Will Pay Transparency Close the Gender Pay Gap? The EU Thinks So | The Conversation

Pay transparency refers to how open employers are about what, why, how, and how much employees are compensated. As noted in a previous post, a World At Work survey found that while 67 percent of firms view pay transparency as increasingly important, only 14 percent are giving it more than “moderate” attention. And with the gender pay gap continuing to widen, many are calling for pay transparency as one solution. This article describes how the European Union (EU) has introduced new binding measures for member states regarding pay transparency. It is intended to accelerate closing the gender pay gap in Europe, currently 14.1 percent. Among the measures proposed: 1) employers must share the criteria by which they set pay, 2) employers cannot ask about a candidate’s previous salaries, 3) employees may request information about pay averages in their firm for workers doing the same work or work of equal value. 4) larger employers will have to publish information on internal pay gaps and, where pay gaps exceed 5 percent, employers will have to assess the reasons behind them. While pay transparency alone will not solve gender pay inequity, it could be one of the various solutions.