Job

Salaries, only one in three advertisements contains the RAL

Zucchetti Observatory shows that a significant proportion of companies ignore the obligations of the EU Pay Transparency Directive

by Cristina Casadei

2 May 2026

foto IPP/M.Angeles Salvador Piove di Sacco (Padova). 07/04/17 - Una donna guarda le offerte di lavoro.
in un agenzia interinale ricerca di lavoro IPP — foto IPP/M.Angeles Salvador Piove di Sacco (Padova). 07/04/17 - Una donna guarda le offerte di lavoro. in un agenzia interinale ricerca di lavoro IPP

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

3' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

As the distance from the entry into force of the EU directive on wage transparency (7 June) shortens, it cannot be said that the actions of companies to be compliant with the indications it contains and which will be included in the legislative decree linked to the directive have increased. Certainly there are two speeds: that of the large companies that are moving and that of the small ones that are less aware.

In general, however, the Ral, the gross annual salary, still appears in a minority share, almost one third, of job advertisements. On the other hand, a similar proportion of companies say they ignore the obligations of the EU directive on pay transparency. This is what emerged from the sixth edition of the Zucchetti HR Observatory based on a sample of more than 1,500 companies from all over Italia and of all sizes.

'The most incisive transformations,' says Luca Stella, Innovation Manager BU HR at Zucchetti and Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Zucchetti HR Observatory, 'must first of all start with a cultural change. And that is what the implementation of the regulations on salary transparency will have to trigger. It will be a matter of reasoning in terms of cluster organisation, then on job architecture systems in order to map skills and carry out gender gap analyses'.

While the first significant change that companies will have to face in the coming months will come from the implementation of the EU directive on pay transparency, it is still the majority that do not care. In fact, the Observatory data says that one in three and one in two small companies say they are totally unaware of the upcoming obligations, and that only 32% of the sample clearly display the RAL figure in job advertisements, one of the new obligations of the directive.

The consequence is that HR organisation and corporate culture will have to be increasingly supported by technology to create and update comprehensive personnel records, to identify and catalogue skills and tasks, to cluster workers on the basis of profiles with the same or equally valuable tasks, to carry out simulations and detailed analyses, and to inform workers with reports and communication tools.

In addition to salary transparency, the Zucchetti Observatory investigated several other topics, including Ai and multigenerational teams. The application of Artificial Intelligence in personnel management will be the great challenge of the coming years, even though it is currently limited to only 12%, on average. Among large companies, however, the adoption of AI for HR processes stands at 19%, while small companies are lagging behind and have not yet embarked on these paths.

No less important, as the Zucchetti Observatory shows, will be multigenerational management: 52% of companies have changed their strategy to attract and retain young people and 47% have analysed retirements. Companies are therefore seeking to diversify their approach to human capital and to integrate different ages into the same organisational architecture, building models that enhance skills throughout the life cycle and are consistent with the current labour market. As for investment in human resources, staff training and development accounted for 59% of preferences and wellbeing came second with 53%. Signs that show how the involvement and motivation of resources are decisive elements for growth.