EU Pay Transparency: Will I Need to Put Salary Ranges in Job Posts?

One of the most frequently asked questions we get about the upcoming EU Pay Transparency Directive is whether employers will need to publish salary ranges in job posts.

HR Directors and C-level execs are particularly concerned about this requirement - will it make it harder to attract talent? Could it drive up salary costs? And, most importantly, could it cause friction between new hires and existing employees who were hired under different conditions?

Here’s the thing: the directive requires employers to share salary information “in a published job vacancy notice, prior to the job interview, or otherwise prior to the conclusion of any employment contract.”

But what does that actually mean? Do you need to post a salary range on every job advert once the legislation comes into force or can you share it in some other way (ex. by email to the candidate)?

Will I Need to Put Salary Ranges in Job Posts?

It depends. Each EU member state will transpose the Directive into its national law ahead of the June 7th 2026 effective date, and the rules might vary slightly depending on where you are in the EU. To give you a clearer picture of what this could look like in practice, we’ve examined how some early movers - Ireland, Poland, Belgium, and Sweden - are interpreting the directive.

The Changing Face of Pay Transparency

Ireland’s Draft Proposal Leans Towards Salary Levels or Ranges in Job Adverts

On 15th January 2025, the Irish government published a General Scheme of the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 that transposes Article 5 of the EU Pay Transparency Directive. The draft provision requires employers to provide salary levels or ranges in job adverts. This is a step up from the requirements of the directive.

Poland Pushes For Pay Ranges On Job Postings

At the end of 2024, Poland published its proposed implementation approach with a draft amendment to its Labour Code. The legislation, currently under public scrutiny until early 2025, states that employers must include minimum and maximum salary ranges in job adverts. Of course this could change as a result of the consultation but it demonstrates the direction some governments would like to take. 

Belgium Builds On Its Existing Framework

The French Community of Belgium, also known as the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, became the first EU jurisdiction to transpose the EU Pay Transparency Directive into law. Although this took place in September 2024, it has yet to be transposed at the national level so provides an indication of the direction of travel.

The Wallonia-Brussels Federation law mandates immediate pay or pay range disclosure as soon as the job is announced in job postings. While this goes beyond the directive’s requirement for pay disclosure before the interview or contract stage it doesn’t appear to force employers to publish the range in job adverts.

Sweden Drafts Even More Comprehensive Coverage

Sweden's draft pay transparency legislation, published in May 2024, shows how a country with strong existing equality frameworks can still find ways to enhance its provisions. Their approach extends beyond the EU Directive by requiring employers to provide candidates with the salary range and collective agreement provisions for the role before the pay negotiation process begins. Not in the job advert.

What This Means for Your Company

Initial indications show three different approaches to sharing pay information:

1. Ireland - potentially sharing pay ranges in job adverts.

2. Sweden - sharing pay information before salary negotiations begin.

3. Poland - potentially including pay ranges in job postings.

4. Belgium - sharing pay information once a job has been advertised or offered.

Depending on whether the member state(s) in which you operate follow suit, you may well have to do the same. Or, you may choose to publish pay on job postings, even if it’s not a legal requirement. 

While this level of transparency brings a range of benefits, it also has the potential to cause problems if it’s not handled effectively. With employees able to see the advertised pay ranges for any job, they will want to know why different roles are paid the amounts they’re paid. And why their pay is what it is. 

If employees don’t understand your approach to pay equity, these kinds of questions can breed distrust and disengagement.

The key to overcoming these challenges is to lay the appropriate groundwork. We’ve unpacked what to consider to prepare your business for greater pay transparency in job postings:

1. Ensure your pay rates are fair and objectively justifiable

It’s vital that you do the work to ensure your pay rates and ranges are appropriate for each job under EU pay transparency legislation. Depending on where your organisation is up to on its pay transparency journey, you may have a significant amount of work to do. 

This could include:

• Building a compliant job leveling framework.

• Carrying out external benchmarking to establish appropriate pay ranges for your roles, ensuring the ranges are competitive and appropriately aligned with the market data.

• Checking for internal pay equity to understand whether the published range will drive a pay gap or identify a large discrepancy with employee salaries. 

Take a look at our article that covers all the steps to take to become pay transparency compliant.

2. Implement a solid internal communications strategy

Before publishing salary ranges externally, ensure your internal pay communication plans are robust. Employees will inevitably compare their salaries with posted ranges, potentially raising questions about pay equity. 

It’s a good idea to have clearly documented policies and processes in place, removing any pay secrecy clauses and ensuring alignment with new transparency requirements. 

You’ll also need to create user-friendly pay transparency communications for employees and managers. This could include guides, FAQs, webinars, videos, emails, talking points documents and social posts. 

3. Cross-border considerations 

If your organisation operates across multiple EU countries, employees in one location will be able to see different pay rates for the same job in another country. So you’ll need to be able to explain differences in pay between geographies. 

Also, if you have employees in one country where pay transparency is a legal requirement and in another where it isn’t - like Ireland and the UK - you might find different treatment causes issues. Consider developing a harmonised approach that meets the highest standards while accommodating local variations. This will ensure all employees benefit from pay transparency regardless of location.

Proactive Preparation Is The Key to Success

Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Poland have shown that local implementation often exceeds the baseline requirements of the EU Directive. As a forward-thinking HR leader, the key to success lies in getting on the front foot in case a similar approach is taken around publishing pay in job postings in the jurisdictions you operate in.

By proactively completing the foundational work now, you’ll be well prepared to educate managers and build trust with employees. Whether you need to publish pay ranges on your job postings or not. 

SkillsTrust provides tools and services that make pay transparency simple for EU employers. To learn more, book a free call.