In PayGap, comparable jobs represent groups of employees performing equal work or work of equal value. The way these groups are configured in the platform determines how employees are compared in the analysis and how pay gap results are reported in categories of workers.
The configuration of comparable jobs should therefore reflect the job evaluation or job architecture method used within the organization. The definition of comparable jobs should be aligned with legal requirements and, if required by local regulations, discussed with employee representatives.
Within the PayGap system, comparable jobs are typically created by using variables such as job level and sometimes other organizational dimensions. The choice of variables directly influences group size, reporting structure, and the availability of adjusted pay gap analysis. The final configuration is defined by the company administrator.
When to use this article
You are setting up comparable jobs for the first time.
You want to understand what comparable jobs means in practice.
You are deciding how broad or granular your grouping should be.
You are reviewing the gender gap by comparable jobs table in the dashboard.
You want to understand why adjusted pay gap is not shown for some groups.
You are considering changing your comparable job setup after case management work has started.
Step-by-step guide
Use the steps below to decide on your grouping logic and then configure, review, and maintain comparable jobs in PayGap.
1. Start with the concept: comparable jobs should reflect work of equal value
Comparable jobs are not only about matching job titles. They should group employees whose work can reasonably be treated as work of equal value.
When you define a comparable job, the key question is not “do these roles have the same label?” but “can we justify comparing these roles because the value of the work is equivalent?”
Use criteria such as responsibility, working conditions, skills, and effort to decide whether jobs belong in the same group.
Be ready to explain why some roles are grouped together and why others are kept separate.
Avoid relying only on local labels, classifications, or agreements if they do not reflect work of equal value on their own.
2. Choose how broad or granular your grouping should be
PayGap does not prescribe one single grouping model. The right setup depends on what you can justify and what gives you useful employee groups for analysis.
Approach | Benefits | Watch-outs |
Broader grouping, such as Job Level | Larger populations, simpler communication, easier comparison across groups. | May combine employees with more variation inside the group. |
More granular grouping, such as Job Level + Job Family | Closer match to internal job architecture and more detailed comparison. | Can create very small groups that are harder to justify and less useful for analysis. In some cases, overly granular grouping may also separate roles that represent work of equal value, which can introduce methodological and reporting risks. |
Important: If groups become too narrow, averages can become less meaningful and may get too close to individual pay levels. In practice, that often means you should aggregate some groups instead of splitting further. Very small groups can also create challenges for employee right-to-information requests, as sharing pay gap information directly with an individual employee could risk revealing the salary of a specific person. In such situations, the information may need to be shared with employee representatives instead of being provided directly to the employee.
3. Test different scenarios before you finalize the setup
Before you settle on one grouping logic, compare a few options and review the impact on the resulting worker groups.
Example scenarios could include Job Level only, Job Level + Career Stream, or Job Level + Job Family.
Compare the resulting category-of-worker or comparable job tables to see how group size and results change.
Use this exercise to find a setup that is both practical and defensible.
Ensure that the selected approach is legally acceptable and, where required by local regulations, aligned with or agreed with employee representatives.
4. Set up comparable jobs in Organization Settings
To configure comparable jobs in the platform open Organization Settings.
Go to the comparable job setup.
Review the default factor. Job Level is used as the default factor.
Add or remove variables to define how the workforce should be split into comparable jobs.
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save.
Use the same logic you agreed on during your scenario review. The platform lets you adjust the factors, but the grouping should still be based on a clear rationale.
5. Review the results in the dashboard
After saving the setup, go back to the main dashboard to review the comparable job output.
The gender gap by comparable jobs table is shown below the base analysis.
You can switch the table view to show only groups below or above the 5% threshold.
You can download the table to Excel for offline review or scenario comparison.
You can increase rows per page or move to the next page to view additional groups.
6. Check which groups are missing adjusted pay gap analysis
If adjusted pay gap is missing for some groups, the most likely reason is that the group is too small to build the model, and the selected legal entity setup does not provide adjusted results for that case. Another cause of a missing adjusted pay gap calculation can be the result of a badly fitted model, with either too many factors or lack of statistical significance.
7. Change comparable jobs carefully once case management work has started
If you change the comparable job setup later, PayGap treats that as a change to the analysis logic.
When existing outlier justifications are already in the Case Management module, the system asks whether those justifications should be reset.
Changes are less sensitive while you are still building the model, but should be handled more carefully once you are in the outlier justification phase.
As a rule, avoid changing comparable jobs once the analysis has moved into active justification/remediation work.
8. Check who is included in a comparable job group
To inspect the employees behind a comparable job group, use Descriptive Analysis and recreate the same grouping logic used in your comparable job setup.
Open Descriptive Analysis.
Make sure the grouping factor at the top matches the one used in your comparable job setup.
At the bottom of the page, you will see the list of groups together with the number of employees in each group.
Click on a specific group to open it.
The system will display all employees included in that group, including fields such as gender and job title. You can also use Display to filter and show specific sub-groups.
9. Override the comparable jobs setup for a specific legal entity if needed
The comparable jobs configuration is set globally for the entire organization by default. This means the same setup applies across all legal entities unless you choose to override it.
If you need a different setup for a specific legal entity:
Open Organization Settings.
Go to Analysis.
Scroll to the bottom of the page to the Legal entities analysis settings section.
Use this section to override one or more analysis settings for a specific legal entity.
Any field left unset will continue to use the global organization settings.
In this section, you can, among other things:
override the employee categorization setup for a specific legal entity
apply a different comparable jobs logic for that legal entity
restore the default global settings by removing the override
Use this only when there is a clear reason to apply different analysis logic to one legal entity, and make sure the approach remains consistent with your overall methodology.
Key information
These points have the biggest impact on how comparable jobs work in PayGap:
Comparable jobs should reflect equal work or work of equal value.
Grouping logic should be defensible using criteria such as responsibility, working conditions, skills, and effort.
Very granular grouping can create small populations that are harder to justify and less useful for analysis.
Changing comparable jobs after outlier justification work has started is not recommended and should be handled carefully.
Comparable job settings apply globally by default, but you can override them for a specific legal entity in Organization Settings → Analysis → Legal entities analysis settings.
Common questions and troubleshooting
Why do some groups not show adjusted pay gap?
The most common reason is that the comparable job group is too small for blind analysis. That method requires at least 10 employees of each gender and 30 employees in total.
Another common reason is that the model has a bad fit, either from having too many factors in the model, or from not being able to build a robust model with the selected factors.
What does the comparable jobs setup affect in PayGap?
It determines how employees are grouped for the gender pay gap analysis. It also influences the information provided under employee right-to-pay-information requests and how pay gaps are reported in Gender Pay Gap reporting, including reporting by categories of workers.
Should I always use the most detailed grouping possible?
No. More detail is not always better. If groups become too small, the results may be less useful and harder to justify. The grouping decision should not be driven solely by the results produced by the model. Instead, employees should be grouped based on objective criteria that reflect work of equal value, such as responsibilities, skills, effort, and working conditions. The chosen approach should also comply with applicable local regulations and, where required, be discussed or agreed with employee representatives.
Can I change comparable jobs after I start justifying outliers?
Yes, but PayGap will treat that as a change to the analysis basis and may ask whether existing justifications should be reset.
How can I see which employees are inside a comparable job group?
Use Descriptive Analysis and apply the same grouping factors that were used in the comparable job definition.
Can I use a different comparable jobs setup for a specific legal entity?
Yes. Comparable job settings are applied globally by default, but they can be overridden for a specific legal entity in Organization Settings → Analysis → Legal entities analysis settings. If no override is set, the legal entity continues to use the global organization settings.