A pay quartile under Directive (EU) 2023/970 is one of four equal groups of workers created by ordering workers according to pay level from the lowest to the highest. Article 9 requires covered employers to report the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band. Quartiles therefore show how women and men are distributed across the organisation's pay hierarchy. They do not by themselves establish whether workers performing the same work or work of equal value are paid equally, so quartile analysis should be read alongside the other Article 9 metrics and worker-category analysis.
Jurisdiction: European Union
A Quartile Pay Band Is One of Four Equal Groups
Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2023/970 defines a quartile pay band as each of four equal groups of workers into which workers are divided according to their pay levels, from the lowest to the highest. The concept is therefore based on the ordering of workers by pay, not on job title, department, seniority or grade. Once the reporting population has been ordered by the applicable pay-level measure, it is divided into four groups of approximately equal size. The lowest quartile contains the lowest-paid portion of the workforce, while the highest quartile contains the highest-paid portion.
Quartiles Show Representation Across the Pay Distribution
Quartile reporting is useful because an organisation-wide gender pay gap can be influenced by where women and men are located within the pay distribution. If women are heavily represented in the lower two quartiles and men are heavily represented in the upper two quartiles, the pattern may help explain part of the organisation's overall gender pay gap. The opposite pattern could produce a different result. Quartiles therefore provide a structural view of workforce distribution. They do not explain why the distribution exists, so employers should use them as a diagnostic starting point rather than as a complete explanation.
Article 9 Requires Female and Male Proportions in Every Quartile
Article 9(1)(f) requires employers within the reporting scope to provide the proportion of female and male workers in each quartile pay band. This means the reporting output is not simply the number of workers in each quartile. The employer must determine the sex distribution within each of the four bands and report the relevant proportions. A reliable process should retain the ordered worker dataset, the quartile assignment and the resulting female and male counts so the final percentages can be reproduced and checked.
Quartile Boundaries Are Based on Pay Level
The Directive defines pay level as gross annual pay and the corresponding gross hourly pay. Quartile analysis should therefore be built from the pay-level data required by the applicable reporting methodology rather than from unrelated indicators such as base salary range midpoint or job grade alone. Employers should document the exact field or calculation used to order workers because inconsistent pay-level inputs can move workers between quartiles and change the reported gender distribution. National implementing rules or official reporting guidance may provide more detailed instructions on the operational methodology.
Ties and Uneven Worker Counts Need a Defined Method
Real workforces do not always divide neatly into four mathematically identical groups, and multiple workers may have the same pay level near a quartile boundary. The Directive defines the quartile concept but does not itself provide a detailed technical algorithm for every tie or rounding scenario. Employers should therefore apply the methodology required by national implementing law or official guidance and use the same approach consistently from one reporting cycle to the next. The method should be documented so reviewers can understand how workers were allocated when the population could not be split into four perfectly equal groups without a rule for ties or remainders.
Quartile Results Do Not Prove Equal-Pay Compliance
A quartile result is an organisation-level distribution metric. It can show that women or men are concentrated in particular parts of the pay hierarchy, but it does not by itself determine whether workers performing the same work or work of equal value receive equal pay. That analysis requires the Directive's category-of-workers framework and the objective, gender-neutral work-value criteria referred to in Article 4. Employers should therefore avoid treating a balanced quartile distribution as proof that no equal-pay issue exists, or an imbalanced distribution as automatic proof of unlawful discrimination.
Use Quartiles Alongside the Other Article 9 Metrics
Quartiles are most informative when reviewed together with the mean and median gender pay gaps, complementary or variable pay measures and category-of-workers results. A large overall gap combined with strong male concentration in the upper quartile may suggest a representation issue in higher-paid roles. A relatively balanced quartile distribution alongside a large category-level gap could point to a different problem within comparable work. Combining the metrics helps employers distinguish structural workforce patterns from pay differences that require more targeted investigation.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many pay quartiles are there?
Four. The Directive defines quartile pay bands as four equal groups of workers ordered by pay level from the lowest to the highest.
Does each quartile represent a salary range?
Not in the same sense as an employer salary band. Quartiles are reporting groups created by ranking the reporting population by pay level and dividing it into four groups.
Does an unequal gender split in a quartile prove pay discrimination?
No. It is a workforce-distribution indicator and should be interpreted alongside worker-category and other pay-gap analysis.
Related Guides
Official Sources
Requirements and practices differ by jurisdiction and organisation. Check current local law, official guidance and professional advice for a specific situation.