EU Pay Transparency Across 12 Markets

The EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970) required Member States to transpose it into national law by 7 June 2026. It requires employers to give job applicants information on pay or a pay range, gives workers the right to request information on their own pay level and average pay levels by gender for comparable work, within two months, and introduces gender pay gap reporting, from June 2027 for the largest employers.

For a group operating in many European countries, the challenge is to apply these rules consistently while each country transposes them in its own way. A leading international banking group needed one approach across 12 European markets.

The group's challenge was to apply one consistent approach across 12 markets:

• Align 12 different legal frameworks and employee representation systems.
• Build one Group-wide approach that still accommodates local specifics.
• Engage employee representative bodies in each country.

Sia delivered three workstreams, country by country:

• Performance and rewards: a multi-entity pay audit, a Right to Information process and salary-range publication.
• Social dialogue: mapping and engaging employee representative bodies by country, and training HR, Legal and HR business partners on the new requirements.
• Change management: integrated with the other two workstreams so that the approach was delivered as one.

The group gained:

• One coordinated approach that integrates expertise across social dialogue, performance and rewards, and change management.
• Robust, data-driven processes that turn regulatory obligations into practices built for the long run.

By combining HR, legal and change expertise, Sia helps international employers turn new regulation into consistent, lasting practice.