EU Pay Transparency Advisory Services

The EU Pay Transparency Directive (EU 2023/970) introduces new rules requiring employers to provide clearer pay structures, publish salary ranges, respond to employee requests for pay information and report gender pay-gap data.

Each EU member state will transpose the Directive into national law by June 2026, with some countries likely to introduce requirements earlier. National variations will determine:

• the exact reporting deadlines
• thresholds for organisations
• penalties and enforcement
• specific pay-gap methodologies

Zalaris helps organisations prepare ahead of these national changes using a structured readiness model.

All employers in EU member states will eventually fall under the Directive. However, the immediate requirements are phased in by organisation size:

• 250+ employees: earliest obligations for pay-gap reporting
• 150–249 employees: obligations start three years after transposition
• 100–149 employees: obligations start further down the timeline
• <100 employees: some obligations apply, but formal pay-gap reporting may not

Even smaller employers must meet requirements such as salary-range publication, fairness in recruitment and employee information rights.

Before hiring

• Publishing salary ranges in job advertisements
• Ensuring job evaluation and pay structures are gender-neutral

During employment

• Providing employees with pay information upon request
• Explaining pay and career progression criteria

Reporting and remediation

• Gender pay-gap reporting for larger organisations
• Joint pay assessment where gaps exceed thresholds
• Transparent access to comparator-group pay data

The Readiness Assessment evaluates your maturity across all these areas.

Most organisations underestimate the amount of policy, data and process change required before they can use technology to support the Directive. A readiness assessment helps you:

• Understand your preparedness across governance, data, processes and systems
• Highlight gaps in job architecture, pay-range structures and comparator logic
• Align stakeholders across HR, payroll, legal and compensation
• Prepare for country-by-country variations
• Reduce system rework by fixing foundations first

It ensures you are ready for upcoming national deadlines and system configuration.

The assessment covers four maturity dimensions:

1. Awareness & interpretation – understanding of EU 2023/970 and national variations
2. Governance & policy maturity – fairness principles, pay governance, job evaluation
3. Data & process readiness – comparator logic, data quality, recruitment and pay-decision workflows
4. Technology readiness – ability of HR and payroll systems to support transparency

This ensures you know exactly where you stand today - and what to address next.

The Directive requires clear, explainable job evaluation and pay structures. The assessment identifies:

• whether job families and levels are clearly defined
• whether pay ranges are gender-neutral
• whether comparator groups are consistent
• whether structures support pay transparency and reporting

Zalaris provides practical recommendations before any system or process changes begin.

Yes. Although the Directive is EU-wide, each country will introduce variations in:

• timelines
• reporting thresholds
• definitions of comparator groups
• communication obligations
• penalties and enforcement

The assessment highlights country-level impacts and helps plan for multi-country readiness.

Yes. Our recommendations support your existing HR and payroll landscape - whether native SAP SuccessFactors, integrated payroll systems, or third-party HR solutions.

The assessment focuses on foundations first, not tools.

Most organisations complete the assessment in 2–4 weeks, depending on the number of countries, complexity of job architecture and data quality.

You receive a concise, action-oriented output including:

• maturity level across all four dimensions
• clear list of risks, gaps and dependencies
• prioritised recommendations
• technology-agnostic enablement advice
• a roadmap to prepare for 2026 and national law changes

This gives your organisation clarity, alignment and confidence before configuration begins.