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'It's going to be a good thing' - Why revealing your salary is to become easier

The EU Pay Transparency Directive came into effect last June, and member states have three years to put it into domestic law
Jack Quann
Jack Quann

13.54 9 Jan 2024


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'It's going to be a good thing...

'It's going to be a good thing' - Why revealing your salary is to become easier

Jack Quann
Jack Quann

13.54 9 Jan 2024


Share this article


Salary transparency is to become more mainstream due to EU legislation.

The Pay Transparency Directive came into effect last June, and member states have three years to put it into law.

The new rules will make it compulsory for employers to inform job seekers about the starting salary or pay range of advertised jobs.

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Employers will also not be able to ask candidates about their pay history.

Once in the role, workers will be entitled to ask their employers for information about average pay levels.

They will also have access to the criteria used to determine pay and career progression, which "must be objective and gender neutral."

It comes as a new trend on social media sees people revealing their salary online to try and promote pay transparency.

Sanderson Recruitment Managing Director Donal O'Donoghue told The Pat Kenny Show he is all in favour of it.

"It's going across TikTok, YouTube and Facebook," he said.

"It's a really timely thing because if you look at this whole agenda around pay transparency, in the United States they started to legislate for this last year.

"In California, for example, in January 2023 it became law that companies that had over 100 employees had to publish the pay range on every job advertisement.

"Same thing in Colorado, and in New York City... they made it illegal for an employer to ask what your salary history was.

"It's about promoting equity and it's about reducing the gender pay gap."

EU Pay Transparency Directive

Mr O'Donoghue said asking someone what their salary expectations are "is the right question to ask".

"If you look in the EU, we've got the EU Pay Transparency Directive that was adopted by the European Parliament last year," he said.

"So, we now have three years to transpose that into law.

"If a company puts a value on a job - say €50,000 of a salary - they should be happy to pay that to whoever the successful candidate is, whether that person previously earned €35,000, €40,000 or €48,000".

'Twice as likely to apply for a job'

Mr O'Donoghue said the transparency will mean the reverse of how things used to be.

"In the old days employment contracts had a secrecy clause, it was very common for it to be breach of your contract of employment to discuss your earnings with colleagues or externally," he said.

"If this legislation comes in it will remove that.

"I think transparency is going to be a good thing.

"One thing that we've noticed is that people are twice as likely to apply for a job where a salary is shown," he added.

As part of the changes, companies with more than 250 employees will be required to report annually on the gender pay gap in their organisation.

For smaller organisations, the reporting will take place every three years.

If a pay gap of more than 5% is found that can't be justified by "objective, gender-neutral criteria", companies will be required to take action in the form of a joint pay assessment carried out in cooperation with workers' representatives.

Listen back here:

Main image: Euro money coins and banknotes, 10-6-13. Image: ronstik / Alamy 

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Donal O'Donoghue EU Legislation EU Pay Transparency Directive Pay Transparency Directive Revealing Your Salary Salary Transparency Sanderson Recruitment The Pat Kenny Show

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