Honest comparison
Consultant or software for pay transparency?
By Mihai Postolache, founder of Egalis ·
In short
The comparison, point by point
| Criterion | Consultant | Software (Egalis) |
|---|---|---|
| The monthly gap calculation | A billable exercise each time — most companies do it once a year, blind in between | Automatic at every import; the 5% alert fires the month a category reaches the threshold, not at the report |
| Deadlines (2 months per request, annual information, 6-month trigger) | Your calendar, their invoice — misses are yours | Every clock tracked with notifications; nothing depends on memory |
| Job evaluation | Strong: facilitation, committee work, defending the method | Strong: the three EIGE methods, bias checks on weights, versioning, approvals — the consultant's output becomes operational |
| Justifying differences on objective criteria | The core consultant skill — judgement per case | Captures and files the justification at decision time; flags what lacks one |
| The evidence file (audit trail) | Emails and minutes, reconstructed under pressure | Immutable, append-only log built as a side effect of working |
| Cost shape | Per day/exercise, grows with every recalculation | Flat monthly, public pricing, recalculation included |
The combination that actually works
Software operates, consultant decides
The pattern we see succeed: the platform runs the flows (import → categories → metrics → clocks → documents), and a consultant is brought in for the moments that deserve judgement — adopting the evaluation method, justifying stubborn categories, preparing the joint assessment. Each side gets the work it is actually good at, and neither bills for the other’s job.
Start where the data is: compute your gap — if every category is clean, your consultant conversation is short. If it isn’t, you now know exactly what to bring to it.
Frequently asked questions
Can we be compliant with only a consultant, no software?
Yes, but you pay recurringly for repetitive work: the gap recomputes at every payroll import, the clocks run continuously (at most 2 months per information request, 6 months to the joint-assessment trigger), and the annual information notice plus the audit trail are recurring operations, not a project. Consultants excel at decisions — justifications, negotiations with representatives — not at daily operations.
Can we be compliant with only software, no consultant?
For day-to-day operation, yes — the platform tells you what is due and by when, computes the legal metrics and generates the documents. For high-stakes situations (live litigation, a restructuring, large gaps to justify), an employment lawyer remains a good investment. Egalis is a compliance tool, not legal advice.
What does each option cost?
Orders of magnitude: a pay equity audit by consultants typically bills from several thousand euros per exercise, plus recurring support by the day. Egalis is free under 50 employees, and paid plans start at €490/year, with public tiers by company size — and the calculations, deadlines and documents regenerate automatically with every month of data, at no extra cost.
Next step
Create your account
Start is free under 50 employees; from 50 up, 14 free days, no card. Your data: full export, any time.