The EU Pay Transparency Directive (EUPTD) aims to transform how companies approach compensation across all EU member states. This landmark legislation will affect over 200 million EU workers by fundamentally shifting power from employers to employees in salary negotiations and by promising to end salary secrecy.
From mandatory salary ranges in job ads or before interview for all jobs located in the EU, regardless of the company’s headquarters, to the right to request colleagues’ pay information, to gender pay gaps becoming public knowledge with mandatory corrective action, this Directive aims to create truly equitable workplaces where career progression is transparent, and pay disparities are systematically addressed.
The EU Pay Transparency Directive takes effect on 7 June 2026, just weeks from now. Yet the picture across member states remains fragmented, with some countries still finalising their national legislation and others signalling delays. Meanwhile, the ripple effects are already being felt well beyond Europe’s borders.
To discuss the implementation of the Directive and its repercussions, Margaret Jaouadi speaks with Amanda Diston, SVP of Talent & Reward at AVEVA, a global leader in industrial software headquartered in Cambridge, UK, with more than 6,400 employees, 5,000 partners, and 5,700 certified developers. The conversation focuses on the practicalities: how prepared organisations really are, where the biggest operational challenges lie, whether this is ultimately good for business as well as for employees, and how to get the communications piece right, because transparency, by definition, means people will be watching. Amanda covers the global reach of what is technically EU law, the internal infrastructure that needs to be in place, and advises peers who may feel they’re running out of road.
Quickfire Round with Amanda
On a scale of 1 to 10, how ready for the EU Directive is your organisation right now?
Seven.
What aspect of the Directive excites you the most?
Getting information out to employees in a clear, transparent way. Every employee knows they’re empowered to have a conversation about their pay, development, or growth opportunities. We spend a lot of time training leaders, and I love the fact that we’re now going to put all that same information in front of employees, which holds leaders to a greater account and really empowers people to own their conversations.
Will this be good for business?
Yes.
In one word, what are employees most looking forward to?
Transparency.
What’s been the single hardest part so far?
Assessing peer groups. In many of our EU member states, we don’t have many employees, and they’re not often at the same level or even in the same job family. So doing a meaningful pay comparison is more challenging than you’d think.
What are the biggest benefits to your organisation in the long run?
We have a massive commitment to pay equity. When you train employees with the same awareness and information you’ve been giving leaders, it will accelerate that journey. Everyone feels empowered with information, and that enables better conversations. Leaders have to own and be accountable for the decisions they’re taking, which is only a good thing.
Will pay transparency become global within five years?
If you’re in an organisation like mine, I don’t see why it wouldn’t. I’m not going to release ranges in some countries, but not others. Most of the content I’m going to put out for employees isn’t just for member states — it’s going to be global, so every employee feels and experiences the same. Particularly when the EU member states are actually our smallest countries. Why would I give that benefit to them but not to the bigger markets we’re in? The best-practice parts of this legislation — why wouldn’t you take them global? It makes absolute sense.
If you could go back 18 months and give yourself one piece of advice, what would it be?
Start training employees sooner.
The Main Event
Margaret Jaouadi
Towards the end of last year, we ran a LinkedIn poll asking our audience which aspect of the EU Pay Directive they were most looking forward to. The most popular answer was having remuneration in job posts. Were you surprised?
Amanda Diston
That’s really interesting, and there’s another perspective worth considering. Data shows that women don’t always compete as hard for pay. The risk is that they see a salary range that feels a bit outside where they are currently, and they don’t apply, despite being perfectly capable of the role and fully entitled to that pay. So it could also go the other way if people don’t have confidence in what they should be paid for the role they’re doing. Sometimes the salary can actually be intimidating.
Margaret Jaouadi
What’s been your biggest challenge in preparing for this Directive?
Amanda Diston
Systems and processes. I gave the example earlier about identifying peer groups when you’re in a small market. We’ve got really good intent to provide information transparently, but we need it to be meaningful, not something that confuses employees or makes them feel that something unfair has happened. Our biggest challenge is changing well-established systems and processes into something new and communicating that effectively.
When I think about how we usually look at pay equity, I always think about people relative to their comp ratio, the range, and the midpoint we anchor to. That really helps me assess how people are paid relative to one another. A key challenge is making consistent pay comparisons for similar or equivalent roles. Once adopted into law, definitions of peer groups can vary by country. In some cases, we may not have enough employees in a specific market to form a meaningful comparator group. We’re working through what we can do to ensure those reports, when people ask for them, feel meaningful and are true comparisons.
Margaret Jaouadi
This is an EU law, but is it changing how you think about pay beyond Europe?
Amanda Diston
Absolutely. There are changes here that are really about driving greater transparency and raising educational and information levels. When people are armed with information, they are better positioned to negotiate or decide what’s right for them. Anything that empowers our people has got to be a good step forward.
For me, a lot of this is good practice, and I’d want it to apply globally, not just be restricted to our EU member states. I will restrict reporting to EU member states, as we have statutory reporting requirements in many countries outside the EU and will always remain compliant with those requirements. But we think our methodology for assessing fair, competitive, equitable pay is a more thoughtful approach for us as a global organisation. So I’m unlikely to take the EU reporting methodology global, but I think everything else could go global.
Margaret Jaouadi
When employees start asking, “Why does my colleague earn more than I?”, managers need good answers. How are you preparing AVEVA’s people leaders for those conversations?
Amanda Diston
Over the last few years, we’ve been empowering leaders to talk about pay, make better pay decisions, own those decisions, and review their data to see how people are paid relative to one another. We’ve given them a methodology for how they should think about pay and where they should be paying within a range. We’ve been building that muscle in our leaders.
The nice thing is that over the last three to four years, leaders have owned their pay decisions knowingly. They’ve been able to see all their pay data transparently and how people are paid relative to each other. They’ve had time to make better decisions and to close any pay gaps that might exist. So I feel they are equipped to have that conversation, and they also have to own the decisions they’ve been empowered to make.
Of course, we’ll be there to support them. If anyone feels they haven’t made the right decisions for any reason, we will work with them to support the conversation with the employee and make any changes needed to rectify the situation.
Margaret Jaouadi
Did you have to put formal processes in place behind those requests?
Amanda Diston
Yes, we are introducing formal processes to support these requests, including an internal ticketing system to ensure consistency and tracking. We’re also educating employees on how to submit requests effectively. In parallel, we’ve partnered with Trusaic to build robust peer comparison data. They’ll also do all of our analysis behind the scenes and prepare employee personal statements. We will use those to support leaders and train them to have the conversations with their employees.
Margaret Jaouadi
What do you see as the biggest benefit of pay transparency, not in theory, but in practice?
Amanda Diston
Closing the pay gaps that may exist, whether historical or the result of poor pay practices, by allowing people to come in, share their current pay, and then negotiate from that starting point. This approach will allow us to close those inequities and empower employees to understand their pay position and negotiate with real data and information.
Margaret Jaouadi
While working on implementing this Directive, have there been any surprises in the data?
Amanda Diston
Interestingly, no major surprises. When we were doing the living wage analysis, we recognised that in some cases we weren’t paying above the living wage, even though we thought we paid quite well in those markets. And we did, by the way. But we addressed that immediately.
We haven’t found anything that’s a big, insurmountable gap. We’ve made steady progress across all our markets over the last few years, bringing the gender pay gap to less than 1% using our internal methodology, which looks at people in the same role and job family relative to their midpoint. It gives you a much more precise picture. We’ve worked really hard to close those gaps, and in any areas where they were really wide, we’ve made sure we can address them.
Margaret Jaouadi
Many organisations say they’re not ready. What’s the one thing you’d advise them to do first?
Amanda Diston
I think it’s a true concern for everyone. Even in our position, where we’ve spent a lot of time engaging and educating our leaders, we’ve changed our processes and communication methodology to be more transparent. You’re never really fully ready until you know the specifics of how each country will enact this legislation, because you don’t know exactly what’s coming.
However, the EU Pay Transparency Directive is very clear about the work we need to do. And the spirit of the law is clear: openness, transparency, and making sure your employees have the information they need. There shouldn’t be a process that’s a secret or not clearly understood.
So that’s where I’d start. If you’ve got processes or policies that aren’t clear to your employees, or if they don’t know how to get a promotion or join a particular project, you should focus first on education and information. We know employees have a right to information, which is why we’ve partnered with Trusaic to ensure we can respond to requests in a timely manner.
These are best-practice things. I don’t know why you wouldn’t do them. Even if a country chooses not to adopt them fully, why wouldn’t you take the best practice and roll it out? I appreciate that for some companies, it might feel like a big step. So build your change plan, work out what you’re going to do and by when, but have that plan. Because if you sit and wait for the legislation to become crystallised, you’re already on the back foot.
Margaret Jaouadi
In the UK and many other cultures, talking about pay is the last taboo. Suddenly having those conversations will be a shock to some people.
Amanda Diston
You’re absolutely right, pay transparency is already a cultural shift in places like the UK, but in parts of APAC, it goes even further, where conversations about pay can feel genuinely uncomfortable, not just uncommon.
That said, we do already have a foundation to build on; our leaders have annual conversations with employees about pay increases and bonuses, so there is some familiarity with structured pay discussions.
The shift with EUPTD is really about broadening that into a more transparent and consistent framework. It’s as much a change management challenge as it is a regulatory one, requiring clear communication, manager support, and sensitivity to local norms to build trust over time.
In countries where talking about pay is still taboo, employees don’t have to disclose anything. It’s their choice whether they want to enter a conversation with peers about pay. And if they feel personally uncomfortable, they have every right to say, “I’m sorry, I’m not comfortable talking about this.” As a company, we can’t stop those conversations from happening, but we need to give people the confidence to set their own boundaries.
Margaret Jaouadi
What role does communications play in getting this right, and what happens if you get it wrong?
Amanda Diston
Let me start with the second part, because if you get it wrong, you have to be open and honest about it. You say, “We’ve made a mistake, and this is what we’re doing to fix it.” Honesty is the best policy, followed by damage control.
In terms of communication, it’s hugely important. People need to know what information they should have and where to find it. They need to be able to revisit it later. We’re spending a lot of time building video content, short, 2- to 3-minute videos on topics like how we create salary ranges, our job architecture, and how we differentiate by geographic zones. We’re doing it in bite-sized chunks so people can take in the information at their own pace. We’re providing both written content and mini videos.
We’ve already started exploring AI-enabled solutions to enhance communication. Last year, we introduced a chatbot called Patricia (‘Patsy’) to support our annual compensation review process, giving employees quick, consistent answers and improving overall clarity in a controlled environment.
Building on that success, we’re now considering how similar tools can support EUPTD-related queries, helping employees navigate information more easily alongside the broader documentation and guidance we’re putting in place.
Margaret Jaouadi
If you could give one piece of practical advice to a CHRO peer who feels behind, what would it be, and what’s the one mistake you’d tell them to avoid?
Amanda Diston
Be open about where you are as a company and the journey you need to take to get to full transparency. Don’t over-commit to something you can’t deliver. Just be very open: “We’re embarking on this journey. Here are the things we need to change.” Publish your action plan and regularly update employees on your progress, so they can see your genuine commitment to getting there, even if you’re not there yet.
Over-committing and under-delivering is one of the worst things you can do, because it makes you look like you’re hiding something, which goes against everything transparency stands for. If you feel you’re behind, get the plan up and running quite rapidly, and then be very open and communicative with employees about it.
One thing that works really well for us is our Talent and Reward Influencer Group, about 100 employees from different countries, levels, and functions. EU Pay Transparency is one of the working actions that this group focuses on. They’ve been involved in making thoughtful decisions about what we communicate and how we communicate. They’ve reviewed video scripts and commented on whether the content is easy to understand and free of tech speak. Bringing together a group like that is hugely helpful because they become champions as well. They’ve co-created the work, and then they champion it across the organisation.
So: openness, honesty, publish your plan, show where you are against it, and take real action. Because if you don’t deliver, people will start to lose trust in you. You need to maintain and build trust so employees believe what you’re putting out there and that you really have pay equity and pay transparency at the core of what you want to deliver.
There is one more point I feel strongly about. This Directive isn’t just about comp and comp transparency. It’s about the whole end-to-end process. The investments you make in your people around development, learning, growth, career progression, promotion, all of those processes contribute to delivering a complete outcome of transparency.
CHROs shouldn’t see the words “pay transparency” and think it’s just about compensation. It has a far wider-reaching impact on the decisions leaders take at every stage of someone’s employment. It is not a narrow exercise where you can tick a couple of boxes by putting out some pay information. It goes deeply into how you structure your policies and the bias that might be embedded in how people get selected for projects.
When I talk about the pay gap, I always say it’s just an outcome. Everything that comes before creates that outcome. Who’s being selected for development? Who’s on that project? Who’s getting visibility? Who’s on succession? All those policies and processes that drive someone’s career mobility and ability to progress determine the outcome.
The big investment is in leaders: ensuring their biases are understood and managed so they make the right decisions and value people and skills holistically. If you take the attitude that all talent is talent, then the skills and experience people bring will be hugely varied. You value them where they are and look at how you’re going to bring them on; those are the things that will deliver a different outcome when it comes to gaps.
So to that CHRO question: this is not a pay problem. It is fundamentally about how leaders and employees feel empowered and understand that everyone is a talent. It’s about making the most of all the talent you have and valuing what each person brings.
Margaret Jaouadi
Thank you, Amanda, for sharing your insights so openly and reframing this legislation so elegantly. Your observation that the pay gap is an outcome, not the starting point, is one I think every CHRO preparing for this Directive will agree with. Because if the gap is the result of every decision that came before it, then transparency isn’t just about publishing numbers, it’s about changing the decisions that produce them. And with AI reshaping roles and organisations moving towards skills-led career progression, getting that foundation right has never mattered more.
For a confidential chat about how Pacific International can assist you with your Strategic and C-suite hiring or Diversity challenges, please contact Adam Nuzie or one of our Heads of sector.