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GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity·Disclosure GRI 405-2

Ratio of basic salary and remuneration of women to men

Practical guidance for preparing this disclosure. Use this card to identify the information to prepare, verify claims and organise supporting evidence. For exact requirements, always refer to the official Global Reporting Initiative source.

Legal status

GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity 2016 remains the applicable published GRI Topic Standard and is effective for reports or other materials published on or after 1 July 2018. The Diversity and Inclusion exposure draft is not an effective reporting requirement.

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Published passport

Last reviewed 2026-08-03
RK Reviewed by Dr Ross KurinkoLinkedIn Strategic ESG Advisor · IFRS S1 & S2 / GRI / ESRS expert GRI Certified Global Trainer · PhD, University of Cambridge · ESG-AI expert 15+ years on FTSE 100 & Fortune Global 500 disclosures Canary Wharf, London LRA educational guidance · Not issued or endorsed by Global Reporting Initiative

Standard

GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity

Disclosure GRI 405-2 · 2016

Effective

2018-07-01

Official source: Open ↗

Last reviewed

2026-08-03

LRA educational guidance · Not issued or endorsed by Global Reporting Initiative

To prepare this disclosure
10LRA preparation fields 20claims to verify 12evidence areas

Disclosure focus

This disclosure requires the organization to compare the basic salary and remuneration of women and men within comparable employee categories at each significant location of operation.

For every employee category at every significant location, report:

the ratio of women’s basic salary to men’s basic salary; and

the ratio of women’s remuneration to men’s remuneration.

GRI recommends basing remuneration on the average pay of each gender grouping within the employee category.

The organization must also disclose the definition used to identify significant locations of operation.

The ratios should not be replaced by an overall company average, a gender pay gap, a median-only calculation or a separate location ratio and employee-category ratio that are not cross-tabulated.

Disclosure 405-2 does not require an explanation of diversity policies, a conclusion that pay is equal, a year-on-year variance analysis or ratios for every operating location. Management of diversity and equal opportunity is addressed separately through Disclosure 3-3 where the topic is material.

This LRA educational guidance supports disclosure preparation. For the exact requirements, always refer to the official Global Reporting Initiative source.

Before you start

Before you start

A quick mental checklist before you prepare this disclosure — tick each as you settle it.

Preparation

Key information to prepare

Preparation field What to capture Evidence hint Owner
Definition of significant locations The definition used to determine which locations are significant. Approved reporting methodology and location assessment. Sustainability Reporting / HR
Significant locations Complete list of locations meeting the definition. Legal-entity, office, site or regional register. Finance / HR
Employee categories by location Employee categories present at every significant location, mapped by level or function. HRIS job architecture, grades and mapping workbook. HR / Reward
Women and men population Number of women and men in every location-category combination. HRIS demographic extract and payroll population reconciliation. HR / People Analytics
Average basic salary Average basic salary of women and men for every location-category combination. Payroll and basic-salary calculation workbook. Reward / Payroll
Basic salary ratio Women’s average basic salary divided by men’s average basic salary. Ratio calculation and reviewer check. Reward
Average remuneration Average remuneration of women and men using the documented remuneration definition. Bonus, equity, benefits, overtime and allowance records. Reward / Payroll
Remuneration ratio Women’s average remuneration divided by men’s average remuneration. Ratio calculation and source reconciliation. Reward
Non-calculable combinations Categories or locations with no women or no men and the treatment applied. Population exception report. HR
Methodology and omissions Pay period, currency conversion, working-time basis, exclusions and reasons for omission. Methodology paper and exception log. Sustainability Reporting / Reward
＋ Show GRI 405-2 sub-elements (LRA working checklist)

How to prepare it

Define significant locations of operation.
Identify every location meeting that definition.
Identify the employee categories present at each location.
Map local grades and job titles to the employee categories.
Obtain the women and men populations for each location-category combination.
Define the basic-salary basis using the GRI definition.
Define remuneration and identify all included additional pay elements.
Calculate average basic salary separately for women and men.
Calculate average remuneration separately for women and men.
Calculate the women-to-men basic-salary ratio.
Calculate the women-to-men remuneration ratio.
Identify combinations for which the ratio cannot be calculated because one gender is absent.
Reconcile employee populations and pay data to HR and payroll records.
Document currency conversion, annualization, working-time treatment, exclusions and estimates.
Present both ratios for each employee category at each significant location.
Verify the final disclosure against GRI 405-2(a)–(b) and Recommendation 2.2.

Request the data

Request the disclosure evidence

Translate the disclosure into an internal business question — then adapt it to your organisation's own language.

Please provide the GRI 405-2 data for [reporting period]. For each location that meets our definition of a significant location of operation, and for every employee category at that location, provide: employee-category name; number of women and men; average basic salary of women; average basic salary of men; women-to-men basic-salary ratio; average remuneration of women; average remuneration of men; women-to-men remuneration ratio; pay elements included in remuneration; currency and conversion basis; treatment of full-time and part-time employees; any exclusions or estimates; and cases in which the ratio cannot be calculated. Please also provide the definition used for significant locations of operation and the source records supporting the calculations.

Use the organisation's own role and document names, but preserve the defined GRI terms and the scope described above.

Better request

Please provide the GRI 405-2 data for [reporting period]. For each location that meets our definition of a significant location of operation, and for every employee category at that location, provide: employee-category name; number of women and men; average basic salary of women; average basic salary of men; women-to-men basic-salary ratio; average remuneration of women; average remuneration of men; women-to-men remuneration ratio; pay elements included in remuneration; currency and conversion basis; treatment of full-time and part-time employees; any exclusions or estimates; and cases in which the ratio cannot be calculated. Please also provide the definition used for significant locations of operation and the source records supporting the calculations.

Draft your disclosure

Notes that turn data into a disclosure

LRA training templates — adapt them to your organisation, and check the official source before sign-off.

Method note

The organization defines significant locations of operation as [definition]. For each significant location and employee category, the ratio is calculated by dividing the average basic salary or average remuneration of women by the corresponding average for men. Men’s pay is presented as 1.00.

Context note

Keep mandatory GRI Requirements, GRI recommendations and additional LRA preparation controls clearly distinguished. Apply a GRI 1 reason for omission where required information cannot be reported.

Download Centre

Preparation tools & forms

Professional preparation tools for GRI 405-2 — free with an LRA Community membership. Register once (it's free) and every download unlocks, together with the Disclosure Library, templates and the LRA AI Assistant.

Free · Community members
01XLSPrep & Assurance workbookDatapoints, risks, evidence to check, owner and evidence pack.Get it free ↧ 02XLSData-request packRequest email, message template, response fields and sign-off structure.Get it free ↧ 03PDFLibrary CardPrintable one-page summary of this disclosure card.Get it free ↧

Assurance readiness

For each claim, check the evidence

Claim Risk Evidence to check
We documented and disclosed the definition used for significant locations of operation.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
We included every location that meets that definition, subject to any properly reported reason for omission.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
We identified the employee categories present at each significant location.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Employee categories are based on level or function and reconcile to the HR system.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
We calculated both ratios for every applicable location-category combination.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The basic-salary ratio uses only elements meeting the GRI definition of basic salary.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The remuneration ratio includes the documented additional remuneration elements.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The ratios are labelled women to men.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Men’s pay is consistently used as the benchmark where ratios are expressed against 1.00 or 100.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The published result is a ratio and is not confused with a gender pay-gap percentage.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The average-pay calculation is prepared separately for women and men within the employee category.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Any median values are clearly supplementary and do not replace the recommended average-based ratios.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The women and men populations reconcile to HR and payroll records.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The same pay period, currency basis and location-category population are used for both genders.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Basic-salary and remuneration ratios are presented separately.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Location-level and category-level ratios are not presented separately as a substitute for the required cross-tabulation.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Where one gender is absent, the ratio is identified as not calculable rather than reported as zero.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Material exclusions, estimates, annualization methods and currency conversions are documented.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
The ratios can be reproduced from the underlying average-pay calculations.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.
Changes in significant-location definitions or employee-category mappings are explained where necessary for comparability.The published response does not support this human-reviewed assurance check.Trace the statement to current approved records and the official IFRS source.

Evidence pack to prepare

Common reporting gaps

Only a company-wide women-to-men ratio is disclosed.
Ratios are disclosed by employee category but not by significant location of operation.
Ratios are disclosed by location but not by employee category.
Employee-category and location ratios are shown separately rather than for each location-category combination.
Only the basic-salary ratio is disclosed.
Only the remuneration ratio is disclosed.
A bonus ratio is presented instead of the remuneration ratio.
A gender pay-gap percentage is presented instead of a women-to-men ratio.
The ratio direction is unclear.
Women and men are used as opposite benchmarks in different tables.
Median pay is used without the average-pay ratio recommended by GRI.
The employee categories are not defined.
Job levels and functions are combined inconsistently between locations.
The definition of significant locations of operation is missing.
The report lists locations but does not explain why they are considered significant.
Locations are selected only because complete data are available.
Not all locations meeting the disclosed definition are included.
Basic salary includes bonuses or overtime.
Remuneration is presented as basic salary only.
Material remuneration elements are excluded without explanation.
Current payroll rates are compared with actual annual remuneration.
Women’s and men’s data relate to different periods or populations.
Ratios are reported as zero where one gender is absent.
Small groups are omitted without explanation.
Employee categories are aggregated until material pay differences are obscured.
The disclosed ratios cannot be reproduced from source records.

Examples

Illustrative examples

Synthetic, written by LRA — not from a company report, not text from any standard.

Illustrative example 1

Illustrative synthetic example — Food manufacturing
Significant locations of operation are defined as production sites employing at least 250 employees or sites identified as operationally critical.
Significant location
Employee category
Basic salary women : men
Remuneration women : men
Midlands plant
Production employees
0.97 : 1.00
0.94 : 1.00
Midlands plant
Supervisors
0.99 : 1.00
0.96 : 1.00
Midlands plant
Management
1.01 : 1.00
0.98 : 1.00
Northern plant
Production employees
0.95 : 1.00
0.92 : 1.00
Northern plant
Supervisors
0.98 : 1.00
0.95 : 1.00
Ratios are based on the average pay of women and men within each employee category at each location. Men’s pay is set as 1.00.

Synthetic LRA illustration. Replace every figure and fact with the reporting organisation's evidence.

Illustrative example 2

Illustrative synthetic example — Retail distribution
Significant locations of operation are defined as distribution centres with at least 100 employees and any centre responsible for national fulfilment.
Significant location
Employee category
Basic salary women : men
Remuneration women : men
National distribution centre
Warehouse employees
0.99 : 1.00
0.96 : 1.00
National distribution centre
Team leaders
1.00 : 1.00
0.97 : 1.00
National distribution centre
Management
0.98 : 1.00
0.93 : 1.00

Synthetic LRA illustration. Replace every figure and fact with the reporting organisation's evidence.

Illustrative example 3

Illustrative treatment — no comparator
The senior-management category at the Dublin location contained women only during the reporting period. A women-to-men ratio could therefore not be calculated.

Synthetic LRA illustration. Replace every figure and fact with the reporting organisation's evidence.

Illustrative example 4

These examples illustrate structure only. The organization’s actual significant-location definition, employee categories and remuneration elements must be used.
Scenarios to work through

Synthetic LRA illustration. Replace every figure and fact with the reporting organisation's evidence.

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Framework references

Relevant GRI requirements and related disclosures

Available framework references and nearby disclosures relevant to preparing this requirement.

GRI

GRI 405-2

within GRI 405: Diversity and Equal Opportunity

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Go deeper · GRI 405-2

Learn to prepare this disclosure end-to-end

This guide covers the two pay ratios and the definition of significant locations of operation required by Disclosure 405-2.

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