EU Mandates Salary Transparency in Job Ads
A new European Union directive requires member states like Croatia to enforce salary transparency in job advertisements by June 7, 2026. The regulatory shift is expected to have a significant impact on the tech hiring landscape across the EU, including in Bulgaria. Engineering leaders will likely face increased pressure for pay clarity from candidates and need to ensure internal compensation policies are competitive and equitable.
- The directive, officially known as Directive (EU) 2023/970, aims to strengthen the principle of equal pay for equal work or work of equal value. It addresses a persistent gender pay gap in the EU, which stood at 12.7% in 2023. - Key provisions include a ban on asking candidates about their salary history and a requirement for employers to provide the initial pay level or range to applicants before the first interview. Job titles and recruitment processes must also be gender-neutral. - Employees will gain the right to request information on their individual pay level and the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for workers doing the same work or work of equal value. Employers must respond to such requests within two months. - Companies with over 100 employees will be required to report on their gender pay gap. Those with 250 or more employees must report annually, while those with 100-249 employees will report every three years. The first reports for companies with 150+ employees are due by June 7, 2027, covering the 2026 calendar year. - If a company's gender pay gap report reveals a disparity of 5% or more that cannot be justified by objective, gender-neutral criteria, they must conduct a joint pay assessment in cooperation with employee representatives. - The burden of proof in pay discrimination cases will shift from the employee to the employer. This means the employer will have to prove that there was no discrimination in relation to pay. - As of early 2026, Bulgaria has not yet published draft legislation to transpose the directive into national law. However, a 2026 survey showed that over 80% of Bulgarian employers are aware of the directive's requirements to some extent, though over 43% have negative expectations about its impact. - The directive is part of a larger global trend towards pay transparency, with similar legislation being considered in other non-EU jurisdictions. This is prompting some multinational companies to consider adopting a global pay transparency policy for consistency and to improve employee trust.
