest to highest, the middle value is determined, where half earn more and half earn less (Art. 3). If the median for men is 28 PLN per hour and for women 25 PLN, the median gap is approximately minus 10.7%. The median, like the mean, is reported according to national law guidelines.
Pay gap analysis: what indicators need to be reported
The pay gap report is a set of indicators that, when presented together, provide a full picture of the pay situation within an organization. They are largely based on the mean and median, but cover different data ranges.
The first group of indicators is the average pay gap for basic remuneration calculated on annual gross remuneration and corresponding gross hourly remuneration (Art. 3(1)(b)), and the average for supplementary and variable components.
In addition to the average, the median is also reported, also broken down into basic remuneration and supplementary and variable components.
This is not enough to calculate the pay gap in a company. For a complete picture, two additional analytical perspectives are required: a breakdown by quartiles and the percentage of women and men receiving variable remuneration.
Organizations employing at least 100 employees will be obliged to report these indicators. The deadline for the first report and subsequent frequency depend on the size of employment.
| Number of employees | First report | Thereafter |
|---|---|---|
| 250 and more | by June 7, 2027 | annually |
| 150-249 | by June 7, 2027 | every three years |
| 100-149 | by June 7, 2031 | every three years |
| below 100 | voluntarily | national law may introduce an obligation |
Thresholds and deadlines come from Art. 9(2-4) of the directive, and the draft Polish law repeats them (Art. 72). According to the draft law, this data will become public, meaning it will be available not only within the organization but also outside it.
Additionally, the employer is obliged to calculate the difference in remuneration levels (based on the indicators listed above) broken down by employee categories. The gap by employee category is not published. It goes to employees and their representatives, and upon request, to the labor inspectorate and the equality body. Manually compiling this set and maintaining numerical consistency can be challenging. A platform like PayGap calculates all indicators from Art. 9, including the sensitive breakdown by employee category.
The analysis of employee pay differences, defined as described above, is known as the unadjusted gap. How large is the actual pay gap? This requires a deeper analysis of the factors that influence it.
What influences the pay gap
Several factors contribute to an unjustified pay gap, as this is the part that the employer must correct. Firstly, disparities in pay structure stem from employment history. Our observations indicate that companies hiring new employees apply gender-neutral criteria. During employment, however, if there are no clear criteria for salary increases, a pay gap begins to emerge.
Similarly, the situation applies to additional benefits, such as bonuses. If these are calculated based on subjective assessments, the likelihood of discrimination increases. Inequalities are caused by the common belief that women are more focused on home and family, dedicating less attention to work.
Pay gap in Poland: what the EU directive establishes, and what national regulations do
The EU Pay Transparency Directive sets out general concepts, and each Member State supplements the details in its national law. Companies operating and employing staff in several countries cannot assume a consistent methodology for the entire company.
| Established by the Directive (uniform across the EU) | Determined by national law (differs by country) |
|---|---|
| Definitions of remuneration, pay gap, median, and quartile (Art. 3) | Exact reference period, e.g., one month or full year |
| List of indicators to be reported (Art. 9) | Reference period and details for converting working hours |
| Work of equal value and four criteria: skills, effort, responsibility, working conditions (Art. 4) | Treatment of remuneration for individuals on parental leave or sick leave |
| 5% gap threshold as one of three cumulative conditions for joint pay assessment (Art. 10(1)) | Reporting tool and channel, e.g., national statistical portal |
| Reporting obligation, employment thresholds, and deadlines for initial reports (Art. 9(2-4)) | Sanctions and monitoring and enforcement bodies |
In practice, this means that the national implementation must be checked in each country of employment. The concepts will converge, but the number may differ. Tracking these national variations across borders is a separate task.
How to prepare data for reporting
The Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy has not completed work on the law required by June 2026 (as of September 2026). However, it is worth familiarizing oneself with the draft and preparing data based on it.
Most companies make a mistake even before the calculation itself. The gap by employee category (Art. 9) assumes the existence of these categories. Art. 3 defines an employee category as persons performing the same work or work of equal value, grouped according to gender-neutral criteria. These criteria, skills, effort, responsibility, and working conditions, come from the directive's provisions on work of equal value (Art. 4(4)). This means that categories can only be built on the basis of proper job evaluation. Calculating the gap without it is only possible at the organizational level, not by employee category. Therefore, the order matters: first job descriptions and evaluation, then categories, and only then the pay gap.
In the next step, it is worth checking the completeness and consistency of the data. Art. 9 requires not only the average itself, where many shortcomings can be hidden, but also the median, variable components, quartiles, and a breakdown by category. An incomplete report is still a report non-compliant with regulations.
How to correct the pay gap
Not every pay gap exceeding 5% needs to be corrected immediately. In some cases, the difference in remuneration between women and men is objectively justified and does not require correction. An example of a justified gap is a difference in additional remuneration paid for additional, self-initiated engagement in projects. If all employees have the opportunity to receive additional remuneration under the same conditions, and the actual differences result from individual employee preferences, then this is an objective factor that explains (justifies) the difference.
An unjustified difference of at least 5% should be corrected by changing the remuneration system (if it favors one gender) or changing the remuneration itself.
The problem of the pay gap is widespread. Hence the regulations and the need to implement the pay transparency directive. It is therefore worth looking at the numbers now, before the gap becomes public.
What are the consequences of pay differences?
The consequences are legal, financial, and reputational. Legally: an unexplained gap increases the risk of equal pay claims, and the burden of proof lies with the employer. A gap of 5% (unjustified) or more in a given employee category can trigger a joint pay assessment with employee representatives if the employer does not justify it and remedy it within six months of submitting the report. An unjustified gap exceeding 5% in any employee category can also be grounds for exclusion from public procurement or concession award procedures (Art. 24(2)). Financially: closing a confirmed gap means financing salary adjustments, and these are easier to spread over time when planned in advance. Reputational: some indicators are made public, and the gap by employee category is shared with employees themselves and their representatives. This shapes how current employees and candidates perceive the employer.
Pay gap: where to start
Calculating the pay gap is the end of the chain, not its beginning. First come job descriptions and evaluations, then employee categories, and only at the very end, a number that can be compared and justified. Anyone who starts by calculating will get a result for the entire organization and will have no way to explain it, because they lack an objective basis for determining which positions are equivalent.
It is worth looking at the numbers before the gap becomes public. In the projects we have carried out, job evaluation alone took six to twelve months, so the deadlines resulting from the regulations are closer than they seem.
At Symmetria, we build job architecture and evaluation, categories of work of equal value, and a defensible pay structure. We also conduct pay transparency implementations and discussions with employees and trade unions. How this works in practice is described in our case study of implementation at a university, where over 120 job descriptions were replaced by an architecture composed of 50.
Legal status: September 2026. The draft law UC127 has not yet been enacted.
