KONTAKT OS

Consultants from our offices in Sweden, Denmark and Finland have contributed to the new report “Measures to promote gender pay transparency in companies” published by Eurofound.

The report investigates three types of gender pay transparency that 13 EU Member States and the United Kingdom have put in place to ensure the right to equal pay for men and women.

Overall, the report shows that the instruments are very varied across countries in terms of their richness and detail of data provided. While the simpler pay reports tend to cover more employees in the countries which have put these in place, the pay audits cover less employees but provide more detailed data.

Three gender pay transparency measures:

  • Right to obtain information: Employees can request information on pay levels, broken down by gender, for categories of employees doing the same work or work of equal value.
  • Pay reports: Employers with at least 50 employees should regularly compile reports on the average remuneration by category of employee or position, broken down by gender.
  • Pay audits: Companies with at least 250 employees should carry out audits, which include an analysis of the proportion of women and men in each category of employee or position, an analysis of the job evaluation and classification system used, and detailed information on pay and pay differentials on grounds of gender.


The study shows that both management and employee representatives find the instruments beneficial because they increase awareness about the gender pay gap and promote trust and reassurance that pay has been set in a fair way. However, the report also points to the fact that the pay reports often are too simple to provide useful data for the companies, and that more interviewees therefore preferred the more costly and detailed pay reports. In accordance, one Danish HR manager pointed to the fact, that pay reports needs to be interpreted carefully as they “can both show and hide inequalities”.

Read the full report here

If you have any questions, please contact senioranalyst Tobias Bühring