Pay ranges in recruitment
Applicants must be given a pay range before or during the interview, and you can no longer ask candidates about their pay history.
Decisions you can back up
Pay transparency and job evaluation, ready for 2026
The EU Pay Transparency Directive is being transposed into Irish law, with a deadline of 7 June 2026. It changes how Irish employers set, justify and disclose pay. You will need defensible pay bands, a documented job evaluation framework, and a clear rationale behind every pay decision. PurpleTree builds the grading structures and pay frameworks that let you meet the new rules with confidence and stand over your pay if it is ever questioned at the WRC.
Be ready before the new rules arrive.
Pay Transparency Obligations Coming Into Irish Law
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) lands on top of the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015. It introduces new duties around salary disclosure, pay band structures and the right to pay information, and it strengthens enforcement considerably.
For most Irish SMEs the practical gap is structural: pay set role by role, with no documented framework linking pay to grade. Our guide to the five pay transparency mistakes Irish employers keep making sets out where businesses are falling behind, and our gender pay gap reporting service handles the reporting side.
Right to pay information
Employees can request average pay levels, broken down by gender, for workers doing the same work or work of equal value.
Joint pay assessments
Where a gender pay gap above 5 percent in a category cannot be objectively justified, a joint pay assessment with worker representatives is required.
Reversed burden of proof
Where transparency duties are not met, it is the employer who must prove a pay difference is not based on gender.
Start early and stay well ahead of it.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive in Ireland
The Directive requires transposition into Irish law by 7 June 2026, and Ireland is expected to take a phased approach. Joint pay assessments apply first to employers of 150 or more, reducing to 100 over the following years, but the core duties around pay ranges, pay information requests and pay history questions apply to every employer from the outset.
The work that earns its keep is preparation. Building pay bands, documenting the rationale behind each one, and running an internal equal pay check takes months, so employers who start late in the cycle will be retrofitting under pressure. Our articles on pay transparency mistakes and equal pay and WRC awards show why early, documented preparation is the cheaper path.
- Transposition into Irish law due by 7 June 2026, with phased commencement expected
- Joint pay assessments from 150 employees, reducing to 100 over several years
- Pay range, pay information and pay history duties that apply to every employer
- A reversed burden of proof in equal pay claims where transparency duties are unmet
- Preparation measured in months, which is why the groundwork should start now
A rigorous method you can stand behind.
Our Job Evaluation Process
Job evaluation is the engine room of pay transparency. We analyse each position against objective, gender-neutral criteria including skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, then build a grading structure aligned with your business and the Irish market. The process covers detailed position analysis, factor-based scoring, custom grade development, and implementation support. Done properly it is a structured project, not a spreadsheet exercise over a long weekend, and it produces the consistent grade for every role that every later pay decision rests on. It sits alongside our wider strategic HR consulting work.
- Detailed analysis of each role against consistent, objective criteria
- Factor-based scoring for skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions
- A custom grade structure aligned to your business and the Irish market
- Full documentation of the method and the rationale behind each grade
Fair inside, competitive outside.
Building Defensible Pay Bands Linked to Market Data
Once roles are graded, we translate the structure into a coherent, competitive salary framework. We design pay bands for each grade and integrate them with Irish market data so pay is both internally equitable and externally competitive. The result is a set of bands you can confidently stand over, explain to staff, and disclose to applicants. We pull the external evidence from our salary benchmarking and market rate reports, and align the wider package through our pay and reward service.
- Clear salary bands designed for each job grade
- Integration with current Irish market salary data
- Pay progression guidance within each grade
- Bands that are defensible to staff, applicants and the WRC alike
Spot the exposure before a claim arrives.
The Gender Pay Gap and Equal Pay Connection
Many employers treat gender pay gap reporting and pay transparency as separate items. They are not. The Directive connects them: where a reported gap exceeds 5 percent in a category and cannot be justified on objective, gender-neutral grounds, a joint pay assessment with worker representatives is triggered.
The deeper exposure is at the WRC, where an equal pay complaint under the Employment Equality Acts turns on whether a man and a woman are doing like work, work of equal value or work rated as equivalent. The Commission looks at the reality of the work, not the contract label, so a contractor arrangement is not, on its own, a defence.
Documented job evaluation is what lets you justify a pay difference when it counts. Our gender pay gap reporting service manages the reporting cycle, and our article on equal pay and WRC awards shows where documentation fails.
- Gender pay gap above 5 percent in a category can trigger a joint pay assessment
- Equal pay claims hinge on like work or work of equal value, not job titles
- Contractor and consultant arrangements do not, on their own, remove exposure
- Documented grades and rationale are the foundation of any equal pay defence
Real business value, not just a tick-box.
What a Defensible Pay Framework Delivers
A professional grading and pay framework does more than tick a compliance box. It changes how you hire, retain and budget, and it builds credibility with staff. We keep the process objective and participative, involving a representative internal panel of managers and employee representatives where practical so nuances are understood and grading outcomes are trusted across the business.
Reduced claim risk
Defensible grades and a documented rationale lower your exposure to equal pay claims under Irish employment equality law.
Attract and retain
Transparent, competitive bands help you win and keep people, and let you publish pay ranges with confidence.
Controlled pay spend
Consistent grading keeps salary decisions disciplined and defensible rather than reactive and ad hoc.
Internal buy-in
An objective, participative process with manager and employee input builds credibility in the outcomes.
A system your team understands and trusts.
Communicating, Embedding and Maintaining the Framework
A pay structure only works if people understand it. We help develop clear communication, from FAQs to manager briefings, so staff understand how roles are valued and how pay progresses. We also train managers to handle pay queries confidently, which matters more once employees gain the right to request pay information.
A framework also needs upkeep: roles change, new positions appear, and the market moves, so we advise on reviewing factors, grading new roles, and keeping pay data clean enough to support gender-disaggregated analysis.
Where you need the systems to hold all of this, our HR software keeps records and contracts in one place, and an HR audit is the logical place to start if you are unsure where you stand.
- Transparent communication plans and plain-language guides for all staff
- Manager training to handle pay and grading queries with confidence
- Scheduled periodic reviews and re-evaluation of new or changed roles
- Clean pay data that can support gender-disaggregated analysis
Advice you'll use, not file away.
Irish Pay Expertise, Based in Longford
Pay transparency is an operational HR project, not a legal note that sits in a drawer. It touches recruitment, payroll, performance management and employee relations at once, and it has to align to one consistent job architecture.
PurpleTree manages that multi-strand work for Irish employers every day, grounding every grade and band in Irish law and WRC practice rather than a UK playbook. We scope the work to your business and agree the cost with you in advance rather than billing open-ended hours.
For employers without a dedicated HR function, this fits naturally inside an outsourced HR retainer, and our overview of the biggest HR challenges facing Irish SMEs sets the wider context. See how we price HR support before you commit.
- Pay structures grounded in Irish equality law and WRC practice
- An operational delivery plan across recruitment, payroll and employee relations
- Scope and cost agreed in advance, with no open-ended hourly billing
Get ahead of pay transparency
Pay transparency is one of the biggest operational HR shifts Irish employers have faced in years. The businesses that prepare now will comply smoothly. Those that stall will face rushed implementation, exposed pay gaps, and weaker defences at the WRC. Tell us your headcount and where you are starting from, and we will scope a job evaluation and pay framework tailored to your business. See how we price HR support, then talk to us.
Free 5-minute HR Health Check
See where your business stands before the WRC does
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Common questions from employers
The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) requires transposition into Irish law by 7 June 2026. It does not start from zero. It builds on the existing Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 and the Employment Equality Acts 1998 to 2015, and strengthens how pay must be set, disclosed and justified. Even where the domestic legislation is still being finalised, the direction is clear and the groundwork takes months rather than weeks, so the work to build defensible pay structures should already be underway.
Yes, for the core obligations. Certain reporting duties, including joint pay assessments, are phased by employer size, starting with employers of 150 or more and reducing to 100 over time. But several obligations apply to every employer regardless of headcount: giving job applicants a pay range before or during recruitment, responding to employee requests for pay information, not asking candidates about their pay history, and the reversed burden of proof in equal pay claims where transparency duties have not been met.
Job evaluation is the structured process of valuing each role against objective, gender-neutral factors such as skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions. It produces a consistent grade for every position, which is what lets you build pay bands and explain why two roles sit where they do. Without a documented evaluation framework you cannot show that a pay difference reflects the work rather than the person, which is exactly what the new transparency rules and the WRC will expect you to demonstrate.
Yes, where there is a genuine, non-gender reason such as experience, performance, qualifications or location, and you can document it. Under the Employment Equality Acts a pay difference for like work or work of equal value must be objectively justified on grounds unrelated to gender. What changes under the Directive is that if you have not met your transparency obligations, the burden of proving that reason shifts onto you, so a clear written rationale behind every pay decision matters more than ever.
A joint pay assessment is a structured review carried out in cooperation with worker representatives where a gender pay gap above 5 percent in a category of workers doing the same work or work of equal value cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria. It involves analysing pay across comparable roles, identifying where gaps exist, testing whether they are explained by legitimate factors, and agreeing an action plan to close any that are not. It is an ongoing cycle rather than a once-off report. See our gender pay gap reporting service.
Gender pay gap reporting under the Gender Pay Gap Information Act 2021 is the published measurement of the gap for employers above the relevant size threshold. Pay transparency is the wider framework governing how pay is set, disclosed and justified across recruitment, payroll and employee relations. The two are connected: the Directive uses the reported gap to trigger remedial steps such as joint pay assessments. We handle the measurement through our gender pay gap service and the underlying structures through job evaluation and grading.
In an equal pay complaint the WRC asks whether a man and a woman are doing like work, work of equal value or work rated as equivalent, and whether any pay difference has a genuine non-gender reason. The Commission looks at the reality of the work, not job titles or contractor labels. Employers who cannot produce documented job evaluation records and a clear rationale start at a disadvantage, and the Directive's reversed burden of proof makes that exposure sharper. Our note on equal pay and WRC awards shows how this plays out in practice.
It depends on your starting point and headcount. Building a job evaluation framework and defensible pay bands is a structured project, usually measured in weeks to a few months rather than days, covering role analysis, factor-based scoring, market data and a communication plan. We scope the work to your business and agree the cost with you in advance rather than billing open-ended hours. See how we price HR support or talk to us for a tailored quote.