Unexplained pay gap
The part of a gap that objective, gender-neutral factors do not account for. The part that has to be answered for.
The unexplained gap is what remains after differences attributable to objective, gender-neutral factors have been accounted for. It is the figure that matters: the explained portion is defended with evidence, while the unexplained remainder is what triggers a joint pay assessment at 5% in a category and what an employer is asked to justify. A factor only counts as explanatory if it is itself defensible — grade explains a gap only where the grading is sound.
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Cost to close
The annualised cost of raising pay to remove the unexplained gap for the employees affected.
Gender pay gap
The difference between the average pay of men and of women, expressed as a percentage.
Mean and median
Two required views of the same gap: the average, and the midpoint. They answer different questions.
Pay gap decomposition
Splitting a raw gap into the parts that grade, tenure and hours explain, and the part that remains.
Start with a baseline on your own data.
One pay-period extract produces the seven figures, the categories that breach, and what closing them would cost.