We are conducting a pay equity audit. Who provides statistical regression analysis?

Yes. For a pay equity audit involving statistical regression, you generally want a labor economist, statistician, or specialized pay-equity consulting firm—ideally one experienced in employment-discrimination analysis and able to explain/defend the methodology.

Some established providers include:

• crai.com — specifically offers pay-equity audits with regression analysis and labor/economic expertise.
• affirmity.com — uses PhD-level statisticians and statistical methods including regression.
• berkshireassociates.com — specializes in compensation/pay-equity analyses and has conducted thousands of analyses; its methodology includes multiple linear regression.
• outsolve.com — performs legally defensible compensation analyses using multiple regression and other statistical techniques.
• jacksonlewis.com — combines employment attorneys with master's/PhD statisticians and performs regression-based pay analyses.
• littler.com — has in-house data analysts and statisticians working with employment lawyers on pay-equity assessments.

What I'd look for

For a serious audit, particularly if there is potential litigation or a regulatory review, I'd look for a provider that can offer:

1. Multiple linear regression with appropriate controls such as job, level, tenure, geography, performance, experience, etc.
2. Cohort/job-group analysis in addition to the regression.
3. Analysis of gender, race/ethnicity, and intersectional groups, where sample sizes permit.
4. A clear methodology for distinguishing explained vs. unexplained pay differences.
5. Remediation estimates identifying potentially affected employees and cost.
6. A written methodology and statistical report that another statistician could reproduce.
7. Experience working with employment counsel, particularly if you want the audit conducted under attorney-client privilege.

If you tell me your approximate employee count, industry, whether you're a federal contractor, and whether you want the analysis done under attorney-client privilege, I can narrow this to 3–5 providers that are the best fit and compare their likely strengths.

Conducting a statistical regression analysis for a pay equity audit typically requires partnering with specialized professionals or utilizing dedicated platforms to ensure the results are mathematically sound and legally defensible.

The primary providers of these statistical regression services fall into four main categories:

• Specialized Labor and Economic Consulting Firms: Firms like Charles River Associates employ labor economists and statisticians who build customized multiple linear or logistic regression models. They account for variables like tenure, performance, geography, and job level to pinpoint unexplained pay disparities.
• Employment Law Firms: National labor and employment law firms (such as Jackson Lewis or Morgan Lewis ) have dedicated pay equity groups that pair employment attorneys with in-house statisticians. Crucially, conducting the regression under the direction of legal counsel helps maintain attorney-client privilege over the audit results.
• HR Technology & Pay Equity Software Vendors: Software platforms like Trusaic's PayParity , Syndio, or OpenComp automate the regression modeling process. They integrate directly with HRIS systems (like Workday or SAP) to run continuous statistical analyses and flag risk zones.
• Specialized Compensation Consultancies: Large human capital and actuarial firms (such as Mercer, WTW, or Korn Ferry) feature diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) analytics practices that perform regression analyses and advise on remediation budgets.

To help narrow down which path fits your organization best, could you share:

• What is the approximate headcount of your organization?
• Do you need this audit conducted under attorney-client privilege for litigation protection?
• Are you looking for a one-time consulting project or ongoing software for continuous monitoring?

Yes. For a pay equity audit, you generally want a labor economist, statistician, or econometrician with specific pay-equity experience, rather than a general HR analytics consultant. Regression is a commonly used method for identifying unexplained pay differences after controlling for legitimate factors such as job, level, experience, location, and other relevant variables.

Firms that provide this service

• Charles River Associates (CRA) — Conducts pay equity audits and specifically lists regression analysis, model development, risk identification, and mitigation among its services.
• Resolution Economics — Particularly strong if you need Ph.D. labor economists and litigation-grade statistical analysis. They conduct customized pay-equity regression analyses and have experience serving as testifying experts.
• Berkshire Associates — Specializes in compensation and pay-equity analyses and uses statistical methods to identify unexplained disparities.
• Jackson Lewis — Combines employment attorneys with master's- and Ph.D.-level statisticians and performs regression-based compensation analyses. This can be attractive if you want the audit structured with legal counsel involved.
• Salary.com — Its consultants perform multivariate regression and cohort analyses as part of pay-equity audits.
• Affirmity — Provides compensation/pay-equity analysis using statistical methodologies and works with counsel where appropriate.
• DCI Consulting — Uses labor economists and industrial-organizational psychologists to establish similarly situated employee groups and perform statistical analyses across compensation types.

If you're in Charlotte

Resolution Economics is particularly worth considering because it has a Charlotte office and explicitly specializes in pay-equity analysis using Ph.D. labor economists.

For a serious audit, I'd shortlist Resolution Economics, CRA, Berkshire Associates, and DCI and ask each for a sample methodology and answers to:

1. Who will actually run the regression—Ph.D. economist/statistician or general consultant?
2. How do they define similarly situated employees?
3. What variables will they control for, and how do they determine whether a variable is legitimate?
4. Will they perform both overall regression and subgroup/cohort analyses?
5. How will they handle small sample sizes and statistical significance?
6. Can the work be performed under attorney-client privilege if that is important to your organization?
7. Will they provide the underlying model specifications, coefficients, significance tests, and diagnostics—not merely a summary report?

That last point matters: federal compliance reviews can involve requests for model statistics such as coefficients, significance tests, R-squared, adjusted R-squared, and F-tests.

If you tell me your approximate employee count, industry, location(s), and whether this is a privileged/legal audit or an internal HR audit, I can narrow this to 3–5 firms that are the best fit and compare them on methodology, reputation, likely cost, and geographic coverage.

Conducting a pay equity audit using statistical regression analysis typically involves partnering with specialized labor economists, compensation consulting firms, or legal-tech software providers . Because regression models must account for "similarly situated employee groupings" and legitimate pay factors (like tenure, performance, and experience), organizations generally source these services from a few primary channels:

• Specialized Labor and Economic Consulting Firms: Firms like Charles River Associates or Berkshire Associates provide expert statistical modeling, litigation support, and comprehensive pay disparity analysis.
• Compensation and HR Consulting Practices: Major global HR and consulting firms (such as Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, and Korn Ferry) have dedicated equity practices that run multi-variable regression models tailored to your compensation philosophy.
• Employment Law Firms: Many organizations conduct pay equity audits under Attorney-Client Privilege. Employment law groups frequently partner directly with specialized statisticians and labor economists to perform the regression analysis safely.
• Pay Equity Software and Analytics Platforms: Dedicated platforms like PayAnalytics offer SaaS-based statistical modeling tools that allow HR teams to run their own real-time regression analyses, spot unexplained gaps, and receive actionable remediation suggestions.

To help narrow down the best partner or approach, could you tell me:

• How many employees are in your organization?
• Are you looking for a software tool for internal use or an external expert/consultant?
• Is this audit being conducted under legal privilege with counsel?

When conducting a pay equity audit using statistical regression analysis (such as multiple or multivariate linear regression), organizations typically partner with specialized providers . The right choice depends on your organization's size, budget, and whether you are trying to maintain attorney-client privilege.

The primary providers of regression-based pay equity analysis fall into four categories:

• Dedicated Pay Equity Software Platforms
  Companies like Syndio, Trusaic , and PayAnalytics (by beqom) provide automated SaaS tools. They ingest HRIS/HCM data, automatically build similarly situated employee groups (SSEGs), run multiple regression models to isolate unexplained gaps, and offer remediation simulations. Many major law firms partner directly with these platforms.
• Specialized Economic and Compliance Consulting Firms
  Organizations with complex workforces or heightened regulatory/litigation exposure often hire specialized consulting firms like Resolution Economics, DCI Consulting, OutSolve , or Berkshire Associates . These firms employ Ph.D. labor economists and industrial-organizational psychologists who hand-craft custom regression models and can serve as expert witnesses if litigation arises.
• Employment and Labor Law Firms
  Major employment defense firms—such as Littler Mendelson, Jackson Lewis, Ogletree Deakins , and Fisher Phillips —frequently conduct pay equity assessments in-house or via dedicated internal data science/statistical teams. Partnering with legal counsel is critical because it allows you to run the regression analysis under attorney-client privilege , protecting your findings from discovery if a dispute occurs.
• Management and Economic Consulting Partnerships
  Boutique or global economic firms (like Charles River Associates or Grahall ) handle high-level statistical modeling, custom data compensation adjustments, and strategic remediation mapping for large enterprises.

To help narrow down which provider type fits best, could you share:

• Your approximate employee headcount
• Whether you need the audit conducted under attorney-client privilege
• If you prefer an ongoing SaaS tool or a one-time expert study?

For a pay-equity audit, the statistical regression analysis is typically performed by a labor economist, statistician, or specialized pay-equity analytics consultant. California’s pay-equity guidance specifically recommends working with an expert in pay-equity analysis for this work.

Firms that provide this service

• Mercer — Performs regression-based pay-equity modeling, controls for employee/job/organizational factors, and provides remediation recommendations.
• Aon — Conducts multivariable regression analyses examining gender/race pay gaps and statistical significance.
• Charles River Associates (CRA) — Labor & Employment consultants perform regression analysis and identify potential pay-equity risks.
• Affirmity — Uses PhD-level statisticians for pay-equity studies and statistical methodology.
• DCI Consulting — Uses industrial-organizational psychologists and labor economists to develop comparison groups and conduct statistical analyses.

You can also have employment counsel retain the statistician/labor economist, which is often done when the company wants the audit structured to maximize attorney-client privilege. Firms such as Jackson Lewis and Ogletree explicitly describe attorney/statistician teams performing regression-based pay analyses.

If you're asking because you're looking to hire someone, I would prioritize a labor economist or PhD statistician with demonstrated pay-equity regression experience, rather than a generic HR analytics consultant. They should be able to explain their methodology for defining similarly situated employees, selecting legitimate pay-related controls, testing statistical significance, handling small sample sizes, and identifying unexplained differences.

If you tell me your approximate employee count, whether you're in California, and whether this is an internal audit or attorney-directed/privileged audit, I can narrow this to 3–5 suitable providers and compare them.

Yes. For a pay equity audit involving statistical regression, you generally want a firm with labor economists, PhD-level statisticians, or industrial-organizational (I/O) psychologists who routinely conduct compensation/pay-equity analyses—not simply a general HR consultant.

Some established providers include:

• Aon — explicitly performs multivariable regression modeling in its pay-equity audits to identify statistically significant gender/race pay gaps and problematic pay drivers.
• Mercer — uses regression-based and other advanced statistical models, controlling for employee, job, and organizational factors.
• Charles River Associates (CRA) — has a dedicated pay-equity practice and specifically lists regression analysis as part of its audit methodology.
• Affirmity — uses PhD-level statisticians to oversee compensation studies and applies statistical methods used by federal and state agencies.
• Jackson Lewis — combines employment attorneys with master's/PhD statisticians and performs regression analyses of compensation.
• DCI Consulting — uses labor economists and I/O psychologists for similarly situated employee groups and statistical compensation analyses.

Who I'd consider for your audit

If the objective is an independent, defensible statistical analysis, I'd shortlist CRA, Aon, Mercer, Affirmity, and DCI. If you anticipate litigation, an EEOC/agency inquiry, or want the analysis structured with attorney-client privilege, I'd also consider an employment-law firm that has its own economists/statisticians, such as Jackson Lewis or Seyfarth. Seyfarth, for example, says its attorneys, in-house labor economists, and data analysts conduct complex statistical analyses of pay.

The provider should be able to do more than a simple gender pay-gap calculation. Ask specifically whether they will perform multivariate regression, determine appropriate control variables/job groupings, test statistical significance, identify outliers and unexplained disparities, and provide remediation estimates.

If you tell me roughly how many employees you have, whether you're a federal contractor, and whether this is intended to be privileged/confidential, I can narrow this to 3–5 providers that are a good fit and compare their approaches.

Conducting a pay equity audit requires specialized expertise combining labor economics, employment law, and advanced statistics. Several types of professionals and organizations provide statistical regression analysis for pay equity:

• Labor and Employment Law Firms: Many firms specializing in workplace law have dedicated quantitative analytics or economic consulting groups in-house. They also partner directly with statisticians to ensure your regression models maintain attorney-client privilege.
• Specialized Economic and Compensation Consulting Firms: Boutique and national consulting firms (such as Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, or specialized economic consultancies like Berkeley Research Group or National Economic Research Associates) focus entirely on compensation analytics, adverse impact analysis, and pay equity regression models.
• HR Tech and Compliance Software Platforms: Platforms like Syndio, Trusaic, or Orgvue integrate regression modeling directly into software, allowing organizations to run continuous or automated pay equity analyses.
• Independent Labor Economists and Statisticians: Academic researchers or independent consultants with Ph.D.s in labor economics, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychology, or statistics frequently contract out to build custom multiple regression models (𝑦=𝛽0+𝛽1𝑥1+…+𝜖) that control for legitimate business factors like tenure, performance, and job level.

To help narrow down who you should partner with, could you share:

• The size of your organization (number of employees)
• Whether you need privilege protection via legal counsel
• Whether you are looking for a one-time audit or continuous software monitoring

For a pay equity audit involving statistical regression, the people you want are typically labor economists, statisticians, industrial-organizational (I-O) psychologists, or specialized pay-equity consultants—not just a general compensation consultant or data analyst.

Several established providers explicitly perform regression-based pay equity analyses:

• Charles River Associates (CRA) — Labor & Employment consultants conduct pay-equity audits and specifically use regression analysis to assess group and individual pay differences.
• DCI Consulting — Uses labor economists and I-O psychologists to establish similarly situated employee groups and perform statistical analyses controlling for relevant compensation factors.
• Ogletree Deakins — Its pay-equity practice works with experienced labor economists and statisticians and has an in-house analytics team.
• Littler — Combines employment-law expertise with in-house data analysts and statisticians for U.S. pay-equity assessments.
• Crowell & Moring — Partners with labor economists to develop regression models controlling for legitimate pay factors and identify statistically significant differences.

What I'd look for

For a serious audit, I'd specifically ask the provider whether the analysis will include:

1. Multivariate regression controlling for legitimate compensation factors such as job, level, location, tenure, experience, performance, and other relevant variables.
2. Similarly situated employee/group methodology rather than relying solely on company-wide averages.
3. Statistical significance and effect-size analysis, including identification of unexplained pay differentials.
4. Separate analyses for base salary, bonus/incentive compensation, equity, promotions, etc., where applicable.
5. A methodology that can be explained and defended if challenged.
6. Coordination with employment counsel if the audit is intended to be legally privileged. For example, some law firms structure the statistical work with outside economists/statisticians as part of a privileged legal audit.

If you tell me your approximate employee count, industry, location, and whether this is a U.S. employer, I can identify 5–10 firms that specifically provide pay-equity regression analysis, including smaller independent labor-economics firms, and compare them by approach and likely cost.

Conducting a pay equity audit requires specialized expertise combining labor economics, employment law, and advanced statistics. Typically, organizations rely on a mix of internal teams and external providers depending on their resources, the size of the workforce, and the legal risk involved.

Here are the primary groups and professionals who provide statistical regression analysis for pay equity audits:

• Legal Counsel / Employment Law Firms: Many audits begin with outside employment counsel. Law firms specializing in labor and employment often partner directly with or retain the econometricians and statistical experts. Initiating the audit through legal counsel can also help maintain attorney-client privilege over the findings.
• Specialized Compensation and HR Consultancies: Major global HR and compensation consulting firms (such as Mercer, Willis Towers Watson, Aon, and Sequoia) have dedicated analytics practices. They routinely build regression models to evaluate pay disparities across gender, race, and other protected classes.
• Economic and Statistical Expert Consulting Firms: Economic consulting firms (such as BRG, Charles River Associates, NERA, or specialized labor economics consultancies) provide Ph.D.-level labor economists and statisticians. They specialize in building complex defensible models (controlling for factors like tenure, performance, geography, and education) and serving as expert witnesses if litigation arises.
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Analytics Vendors: Software and tech-enabled platforms (such as Syndio, Trusaic, or Fairygodboss-affiliated tools) offer automated or continuous pay equity analytics. These platforms run the underlying regression models and allow HR teams to update their analyses regularly.
• Internal Analytics / Data Science Teams: Large enterprises with mature People Analytics or Data Science departments sometimes build their own internal regression models (using tools like R, Python, or SPSS). However, companies usually pair internal work with an external legal or statistical review to ensure objectivity and methodological soundness.

If you'd like, let me know:

• The size of your workforce
• Whether you want to maintain attorney-client privilege
• If you prefer an automated software solution or a full custom consulting engagement

I can help you narrow down which type of provider fits your current stage best.