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EU Pay Directive
Meet EU pay directive requirements with a data-led model that brings clarity and transparency to your compensation strategy. The directive must be incorporated into national law for EU member states by 7 June 2026.
Lay the foundation for EU Pay Directive compliance
As every EU member state will have unique requirments to meet based on governmental legislation, the general EU Directive text which highlights minimum compliance for every country is already available. This presents an opportunity for organisations to prepare ahead of time.
Some of the key compliance requirements for every state includes:
- Data readiness: Companies must collect, analyse, and report granular salary data across genders, locations, and job roles.
- Pay structure alignment: Employers must ensure consistency between advertised salaries, internal pay scales, and market benchmarks.
- Job classification: Employers will be required to align pay banding to job value, not legacy titles or negotiation on a gender-neutral basis.
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.
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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.
Daniel Stewart-Campbell
Engagement Manager, Talent Advisory
Daniel is the Senior Engagement Manager for the Robert Walters Talent Advisory team. He supports our clients to shape their current and future talent strategies using a suite of award-winning advisory solutions.
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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.