Readiness audit

10 questions. Score yourself. Free, no email gate.

The 10 questions below are the criteria I use to scope a pay transparency readiness engagement. Score yourself honestly. The score band at the bottom tells you whether you are in good shape, have work to do, or have work you do not yet know about.

Your progress

Q1

Which legal entities do you operate, and where?

Why this matters: the EU Pay Transparency Directive thresholds (100 employees per member state per legal entity) determine whether reporting is required. Get the actual numbers, not the org-chart guess.
Q2

When were your job descriptions last reviewed? What percentage are current?

Why this matters: a category of worker is defined by what the role actually does, not by job title. Without current JDs you cannot define the categories, and you cannot defend equal pay or transparency disclosures.
Q3

Do you have a documented job levelling system that covers every role?

Why this matters: levelling that happens by manager judgement is not defensible. The directive requires job architecture, not manager instinct.
Q4

When were your pay bands last benchmarked against external market data?

Why this matters: bands that have not been benchmarked in 12 months are stale. The market moves. Your bands do not.
Q5

If an employee asked for the average pay for their job category, broken down by sex, could you answer within 30 days?

Why this matters: this is the core mechanic of the directive. If you cannot answer, your compliance position is "we do not actually know what our numbers would show".
Q6

Have you run an equal-pay audit in the last two years?

Why this matters: an equal-pay audit finds the gaps before a regulator or an employee does. If you have not run one, the gap is unknown.
Q7

Do you have a documented pay banding policy covering positioning rules and exception handling?

Why this matters: bands need a written policy on where to sit in the range, when to break the band, and how exceptions are reviewed. Without one, bands drift.
Q8

Which of your entities are in scope for the EU Pay Transparency Directive?

Why this matters: extraterritorial reach means UK employers with EU workforce are in scope under that state's national law. The list of in-scope entities drives the rest of the work.
Q9

Do you have a documented process for responding to a worker request for pay information?

Why this matters: in member states that have transposed, the right is already live. A request can land tomorrow. The response must be documented and timely.
Q10

If a joint pay assessment were triggered tomorrow (a 5 percent unexplained gap unfixed after 6 months), would you know where to start?

Why this matters: a joint pay assessment with worker representatives is the directive's enforcement mechanism. Knowing where to start is the difference between a fix and a 12-month project.

Score yourself

Count the yes answers across the 10 questions. A "yes" means the answer is "yes, fully", not "kind of" or "we have most of it".

8 to 10Green: in good shape
5 to 7Amber: work to do
0 to 4Red: first work is finding out what you do not know

If you want to talk through your answers, reply with your yes/no answers to kieron@payband.uk and I will send a one-page scorecard with the gaps flagged and a fixed quote for the first piece of work. No call required. If it turns into a project, the fee is fixed before work starts.

Send answers for a scorecard See the EU tracker

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