Around four in 10 small firms in Ireland remain unaware of their upcoming legal obligation to report on gender pay disparities.

Large firms with 250+ employees and mid-sized companies with 150-249 staff have been reporting their gender pay gaps since 2022 and 2024, respectively.

The requirements extend to small firms employing 50-140 people this year, and many such companies are at risk of non-compliance.

A survey by HRLocker found that 80% of HR leaders are large firms feel fully prepared for requirements.

Similarly, 70% of mid-sized firms claim to be prepared, although a third (33%) lack confidence in their reporting accuracy.

Only 40% of small firms with 50-149 employees are aware of the upcoming requirement, and 58% have no idea how to collect the necessary data.

With smaller companies required to submit their first gender pay gap “snapshot” report by the end of June this year, the findings suggest that thousands of Irish businesses need to take urgent action to ensure compliance in time.

"International Women’s Day is about inspiring inclusion, but our research shows that many Irish businesses still don’t fully grasp the scale of gender pay disparity—or their legal obligation to report it," said Crystel Rynne, CEO at HRLocker.

"Larger companies have had two years to adjust, but many smaller firms are completely oblivious to the regulation. The fact that over half of the smaller companies we surveyed don’t know where to start is a real concern."

HRLocker’s research found that a staggering 65% of HR leaders in businesses with 50-149 employees have never conducted a gender pay analysis, making them the most vulnerable to compliance risks.

To comply with requirements, businesses must: identify all employees at a specified reporting date; gather and analyse pay data, including salaries, bonuses, and overtime; convert pay figures into hourly rates to ensure fair comparisons; and prepare a written report explaining any gender pay gap and outlining actions to address it.

Unlike previous size brackets, companies with 50 - 149 employees are required to choose a date in June as their “snapshot date” for collecting pay data.

Their gender pay gap report deadline will then be due five months from that date. For example, if an employer selects 15 June as their snapshot date, their report would be due on 15 November 2025.

The expectation for smaller businesses isn’t to achieve perfect equality overnight, but to demonstrate awareness of any disparities and show that they’re taking concrete steps to close the gap," states Rynne. 

(Pic: Getty Images)