Pay transparency is not just about a salary range in a job advert. It is also about how you evaluate jobs, explain pay and identify and address unjustified differences. This guide separates EU rules from Dutch implementation and translates them into practical preparation for HR, recruitment and managers.
What is the EU Pay Transparency Directive?
The EU Pay Transparency Directive is Directive (EU) 2023/970. Its purpose is to make equal pay for women and men doing equal work or work of equal value more enforceable. It adds transparency and enforcement measures to an existing principle of equal pay.
Pay is broader than basic salary here: it includes complementary or variable components, such as bonuses and benefits in cash or in kind. An overall gender pay gap is not the same as proven pay discrimination. Differences need investigation in their relevant context, using objective, gender-neutral criteria.
Source: EUR-Lex, Articles 1, 3 and 4.
Which employers does pay transparency cover?
The directive covers public and private employers and their workers. Applicants are also in scope for the pre-employment provisions. The 100-worker threshold concerns mandatory EU pay reporting, not every measure.
| Area | EU baseline |
|---|---|
| Recruitment and pay information for applicants | Not limited to employers with 100 or more workers. |
| Pay criteria and worker information | Also relevant to smaller employers. Member States may exempt employers with fewer than 50 workers from the part concerning pay progression criteria. |
| Mandatory pay reporting | From 100 workers under the EU minimum, with different start dates. Member States may require smaller employers to report too. |
Source: EUR-Lex, Articles 2, 6 and 9. Check the national implementation and definition of workers when determining your organisation's size.
When does Dutch pay transparency legislation take effect?
EU Member States had to transpose the directive by 7 June 2026. According to the Dutch government, the Dutch implementation bill still needs approval by both Houses of Parliament. The government identifies 1 January 2027 as the intended start if everything goes to plan. This is a target, not a guaranteed commencement date.
Follow the progress of bill 36949. Distinguish EU deadlines from the eventual Dutch commencement date and any national transitional provisions. A delay to new Dutch transparency obligations does not make unequal pay permissible: the existing prohibition of pay discrimination continues to apply.
Must every job advert include a salary range?
Not necessarily in the advert itself. Article 5 gives applicants a right to information about the initial pay or its range, based on objective, gender-neutral criteria, and relevant collective agreement provisions where applicable. It describes different ways of providing this: in the vacancy notice, before the interview or otherwise in a way that ensures informed and transparent pay negotiation. See EUR-Lex, Article 5.
Including a range in the advert is a practical choice: applicants know what to expect and recruiters share the same approved information. That is a workflow recommendation, not a claim that the EU mandates only this format. Always check whether national rules go further.
- No pay-history questions. Employers must not ask applicants about pay in current or previous employment.
- Gender-neutral vacancy notices and job titles. Recruitment must be conducted in a non-discriminatory manner.
- Accessible information. Information for applicants and workers must be accessible to people with disabilities and account for their particular needs.
Source: EUR-Lex, Articles 5 and 8. A neutral job title alone does not establish that the whole recruitment process is non-discriminatory.
Original
We need a sales superstar. We offer a competitive salary. Please include your current salary.
Why
“Competitive” provides no concrete pay information. Asking for current salary conflicts with the prohibition on pay-history questions. Name the role and use only an HR-approved pay level or range.
Alternative
The role of [job title] has a gross monthly salary of [minimum] to [maximum] for [number] hours per week. Placement within the range follows the agreed criteria [criteria]. Relevant collective agreement provisions are [provisions, if applicable].
This is a writing pattern, not legal approval of a vacancy. Supply the actual details and check the criteria, pay components and applicable collective agreement. Find more language examples in inclusive job adverts.
What pay information can workers request?
Article 7 gives workers a right to written information about their own pay level and average pay levels, broken down by sex, for categories of workers doing the same work or work of equal value. It is not a general right to view each colleague's individual salary.
- Response deadline: within a reasonable time and in any event within two months of the request.
- Annual explanation: employers inform workers annually about this right and how to exercise it.
- Pay criteria: criteria for pay, pay levels and pay progression must be easily accessible, objective and gender-neutral; the small-employer exception mentioned earlier may apply to pay progression.
- Privacy: pay information is personal data. Apply access controls and data protection; averages can still identify people in small groups.
Source: EUR-Lex, Articles 6, 7 and 12. Prepare the process: who receives requests, supplies the data and reviews the response?
When must employers report gender pay gaps?
Article 9 sets different EU start dates and frequencies. This table shows the directive's deadlines, not a confirmed Dutch reporting calendar. Each first report concerns the previous calendar year.
| Number of workers | EU deadline and frequency |
|---|---|
| 250 or more | By 7 June 2027, for calendar year 2026; then annually. |
| 150–249 | By 7 June 2027, for calendar year 2026; then every three years. |
| 100–149 | By 7 June 2031, for calendar year 2030; then every three years. |
Source: EUR-Lex, Article 9. Reporting includes the mean and median gender pay gaps, gaps in complementary or variable pay, distribution across pay quartiles and gaps by worker category. Counting how often writing suggestions were used cannot produce these figures.
Dutch plans differ: the explanatory memorandum to the bill describes first reporting by 7 June 2028 for employers with 150 or more workers, covering calendar year 2027. For 100–149 workers it identifies 7 June 2031, covering 2030. The memorandum says the first deadlines will be set through a governmental decree. These are implementation plans, not an adopted change to EU deadlines; check the final legislation and implementing rules.
Does a 5% pay gap automatically require a joint assessment?
No. Article 10 requires a joint pay assessment with workers' representatives for employers subject to pay reporting when all three conditions below apply. The threshold concerns a category of workers, not simply the overall organisation average.
- 1Reporting shows a difference of at least 5% in average pay levels between female and male workers within a category.
- 2The employer has not justified the difference using objective, gender-neutral criteria.
- 3The unjustified difference has not been remedied within six months of submitting the pay report.
Source: EUR-Lex, Article 10. Less than 5% does not give permission for pay discrimination. The threshold triggers this specific assessment obligation; it does not determine whether an individual pay difference is lawful.
How can HR and recruitment prepare in practice?
Start with pay structures and data. Then translate them into consistent communication. Clear wording cannot resolve an incorrect pay band or discriminatory salary placement.
- 1Assign ownership. Bring together HR, payroll, legal expertise and workers' representatives. Check which national rules apply.
- 2Evaluate work, not negotiating power. Assess roles using objective, gender-neutral criteria: skills, effort, responsibility and working conditions. Relevant soft skills must not be undervalued.
- 3Check pay data. Map basic salary, complementary components and relevant categories. Determine how to investigate differences and justify or remedy them.
- 4Create approved writing patterns. Agree how recruiters share pay and collective agreement information, remove pay-history questions and review job titles and vacancy notices.
- 5Build the information process. Make criteria accessible and practise responding to worker requests with reliable data and appropriate privacy safeguards.
- 6Keep appropriate evidence. Document criteria, analyses, decisions and follow-up. Separate communication trends from the pay data a statutory report actually needs.
EIGE provides a gender-neutral job evaluation toolkit. The criteria above follow EUR-Lex, Article 4; the checklist is practical preparation, not a complete statutory audit.
Where does Be-Inc contribute, and what needs other expertise?
Be-Inc supports the communication layer: contextual writing coaching in Microsoft 365, where employees already write. It suggests alternatives and explains why, along Brand, Clarity, Tone and Inclusivity. The writer chooses. HR remains responsible for accurate pay data and pay criteria.
| Where Be-Inc contributes | How to use it |
|---|---|
| Clear explanations | Make explanations of approved pay criteria understandable and specific for the reader. |
| Appropriate tone and inclusive language | Support respectful salary communication and attention to wording that unintentionally excludes people. |
| A recognisable brand voice | Align HR and recruitment communication with the agreed way of communicating. |
| Insight into coaching use | With Enterprise: aggregated trends by team, pillar and theme inform follow-up coaching and provide supplementary evidence of communication actions. |
The Be-Inc dashboard never shows individual scores and reports only in aggregate, from approximately ten people. It is not payroll software and does not calculate statutory gender pay gaps. It does not automatically check that every vacancy contains an accurate salary range either. Writing suggestions and coaching trends alone do not prove equal pay or compliance with the directive. Combine writing coaching with job evaluation, reliable pay data, process controls and legal review.
Want to start with how your organisation communicates? Take the communication scan. It identifies communication questions; it is not a pay transparency audit.
