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EU Pay Directive
Make your pay strategy simple and fair with a data-based approach that brings clarity and transparency. The directive must be incorporated into national law for EU member states by 7 June 2026.
Compliance requirements
The EU Pay Transparency Directive must be transposed into law in all EU countries by 7 June 2026. The general rules are already in the directive, so companies can start preparing now.
- Prepare your salary data: You will need to collect and report detailed salary information. This includes differences between men and women, different job roles, and different locations.
- Make your pay structure consistent: There should be consistency between your job ads, internal salary levels, and market benchmarks.
- Use fair job classifications: Salary levels must be based on the real value of the job - not on old job titles or personal negotiations. Pay decisions must be fair for everyone, no matter their gender.
Our solutions
Tailored to match each country’s specific rules.
- Internal pay audit & assessment: Start by understanding your current pay situation. We check for gender pay gaps, find areas with significant gaps, review how fair your pay structure is, and give you a score to show how ready you are for the EU Directive.
- Job grading & framework: Create a clear and fair system for pay decisions. We use a gender-neutral method to evaluate jobs, group similar roles together, and set clear rules for comparing jobs. You’ll receive full documentation to help with compliance and internal processes.
- Market benchmarking: Build salary ranges that are fair and competitive. We help you compare your pay with the market, make sure your salaries are defendable, and find any pay issues - like roles that are paid too little or too much.
Our solutions
Internal pay audit & assessment: Lay the foundation for compliance by understanding the current state of pay equity. Weprovide an analysis of gender pay gaps, identify high-risk gaps, evaluate internal pay structures for fairness, and score compliance readiness against Directive provisions.
Job grading & framework: Establish a consistent, transparent foundation for pay decisions by applying a genderneutral job evaluation framework, mapping and levelling job families, and developing consistent criteria for role comparison. Receive detailed documentation for complianceand internal governance.
Market benchmarking: Enable salary range disclosure, ensure pay is competitive and defensible, and identify compression and outliers for adjustment.
Hiring manager training: Equip hiring teams with the skills and frameworks needed to make consistent, structured and well‑informed hiring decisions. This training strengthens interview capability, improves role‑fit assessment, and ensures hiring managers are prepared to support transparent and robust pay practices as organisations move toward the new Directive.
Trusted by over 11,000+ organisations
Our track record
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100+
where our clients utilise talent advisory services
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50+
data sources analysed to produce market insights
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400+
organisations have relied on our services to make talent decisions
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40
years delivery talent solutions across the globe
Speak to our experts
Phill Brown
Global Head of Market Intelligence
Phill has 25 years experience in recruitment and talent, working on enabling organizations through data, analytics, and insights to achieve more effective recruitment and talent retention.
Laurine Boularaf
Engagement Manager, Talent Advisory
Laurine is an Engagement Manager at Robert Walters Talent Advisory. She supports clients across Northern Europe in designing and delivering talent strategies, ensuring operational excellence and building strong, long-term relationships throughout the lifecycle of each project.
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Read MoreFAQs
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What is the EU Pay Directive?
The EU pay directive aims to enforce equal pay for equal work or work of equal value for all men and women within EU member states. This applies to part-time workers, workers on a fixed-term contacts, and those with a permanent employment contract, including employees at management level. On 7 June, 2026 the directive will come into effect, meaning that companies have a few more months to prepare and ensure their pay policies are compliant with the general guidelines to start. -
Which companies need to comply with the EU Pay Directive?
Employers will have varying obligations depending on the size of the organisation. However, all employers within the EU and companies that have EU offices will need to comply with the directive. Larger companies with more than 250 employees will be required, as early as June 2027, to communicate their gender pay gap reports each year to the authority in charge of publishing the data.
Depending on the company size, the reporting requirement will come into effect between June 2027 and June 2031 on an annual or triennial basis. Although companies with less than 100 employees are not required to report based on general guidelines as yet, EU member states could incorporate compulsory reporting for an organisation of any size if written into national law.
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What are the employee rights regarding the EU pay directive?
Employers will have an obligation to give candidates clear information about the salary range for the role. Currently, the directive states that the informations needs to provided in a way that ensures an informed and transparent negotiation on pay. In addition, employees can request information on their individual pay and the average pay levels across the organisation for workers performing the same work as them or work of equal value to theirs. Additionally, pay secercy clauses are not permitted meaning that employment contact terms that prohibit workers from disclosing information about their pay will not be allowed.