Gapsquare is a tool that allows organisation to measure their gender pay gap, and obtain insightful visual representations of their gender analysis and workforce composition. Our team has worked closely alongside the new Government regulations that requires companies with over 250 employees to publish data on their gender pay gap. Our user-friendly tool helps companies be compliant and transparent in accordance with the new regulations.

Try it for free to get instant gender pay gap data, and check out all of what we offer here. We have created a short tutorial for how to use the tool, which you can view here.

You can trial our product for free, by signing up for the FREE tool, and creating an account based on a valid professional email address. Once your email address is validated, you can upload your dataset according to the format guidelines below, and within a few clicks, Gapsquare will calculate your gender pay gap.

You can also purchase our COMP tool, or PRO tool by signing up in a similar way here and we can support you in uploading your companies’ data.

Watch how the tool works by watching this short tutorial.

The gender pay gap legislation impacts only organisations of 250 or more employees, although organisations of any size may want to measure its gender pay gap. However, because Gapsquare uses statistical methods in the calculation of its results, it functions better with large enough data sets. A minimum dataset that will produce meaningful results would consist of 50 employees amongst which 20 at least would be of the same gender. Check out our data set example here to see what it could look like.

Data security is of paramount importance to use. Your data is encrypted and stored on secured servers in an anonymised format, which will never allow any personal identification. Please check our privacy policy for more details.

We advise that you export a file with the fields that you wish to upload either in Excel of CSV format. The data needs to be presented as a list of distinct single entries with values for at least pay and gender. Take a look at our sample dataset here for more information.

Your reference period if the period you wish to have your data analysed. This could be the last pay period you have available, either a calendar month or a week, depending on type of pay period.

The regulations do not define “employee”, so its definition under s.83 of 2010 Equality Act will apply, so this included apprentices and those who have a contract to do work.

Once you have uploaded your dataset, Gapsquare will analyse your data and most of the key information will already appear in the correct fields. Should you wish to include or exclude some variables from your results, you can drag and drop fields from the top left hand side of the menu to the fields area on the right.

Depending on which version of the product you have purchased, Gapsquare provides insightful analytics with as few information as the Gender and Pay Date, but the more data that is inputted, the more you can understand your workforce and associated gender pay gap within different variables of your organisation. Check out our short tutorial to watch how you can quickly map your fields.

If you want to try and see how the system works, feel free to download our mock data in CSV text or EXCEL xlsx and upload it yourself. Our data is well formatted so you will only need to set the gender column while processing the data.

Once Gapsquare processed your data, you can visualize your report which provides you with a series of results. The gender pay gap in your organisation is calculated as the raw gender pay gap, defined as the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of men and women expressed as a percentage of the average gross hourly earnings of men.

So the calculation is as follows: Gender pay gap = ( Male average HEXO* – Female average HEXO* ) ⁄ (Male average HEXO* ) * 100 % HEXO is defined as the Hourly Earnings Excluding Overtime and is calculated according to the following formula: (weekly basic pay + weekly shift premium pay + weekly bonus pay + weekly other pay) / by weekly basic paid hours.

This depends on the type of product you have purchased.

Our BASIC free tool allows you to upload your dataset numerous times, however every time you upload new data, new figures will be generated. If you wish to be able to keep track of your gender pay gap changes, you will need to upgrade to our PRO tool.

Our COMP tool allows you to upload your dataset just once, but the tool provides you with all the figures that you need to be compliant with the government regulations. You will have access to a downloadable report with the key compliant requirements and be able to submit this to the ONS as per the regulations. If you wish to be able to have access to further analysis, upload numerous datasets and see how your gender pay gap changes, you will need to upgrade to our PRO tool.

Our PRO tool allows you to upload unlimited datasets and keep track of how your gender pay gap changes. You can also have unlimited log ins for different managers, advisors or staff to view the analysis should you wish.

Oaxaca blinder decomposition technique popularized by Blinder (Journal of Human Resources) and Oaxaca (International Economic Review) is widely used to study mean outcome differences between groups. For example, the technique is often used to analyse wage gaps by sex or race.

At Gapsquare, we take data security very seriously and is at the heart of everything we do. We have a separate FAQ document specifically on security, which is available to view here.

The gender pay gap needs to be calculated based on hourly earnings. When you upload your dataset, you specify what exactly you are uploading e.g. hourly, weekly, monthly or yearly and our tool will then calculate the gender pay gap based on this information. All figures need to not include tax, national insurance, pension contributions or other deductions, so never include yearly actual earnings.

Yes, as we need to see the workforce composition of those who receive both bonus and ordinary pay, it is advisable to upload the data as one file.

The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2017 came into force in April 2017, and requires all private-sector and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees to publish data on their gender pay gap. Broadly similar rules apply in the public sector under the Equality Act 2010 (Specific Duties and Public Authorities) Regulations 2017.

The Regulations require private and voluntary-sector employers with 250 or more employees to publish details of their gender pay gap as it is in the pay period in which 5 April falls in each year from 2017 onwards.

Employers who have 250 or more relevant employees based in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales, but not Northern Ireland) on 5 April.

A relevant employee can be defined under s.83 of the Equality Act to include anyone employed under a contract of employment, a contract of apprenticeship or a contract personally to do work. Partners in firms are not “relevant employees”, although this also includes members of a LLP (limited liability partnership).

For the purposes of the regulations, only full-pay employees are included, so if full-pay employees are not being paid as a result of being on “leave” (annual leave, maternity, paternity, adoption, parental, sick or special), then they are excluded.

The gender bonus gap however, should include data for all relevant employees who received a bonus payment, regardless of whether nor not they are full-pay employees.

Employers will have to report:

• The mean pay gap – the difference in the mean pay of fulltime men and women, expressed as a percentage
• median pay gap – the difference in the median pay of fulltime men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The mean bonus pay gap – the difference in the mean bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The median bonus pay gap – the difference in the median bonus pay of men and women, expressed as a percentage
• The workforce composition between men and women who receive bonus pay
• The workforce composition between men and women divided into four quartile pay bands

Our COMP tool allows you to be fully compliant and report on all of the above criteria.

Statistically, the mean pay gap is calculated based on the Mean Hourly Earnings Excluding Overtime, i.e. Mean = the sum of all the observation values divided by the number of employees. The gender pay gap as opposed to the mean is not affected by extreme values, such as a very small number of individuals with extremely high earnings. Median = the middle value (in the case of an odd number of employees) or average of the two middle values (in the case of an even number of employees).

The regulations specify that you must include “ordinary pay” which includes:

• Basic pay
• Allowances (e.g. car allowances, recruitment or retention payments, sums paid for purchase/lease/maintenance of equipment)
• Pay for piece work
• Pay for leave
• Shift premium pay

 

Ordinary pay does not include:

• Overtime
• Redundancy
• Termination payments
• Pay in lieu of leave
• Non cash benefits e.g. childcare vouchers provided through a salary sacrifice scheme

 

Bonus pay includes:

• Productivity, performance and/or incentive payments
• Commission and profit shares
• Payments in cash, vouchers, securities options and interests in securities (e.g. share options)

 

Bonus pay does not include:

• Overrtime
• Redundancy
• Termination payments

 

When bonus payments relate to period that is not the same length as the snapshot (e.g. an annual bonus that is paid in one month), then it should be converted on a pro rated basis.

 

All types of pay included should be the amount paid before tax, NI, pension schemes, student loads and/or voluntary deductions.

The Regulations require private and voluntary-sector employers to publish their data within 12 months beginning with the snapshot date, so by 4 April 2018. It must appear on the organisations website in English and accessible to all employees and the public and remain on there for at least three years.

The results have to be published on the mean and median gender pay gap, the mean and median bonus gap and the workforce composition of men and women receiving a bonus, and the proportion of men and women in each of four pay quartiles. These results must also include a written statement signed by either a director, partner or member of the organisation’s governing body to confirm its accuracy.

Employers will also be expected to upload to a government website.

There is no legal requirement to provide a narrative on the figures or set out any actions each organisation is taking to address the gender pay gap. However, organisations should be aware of the potential damage to their reputation, especially if the data is not set in context or with an explanation.

An employer may want to demonstrate that whilst it may not have a gender pay gap, this does not necessarily mean it has an equal pay problems, employers are encouraged to publish explanatory figures and guidance – for example, publishing figures by pay grade, age or location. Our PRO tool allows you to understand and contextualise the gender pay gap, as well as providing visual insights, comparative analysis, predictions and pay trends and recommendations for change in narrative form that can accompany your data when it comes to reporting and publishing your results.

In regards to public-sector employers in England and Wales, they must publish details with a snapshot date of 30 March 2018. Unlike private and voluntary-sector reports, there is no requirement for a public-authority report to include a statement confirming its accuracy.

The regulations do not include an enforcement mechanism nor any sanctions for non-compliance, but it does state that failure to comply will constitute an “unlawful act” which empowers the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to take enforcement action.

Further, employers should consider the potential damage to their reputation of non-compliance, as they risk being seen as less attractive to potential future employees as well as within their own industry.

For public-sector employers, the EHRC has a responsibility for enforcing public sector equality duties and can apply to the courts for an order requiring compliance.

Agency workers and contractors are only included if they fall within the definition of an “employee”. An agency worker or contractor who does not have a contract with the employer (either a contract of employment or a contract personally to do work) should not be included.

Agency workers would be included in the calculation of the agency’s gender pay gap, if they have a contract with the agency, either a contract of employment, or a contract personally to do work.