Pay range in every job ad, first pay gap report by 7 June 2027: an EU Pay Transparency Directive sheet (Articles 5, 7, 9, 10) for small businesses using AI for hiring and their accountants
What you get: a finished pay transparency sheet in three tabs: a job ads tab with one row per vacancy (including ads and application forms written or run by an AI tool) and a formula that flags a missing pay range, a pay-history question or a non-neutral title; a pay gap tab where you paste one row per worker from payroll and get the seven Article 9 figures (mean and median gap, variable pay gap, share receiving variable pay, quartile bands, gap per category with a 5% flag); and a dates and requests tab with the first report date by headcount, a two-month reply clock for worker requests and two short templates. Six made-up example workers show how it fills in.
Short answer: Directive (EU) 2023/970 had to be transposed "by 7 June 2026" (Article 34(1)). Every employer, of any size, must give job applicants "the initial pay or its range" for the position, "such as in a published job vacancy notice, prior to the job interview or otherwise" (Article 5(1)), "shall not ask applicants about their pay history" (Article 5(2)), and must keep job vacancy notices and job titles "gender-neutral" (Article 5(3)). Employers with 150 workers or more must report their gender pay gap "by 7 June 2027", using data for "the previous calendar year" (Article 9(2) and (3)). So for those clients, the 2026 payroll that closes on 31 December is the data for the first report. Employers with 100 to 149 workers report first by 7 June 2031 (Article 9(4)).
Why accountants and payroll bureaus should look at this now
- The job ad rules already bind small clients. Article 5 has no size threshold. If a client lets an AI tool draft job ads, chat with applicants or fill in application forms, the tool's output is the client's job ad. A form field such as "current salary" is the pay-history question Article 5(2) bans; Recital 33 adds that employers "should not be allowed to enquire or proactively try to obtain information about the current pay or prior pay history of an applicant".
- Missing transparency moves the burden of proof. Where an employer "has not implemented the pay transparency obligations set out in Articles 5, 6, 7, 9 and 10, it is for the employer to prove that there has been no such discrimination" (Article 18(2)), unless the failure was "manifestly unintentional and of a minor character".
- Back pay has no cap. Compensation includes "full recovery of back pay and related bonuses or payments in kind" and interest, and "shall not be restricted by the fixing of a prior upper limit" (Article 16(3) and (4)). Limitation periods must be "no shorter than three years" (Article 21(1)).
- Public tenders. Contracting authorities may exclude a bidder that fails pay transparency obligations or has "a pay gap of more than 5 % in any category of workers" not justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria (Article 24(2)). Clients that bid for public contracts should check this before their next tender.
Pay means basic or minimum wage or salary "and any other consideration, whether in cash or in kind" (Article 3(1)(a)); "pay level" means "gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay" (Article 3(1)(b)). The Commission's FAQ confirms that "complementary or variable components constitute an integral part of the definition of pay" and that the Directive "a priori" does not cover the self-employed, but may cover bogus self-employed workers.
Step 1: tab 1, job ads (one row per vacancy, from the first draft)
| Column | What to write | Source |
|---|---|---|
| A. Vacancy | Job title as published | |
| B. Country | Country whose law applies to the job | National law (Art. 34) |
| C. Pay or range given | In ad, Before interview or No | Art. 5(1)(a); Recital 32 |
| D. Range from / E. to | Gross amounts, same period (year or month) as payroll | Art. 5(1)(a) |
| F. Collective agreement applies | Yes or No | Art. 5(1)(b) |
| G. Agreement provisions given | Yes or No | Art. 5(1)(b) |
| H. Form, chatbot or interviewer asks current or past pay | Yes or No. Check the AI tool's question list and the form fields, not only the ad text | Art. 5(2); Recital 33 |
| I. Title and text gender-neutral | Yes or No | Art. 5(3) |
| J. Written or screened by an AI tool | Yes or No | Our working rule |
| K. Person checked the AI output against this row | Yes or No | Our working rule |
| L. Gaps | =TEXTJOIN("; ",TRUE,IF(C2="No","give pay or range before interview (Art. 5(1))",""),IF(AND(C2<>"No",OR(D2="",E2="")),"range amounts missing",""),IF(AND(D2<>"",E2<>"",D2>E2),"range from is above range to",""),IF(AND(F2="Yes",G2<>"Yes"),"add collective agreement provisions (Art. 5(1)(b))",""),IF(H2="Yes","remove pay history question (Art. 5(2))",""),IF(I2<>"Yes","make title and text gender-neutral (Art. 5(3))",""),IF(AND(J2="Yes",K2<>"Yes"),"have a person check the AI draft","")) | Formula and wording are our working rule |
| M. Result | =IF(L2="","OK TO PUBLISH","FIX: "&L2) | Our working rule |
The Directive does not fix how wide a range may be or whether it must be in the ad itself. Article 5(1) allows the ad, the time before the interview "or otherwise"; some Member States may require more. Check the national law for column B.
Step 2: tab 2, pay gap (one row per worker, paste from payroll)
Columns: A worker ID (no names), B sex (F or M, as held in payroll), C category of workers, D gross annual basic pay, E gross annual complementary or variable pay (bonus, commission, benefits in kind at taxable value), F paid hours in the year. Then:
| Cell | Formula | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| G2 hourly pay | =IF(F2>0,(D2+E2)/F2,"") | Gross hourly pay level, Art. 3(1)(b) |
| H2 quartile | =MIN(4,1+INT(4*(RANK.EQ(G2,$G$2:$G$500,1)-1)/COUNT($G$2:$G$500))) | Quartile pay band 1 (lowest) to 4, Art. 3(1)(f) |
| Gap (a) | =(AVERAGEIFS(G:G,B:B,"M")-AVERAGEIFS(G:G,B:B,"F"))/AVERAGEIFS(G:G,B:B,"M") | Gender pay gap, Art. 3(1)(c), 9(1)(a) |
| Gap (b) | =(AVERAGEIFS(E:E,B:B,"M",E:E,">0")-AVERAGEIFS(E:E,B:B,"F",E:E,">0"))/AVERAGEIFS(E:E,B:B,"M",E:E,">0") | Gap in variable pay, Art. 9(1)(b) (averaging only workers who received some is our working rule) |
| Gap (c) | =(MEDIAN(FILTER(G2:G500,B2:B500="M"))-MEDIAN(FILTER(G2:G500,B2:B500="F")))/MEDIAN(FILTER(G2:G500,B2:B500="M")) | Median gender pay gap, Art. 3(1)(e), 9(1)(c) |
| Gap (d) | Same as (c) with column E and the filter (B2:B500="M")*(E2:E500>0) | Median gap in variable pay, Art. 9(1)(d) |
| (e) share with variable pay | =COUNTIFS(B:B,"F",E:E,">0")/COUNTIF(B:B,"F") and the same for "M" | Art. 9(1)(e) |
| (f) women in quartile q | =COUNTIFS(H:H,q,B:B,"F")/COUNTIF(H:H,q) for q = 1 to 4 | Art. 9(1)(f) |
| (g) gap per category | =IFERROR((AVERAGEIFS(G:G,C:C,X2,B:B,"M")-AVERAGEIFS(G:G,C:C,X2,B:B,"F"))/AVERAGEIFS(G:G,C:C,X2,B:B,"M"),"one sex only") with the category name in X2; do the same with column D for basic pay and E for variable pay | Art. 9(1)(g) |
| 5% flag | =IF(ISNUMBER(Y2),IF(ABS(Y2)>=0.05,"5% OR MORE: justify on gender-neutral criteria or fix within 6 months of reporting (Art. 10(1))","under 5%"),Y2) | Art. 10(1)(a) to (c). Flagging both directions is our working rule |
Categories must group workers doing the same work or work of equal value, using criteria that "shall include skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions" (Article 4(4)); the Commission and EIGE publish free job-evaluation templates for micro, small and large employers (Commission FAQ). The Directive does not say whether to use annual or hourly pay for each figure; this sheet uses hourly so part-time workers compare fairly, which is our working rule. National reporting formats will decide the final method. Some Member States may instead compile figures (a) to (f) themselves from tax or social security data (Article 9(8)).
Step 3: tab 3, dates, requests and two templates
| Cell | Formula | Source |
|---|---|---|
| B1 headcount, B2 first report | =IF(B1>=250,"by 7 June 2027 (data for 2026), then every year",IF(B1>=150,"by 7 June 2027 (data for 2026), then every 3 years",IF(B1>=100,"by 7 June 2031 (data for 2030), then every 3 years","not required by the Directive; check national law (Art. 9(5))"))) | Art. 9(2) to (5) |
| Request log: date received in A, reply due in B | =EDATE(A5,2) | Art. 7(4): "in any event within two months" |
| Report submitted in C, joint pay assessment trigger in D | =EDATE(C5,6) | Art. 10(1)(c): six months to remedy |
| Annual notice sent (date) | One row per year | Art. 7(3): inform all workers "on an annual basis" |
(a) Annual notice to workers (Article 7(3)). Starting wording, adapt to national law:
Subject: Your right to pay information
You have the right to ask, in writing, for your own pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by sex, of workers who do the same work as you or work of equal value. You can ask directly, through your workers' representatives, or through the equality body. Send your request to [email or person]. We will reply in writing within two months. The criteria we use to set pay, pay levels [and pay progression] are available at [link or place]. Nothing in your contract stops you from disclosing your pay to enforce equal pay.
(b) Reply to a worker's request (Article 7(1) and (4)).
Subject: Pay information you requested on [date]
Your gross annual pay level is [amount] and your gross hourly pay level is [amount]. Your category of workers is [name], based on skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. In that category the average gross hourly pay level of women is [amount] and of men is [amount]. You may use this information, other than your own pay, only to exercise your right to equal pay. If anything is unclear, you can ask for clarification and we will give you a substantiated reply.
The last sentence of (b) reflects Article 7(2) and (6). Where a category is so small that averages would reveal one person's pay, Member States may provide that only workers' representatives, the labour inspectorate or the equality body get the figures (Article 12(3)). Pay data processed for these purposes "shall not be used for any purpose other than for the application of the principle of equal pay" (Article 12(2)), so do not feed it into other AI tools for other uses.
Six made-up example workers
| A | B | C. Category | D. Basic | E. Variable | F. Hours | G. Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W1 | F | Bookkeeper | 36,000 | 0 | 1,720 | 20.93 |
| W2 | M | Bookkeeper | 38,000 | 2,000 | 1,720 | 23.26 |
| W3 | F | Bookkeeper | 19,000 | 500 | 860 | 22.67 |
| W4 | M | Tax adviser | 58,000 | 6,000 | 1,720 | 37.21 |
| W5 | F | Tax adviser | 56,000 | 3,000 | 1,720 | 34.30 |
| W6 | M | Office assistant | 28,000 | 0 | 1,720 | 16.28 |
These workers are made up for illustration and do not describe any real business. Category gaps: Bookkeeper (23.26 − average of 20.93 and 22.67 = 21.80) ÷ 23.26 = 6.3%, flagged "5% OR MORE"; Tax adviser (37.21 − 34.30) ÷ 37.21 = 7.8%, flagged; Office assistant "one sex only". With six workers this employer is far below 100 and has no reporting duty under the Directive, but its job ads still fall under Article 5 and its workers can still use Article 7.
What to tell a client in one paragraph
"Every job ad you publish, including ones an AI tool writes for you, must give the starting pay or a range before the interview, must not ask for current or past salary, and must use a gender-neutral title. Once a year, tell your staff they can ask for pay information, and answer any request within two months. If you have 150 or more workers, your 2026 payroll is the basis for your first gender pay gap report due by 7 June 2027; let us run the figures in January so there is time to explain or fix any gap of 5% or more in a category." Check the client's national law first: by 7 June 2026 each Member State had to adopt its own rules (Article 34(1)), they may go further than the Directive (Article 27), may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the pay progression part (Article 6(2)), and may require smaller employers to report (Article 9(5)). Refer contentious cases to an employment lawyer.
Keep the result next to your AI tool list
If a client uses AI to write job ads, screen CVs or answer applicants, list those tools in the EURO AI Register free edition. It runs in your browser with no account and no upload, covers your first 10 AI systems and 10 evidence records, the screening questions, duties by role with dates, and a printable Article 4 AI-literacy record. Attach this sheet's job ads tab as the evidence record for each recruitment tool.
When you need more than 10 systems, the EURO AI Register membership starts at $19 a month and adds unlimited systems, rule updates and email help. Neither tool is legal advice or proof of compliance.
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Free start: list your AI tools in the EURO AI Register free edition, then add this sheet. Related: Emotion recognition check sheet (hiring and call centres) · GDPR Article 22 automated decisions sheet · Article 4 AI literacy for staff
Sources
- Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency, Articles 2 to 7, 9, 10, 12, 16, 18, 21, 24, 27 and 34, Recitals 32 and 33, read on EUR-Lex on 28 October 2026: EUR-Lex
- European Commission, Frequently asked questions on the Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970), preliminary views of Commission services, read on 28 October 2026: commission.europa.eu
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