It is not a trade union requirement…  it is related to the fact that the European Parliament adopted in May 2023 a directive to “strengthen the application of the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value between men and women through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms” (see https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/970 ). “Equal pay for equal work” is one of the EU’s founding principles; still the implementation and enforcement of this principle remain a challenge, and the pay discrimination often goes undetected….

Was this necessary? Considering that women in the EU on average earn 13% less than men…you can answer that.

Is this Directive the “end of pay secrecy”? Well, the Directive was published in the “Official Journal” on 17 May 2023 and the Member States have to ‘transpose’ in their local legislation by June 2026… so we have to wait a little bit, but yes, the “employees” will have the right to information on pay in their category of work.

The impact will be major, at least in our countries, where the salaries and salary packages are “confidential” …

Of course, the big corporations have their salary system grading/s, but, still, they are not open to communicate to their employees in a fully transparent way. And, usually, in some mid and small companies, maybe the local ones, the salary is agreed based mainly on “individual negotiation”.

Nevertheless, the “pay transparency should be prior to employment” – meaning that even from the employment advertisement you, as prospective employer (or recruitment agency), should communicate the salary ranges….

And how will the Headhunting/ Executive Search practices be affected? As it is well known that a candidate who is not actively looking for a career change might have expectations to increase her/ his current salary level?

There are many questions to answer in the future related to this. But how do you see its impact, as a candidate or as an employer (or employer’s representative: hiring manager, HR)? 
Would you apply to an employment ad if the salary is specified? Or the major ‘criteria’ will be the salary, not the role itself?

Felicia BELDEAN
Managing Partner Bulgaria & Romania 
TARGET Executive Search