How HR reporting closes the gender pay gap

In this article, we will:

• Define what the gender pay gap is.
• Outline employers' obligations under the law.
• Explain how to calculate your company's gender pay gap.
• Outline how our smart HR reporting can turn your obligations into a genuine opportunity.

The gender pay gap explained

What is the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average (mean or median) hourly pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage of men's pay. It can be measured across an organisation, or across the UK economy as a whole. At its core, the gender pay gap isn't just a compliance percentage; it's a macro-indicator of how effectively an organisation develops, promotes, and retains diverse talent across every level of its hierarchy.

The gender pay gap is different from equal pay.

The gender pay gap versus equal pay: what's the difference?

Equal pay is a legal right granted to all employees under the Equality Act 2010: men and women doing the same or equivalent work must receive equal pay.

By contrast, the gender pay gap is a statistical measure. It shows the difference in average pay given to all the men and all the women in a particular organisation, regardless of their role within that organisation.

You can fully comply with the Equal Pay Act and still have a significant gender pay gap – for example, because your higher-paid or senior roles are disproportionately held by men.

Key gender pay gap statistics in the UK

The ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings takes a 1% sample of employee data from HMRC's Pay As You Earn (PAYE) records to calculate the UK's average gender pay gap. The latest available data is for the year ending April 2025. Its key findings include:

For UK employees in full-time work, the median gender pay gap is 6.9%, down from 7.1% in April 2024.

For UK employees in either full-time or part-time work, the median gender pay gap is 12.8%, down from 13.1% in 2024.

In 2015, the gender pay gap stood at 9.6% for full-time employees, and 19.3% for full-time and part-time employees combined. So, the gap has narrowed significantly – but it's still there, and progress on closing it has stalled.

Note that the gender pay gap isn't uniform. The April 2025 survey found that it's at its widest among the top earners. Among employees in the 90th decile (those who earn more than 90% of other employees, but less than the remaining 10%), the gender pay gap stands at 15.2%. This is more than eight times larger than the gap for employees in the 10th decile, where it stands at just 1.8%.

The gender pay gap also varies by sector. The three employment sectors with the largest gender pay gaps are:

• skilled trades occupations (e.g. electricians, plumbers, masons): 13.9%
• cassociate professional and technical occupations (e.g. sales supervisors, paramedics, lab technicians): 12.5%
• process plant and machine operatives: 12.3%

SOURCE: ONS https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2025

Why is there a gender pay gap?

Structural and occupational causes of the gender pay gap

Historically, differences in pay between men and women were a product of direct sex discrimination. Women were regularly and openly paid less than men for performing the same work. This has been addressed by the Equal Pay Act, but the gender pay gap persists. Key reasons include:

• Occupational segregation: employees in lower-paid roles (retail, hospitality, care work) are more likely to be women. Meanwhile, employees in higher-paid roles (technology, finance, engineering) are more likely to be men. This is one of the most significant structural contributors to the gender pay gap.
• Seniority: senior leadership roles usually carry higher pay. ONS data to 2025 indicates that around 60% of senior management roles are held by men. This gap is even wider for director and C-suite level positions.
• The part-time penalty: ONS data indicates that between 70% and 75% of part-time roles in the UK are held by women. Around 37% of UK women work part-time, compared to around 17% of UK men. Part-time roles are often associated with lower pay and fewer progression opportunities.

The parenthood penalty

ONS data has consistently shown that becoming a parent has a significant impact on a woman's earnings. This is known as the motherhood penalty.

ONS data published in October 2025 shows that five years after giving birth to their first child, women's earnings were reduced by an average of 42%. The average total loss of earnings over five years comes to:

• £65,618 following the birth of a first child.
• £26,317 following the birth of a second child.
• £32,456 following the birth of a third child.

One key factor contributing to this loss is that mothers are more likely than fathers to reduce their hours or switch to part-time work after having children. Women may also find their career progression disrupted by maternity leave or by taking a career break to care for their young family. Finally, systemic unconscious bias against working mothers within an organisation's culture may affect a woman's chances of promotion after becoming a mother.

Men, by contrast, may experience a 'fatherhood bonus'. ONS data has historically found that full-time working fathers may earn up to 21% more than men without children.

Bias in pay, promotion and hiring decisions

Organisational bias (whether conscious or unconscious) makes a major contribution to the persistence of the gender pay gap. Ways this can happen in practice include:

• Unstructured salary negotiations: Stating that salaries are "negotiable" has been proven by many researchers to disadvantage women. Women who proactively negotiate a salary can be perceived as bossy, difficult or demanding, whereas their male counterparts can be seen as assertive, strong and confident. For more on this, see this study from the Harvard Business Review.
• Lack of pay transparency: The UK has a long-standing cultural taboo around discussing salaries. This lack of open discussion can make it easier for unexplained differentials in pay to persist.
• Unconsciously biased promotion processes: Many organisations value employees who are good at projecting self-confidence and promoting their achievements. This can tend to favour men in two ways. Firstly, men are socialised to be more comfortable with talking about (and talking up) their achievements. Secondly, qualities associated with this skillset can be perceived as positive in men (he's powerful, assertive and a good communicator) but as negative in women (she's domineering, aggressive and loud).
• Gender bias in performance reviews: Poorly constructed performance reviews can lead to unintended gender bias. Examples include women receiving feedback that focuses on personality rather than competencies, or women being held to a higher standard of proof than men when demonstrating key skills.

Gender pay gap reporting in the UK – what employers need to know

Who must report?

If you're an organisation with 250 employees or more on the designated snapshot date, the Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 state that you must provide an annual report on your gender pay gap. This applies to the public, private and voluntary sectors.

The term "employee" covers:

• anyone with a formal contract of employment.
• contractors who are required to provide personal service (rather than through a personal service company).
• temporary, bank or 'as needed' staff.

Part-time, full-time and zero-hours employees are all included.

The government has explored extending the 250-employee reporting threshold, so be aware that it may become lower in the future.

What must be reported?

Your report must include six measures of the gender pay gap in your organisation:

• Mean hourly gender pay gap: The difference in your average (mean) hourly pay between all male and all female employees, expressed as a percentage of the mean pay for men.
• Median hourly gender pay gap: The difference in your mid-point hourly pay between men and women. This is required to help correct for outlier data points.
• Mean bonus pay gap: The difference in average (mean) bonus pay received by men versus women, in the 12-month period before the snapshot date.
• Median bonus pay gap: The difference in median bonus received. Again, this is required to help correct for outlier data points.
• Proportion receiving a bonus: The percentage of male versus female employees who received a bonus.
• Pay quartiles: The proportion of men and women in four equal pay quartile bands: lower, lower middle, upper middle, upper. This is often the most revealing metric, as it shows how women and men are distributed across the pay bands in your organisation.

You're also strongly encouraged (although not legally required) to include a written narrative to accompany your report, and to outline an action plan identifying how you plan to address your gender pay gap.

How is the gender pay gap calculated?

All calculations are based on a snapshot date. For private and voluntary sector employers, your snapshot date is 5 April. If you're a public sector employer, your date is 31 March.

Mean calculation:
Add up total hourly pay for all men and divide by the number of men.
Repeat for women.
The mean gap is ((men's mean pay − women's mean pay) ÷ men's mean pay) × 100. A positive percentage means men are paid more on average.

Example calculation:
Men's total hourly pay: (£26 + £32 + £38 + £45 + £55 + £90) divided by 6 = £47.67 mean pay
Women's total hourly pay: (£24 + £28 + £31 + £34 + £36 + £42 divided by 6 = £32.50 mean pay
(£47.67 − £32.50) divided by £47.67 times 100 = 31.8%

Median calculation:
List all men's hourly pay in order. The median is the middle value.
Do the same for women.
The mean gap is (men's median pay − women's median pay) ÷ men's median pay) × 100. A positive percentage means men are paid more on average.

Example calculation:
Men's hourly pay: £10, £12, £15, £18, £20. The middle value is £15.
Women's hourly pay: £8, £10, £12, £14, £16. The middle value is £12.
(£15 − £12) divided by £15 times 100 = 20%

Why both matter: The mean is sensitive to high earners – a few very highly paid individuals can skew it significantly. The median is more representative of a typical employee's experience. Reporting both gives a fuller picture.

Deadline for gender pay gap reporting

For the private and voluntary sector: your snapshot date is 5 April, and you must submit by 4 April the following year.

For the public sector: your snapshot date is 31 March, and you must submit by 30 March the following year.

If you fail to report by the deadline, you'll be in breach of the 2010 Equality Act, which is enforceable by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The EHRC can take you to court and issue unlimited fines. There are no legal penalties for having a gender pay gap. However, a large or worsening gap poses a significant reputational risk, and you should take it seriously.

From reporting to action – using HR data to close the gap

Why reporting alone isn't enough?

Gender pay gap reporting tells you where you are, but it doesn't provide any guidance on why the gap exists, or how you can close it. If you publish your figures and provide a brief narrative, you may consider the job done. At Workday, we believe not acting on gender pay gap information is a missed opportunity. To close the gap, you need HR data that works as a diagnostic tool. That means:.

• drilling into your quartile data.
• analysing your organisation's pay by grade and function.
• tracking promotion rates and bonus allocation by gender.
• identifying the specific moments in the employee life cycle where women fall behind.

Analysing your data: what to look for

Getting into the details will look different for every organisation. Here are our top suggestions to get you started:

• Quartile deep-dive: most organisations find that women are concentrated in lower pay quartiles. If that's also true for you, is it because of the types of roles they hold? Or are women underrepresented in senior grades within the same function?
• Bonus gap analysis: if there's a bonus gap between your male and female employees, what's driving it? Is it related to eligibility gaps (so fewer women are qualifying)? Or is your organisation operating different award levels for equivalent roles?
• Promotion and progression analysis: what proportion of promotions went to women versus men? And which grade levels are the pinch points, where your pipeline is most unequal?
• Hiring data: what proportion of applicants, interviewees and hires are women? How does this vary by role level and function?
• Attrition by gender: are women leaving at higher rates than men? At what career stage? What are the exit reasons?

Mining your HR data for these kinds of insights is the difference between a static, single-point compliance report and a living understanding of your employees. We build our Workday analytics tools to give you the granularity you need to get into the details – as well as a single, integrated data set that's simple and intuitive to work with.

Building a credible action plan

You're not required by law to build an action plan, but at Workday, we think it's a smart thing for any organisation to do. An effective plan will:

• Identify specific root causes of the gender pay gap, as outlined above. Our Workday systems put you in the driving seat to manage and interrogate your data.
• Set measurable targets. Rather than simply declaring you're going to "reduce our gender pay gap", focus on specific metrics such as promotion rates, bonus eligibility or number of women in senior roles. Our Workday HR platforms can help you decide on a challenging yet feasible goal.
• Assign clear ownership. This should be a whole-organisation responsibility, with your people analytics teams, HR business partners, line managers and senior leaders all playing a role.
• Commit to regular tracking, ideally quarterly or twice a year. Use our Workday HR platforms to monitor and report.
• Be honest about what isn't working. It's important to recognise and adjust to failure, and recognise that when something doesn't work, there's a lesson for your organisation to learn.

Best practices for reducing the gender pay gap

Pay transparency and structured pay frameworks

This is one of the most effective structural interventions for closing the gender pay gap. When pay ranges by grade are transparent both internally and externally, unexplained pay differentials become harder to sustain. To support this, HR teams should:

• publish internal pay bands by grade.
• conduct regular pay audits to identify unexplained differentials.
• standardise starting salary decisions.
• wherever possible, remove subjective negotiation from the salary-setting process.

The time to act is now. The EU Pay Transparency Directive is coming into force in 2026, so organisations are running out of time to align. While the UK is no longer in the EU, if you have EU operations, you'll need to comply. The Directive will also have a significant influence on UK practice. If you need support, explore our Workday HR systems. We've built them to help you maintain consistent, auditable pay data across geographies and meet your obligations with confidence.

Flexible working and returner programmes

Under the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act 2023 (in force from April 2024), employees have the right to request flexible working from day one of employment. Flexible working is one of the most powerful levers for reducing the parenthood penalty and keeping women in higher-paid, senior roles after having children. To reap the benefits, forward-thinking organisations are making flexible working the default, not the exception – even at senior levels.

You should also consider return-to-work programmes that offer structured support for employees returning from extended leave (particularly parental leave). They help reduce attrition at a crucial life stage, helping you hold on to your experienced, valuable team members.

Talent pipeline and progression for women

Closing the gender pay gap at the leadership level demands a particular focus on managing your talent pipeline. Practices that are proven to work include:

• Structured succession planning that explicitly considers gender balance at each level.
• Gender-balanced shortlists for senior roles, implementing a deliberate process commitment rather than quotas.
• Bias-interrupting interview and promotion processes including structured scoring, diverse panels and blind CVs where appropriate.
• Targeted development programmes for high-potential women at mid-career stage. This is when the switch from team member to management takes place, and the gender pay gap is most likely to widen.

At Workday, our succession and talent management capabilities help HR teams everywhere to take control of their talent pipeline, monitoring and supporting initiatives that make a real difference to their diversity and gender pay gap.

Bonus and reward equity

If your median bonus pay gap is significantly larger than your median hourly pay gap, that is a specific and addressable problem. The causes? Women are less likely to be in bonus-eligible roles and more likely to be on reduced-hours contracts that can affect bonus pro-ration. Additionally, unconscious bias can creep in via performance ratings that are overly subjective.

Things you can do to resolve the problem include:

• Regularly audit your bonus eligibility criteria and check for unintended disadvantages affecting one gender.
• Regularly audit your bonus eligibility criteria and check for unintended disadvantages affecting one gender.
• Use structured, data-anchored performance frameworks that help eliminate subjective bias.

How Workday supports gender pay gap reporting and action?

Workday people analytics: from compliance to insight

Gender pay gap reporting is a legal requirement for organisations with 250 or more employees. At Workday, we give HR and finance teams the data infrastructure you need to go far beyond compliance:

• We create a single source of truth for all of your people data, from pay grade and job families to performance ratings, promotions and headcounts. Our single-system platform eliminates the multiplicity of files and spreadsheets that make analysis difficult or impossible.
• We provide pre-built pay equity analytics, so your HR team can run pay gap analysis across multiple metrics, including gender and ethnicity, using real-time data – with no need for manual data extraction.
• We offer configurable pay quartile reporting, so you can instantly generate the mandatory pay quartile bands. You can also see where you have gaps that need attention.
• We support trend tracking, so you can see whether your gap is narrowing or widening over time. Plus, drill-down functionality provides insight into which divisions, grades or functions are driving change.
• We deliver audit-ready data trails, so your six mandatory figures are always traceable to the underlying data. That gives your HR and legal teams confidence in the numbers before submission.
• We support talent and succession analytics, so you can track pipeline diversity monitoring at every grade level and in real time.

As pay transparency legislation evolves, make sure your organisation is ready. That means having a single, integrated people data platform that supports proactive insight and analysis for real-time action and improvement. At Workday, we have advanced HR tools to help. Our HR Analytics systems provide structured data, so you can see where your pay decisions could be misaligned. We can also help with creating bias-free performance evaluations.

Bringing it all together

The gender pay gap is solvable, but only if we treat it as a starting point for addressing damaging inequities in our organisations. The data is there. The tools are there. To get started, talk to Workday about bringing everything together in a single, usable, actionable platform.

Resources/planning resources for you

• Discover our People Analytics Software.
• Discover our VIBE – Value Inclusion and Belonging for Everyone™.
• Read our blog post on workforce planning.
• Ready to turn your gender pay data into action? Get in touch.