Calculate the pay gap and check your pay-transparency readiness
Enter two average salaries and see the real gap as a percentage. Answer 5 questions and get your reporting deadline plus a checklist for 7 June 2026.
Why this isn't a later problem
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) requires member states to implement new rules by 7 June 2026. In practice that means three things at once: candidates must know the pay range before an interview, companies can no longer ask about past pay, and employees gain the right to check what people in similar roles earn.
On top of that comes a pay-gap reporting duty — but only for companies with 100+ employees, at a pace that depends on size. Smaller companies don't report to a statistics authority, but the rest of the rules (ranges in job ads, no salary-history questions) apply to essentially every employer.
Poland's implementing act (draft UC127) was still moving through inter-ministerial consultation as this was written, so the exact thresholds and penalty amounts may still shift. The EU-level deadline itself and the 100-employee threshold are unlikely to move, which is why it's worth starting preparations now rather than waiting for the final law.
Enter two salaries, answer 5 questions
The sliders on the left calculate the pay gap live. The questions below check whether you're ready for the rest of the obligations.
That's above the 5% threshold at which the directive requires an objective, gender-neutral explanation (e.g. tenure, scope of responsibility, performance). An unexplained gap at this level can trigger a mandatory joint pay assessment with staff representatives.
Act now
At this headcount you don't yet have a mandatory pay-gap report to file. The transparency rules (ranges in job ads, no salary-history questions) still apply regardless.
- Stop asking candidates about past pay — this is the one question the directive explicitly bans.
- Write down objective pay criteria (ranges, levels, bonus rules) — without them, pay differences can't be justified.
- Bring pay and hours data into one place — without it, calculating a real gap takes weeks instead of hours.
- Start stating pay ranges in job postings — this is already a requirement, not a nice-to-have.
What to do regardless of your score
Pick one role group (e.g. every specialist at the same level) and calculate the real pay difference — a better starting point than a company-wide average.
Review your last 3 job postings — do they state a pay range, and does anyone in recruiting still ask candidates about past pay?
Check whether pay, role and hours data can be pulled into one report today without manually retyping from several spreadsheets.
If you employ 100 or more people, put your first reporting deadline on the calendar — there's still time to get the data ready before it's needed.
Frequently asked questions
Q.1How is the "pay gap" here different from an official report?
This calculator computes the simple, unadjusted difference between the two salaries you enter — exactly how Eurostat and the EU directive define it. An official report requires a breakdown across every role category and pay component, so treat this result as indicative, not as a finished report.
Q.2Does every company have to report its pay gap?
No. The reporting duty applies to employers with at least 100 employees, at a frequency that depends on company size (see the calculator above). Smaller companies don't report, but the transparency rules on pay criteria and the ban on asking about past pay still apply to them.
Q.3What happens if the pay difference is over 5%?
The difference itself isn't banned if it can be justified by objective, gender-neutral factors (tenure, scope of responsibility, performance). The problem arises if an unexplained gap above 5% isn't corrected within 6 months of the report — the directive then requires a joint pay assessment with staff representatives.
Q.4Is Poland's implementing law finished?
Not fully. The draft (UC127) is going through inter-ministerial consultation, so detailed thresholds and penalty amounts may still change. The EU-level 7 June 2026 deadline and the 100-employee threshold come directly from the directive and shouldn't change regardless of how fast Poland's law moves.
Q.5Is the ban on asking about past pay already in force?
Some of the transparency rules around job ads and recruitment are set to take effect earlier than the rest of the directive — check the draft's current status, since the timelines for individual obligations aren't identical.
Q.6What if our pay data is scattered across several spreadsheets?
That's the most common reason companies can't quickly calculate their own pay gap. Before tackling the report, it's worth consolidating role, pay and hours data into one place — the same thing a proper time-tracking system needs anyway.
