Wage transparency, how Italian companies can prepare for the new directive

Despite the progress made in recent years in terms of the presence of women in senior roles, the gender pay gap continues to be a structural problem in the labour market. As the World Economic Forum reports, between 2015 and 2024 the presence of women in top management increased from 31.5% to 33.4%. However, this advancement remains limited: since 2020, the gap between the presence of women in middle and top management has remained stagnant at 5%, contributing to maintaining pay differences throughout the career span.

To concretely promote an inclusive culture, companies cannot limit themselves to declarations of principle, but must analyse in a structured way how discriminatory practices, even indirect ones, affect the gender pay gap.

At Michael Page, every year we carry outTalent Trends, a global survey which shows that 9% of respondents say they have felt discriminated against in the last 12 months because of age or gender, with an impact that goes beyond the individual and is reflected in the corporate climate, performance and ability to retain talent. Beware, however, that salary transparency does not require individual salaries to be made public, but to adopt objective, neutral and verifiable pay criteria that can transform a regulatory obligation into a strategic lever of trust and competitiveness. And this is what we must focus on.

Italia's progress towards Goal 5 (dedicated to gender equality) of the Agenda 2030 remains too slow. Despite some improvements over the past 10 years - including, for example, the increase in women's life expectancy, the growth of the female employment rate (55% in 2022, +2.9% compared to 2020), the decrease in involuntary part-time work, a higher number of STEM graduates (13.2% in 2022) and a greater presence of women in top management and regional assemblies - much remains to be done. Suffice it to say that it would still take 67 years for the EU to completely eliminate the gender gap, and Italia many more.

The directive, we cannot deny, can be particularly challenging for SMEs, which are often characterised by less standardised roles and less structured processes. However, even for these companies, salary transparency must be seen as a lever of cultural transformation - and not just a regulatory compliance - to reduce inequalities and conflicts, improve employee trust and increase talent attractiveness.

Directive (EU) 2023/970 on pay transparency and its implementing decree represent a great opportunity for all Italian companies. It is not just a matter of new formal requirements, but a structural step that affects work organisation, grading systems and remuneration policies, making the criteria for awarding salaries and career progressions clearer. Transparency will become a competitive factor, also in terms of talent attractiveness and retention.

Directive (EU) 2023/970 therefore represents a strategic step for companies, which are called upon to rethink internal processes and HR policies with a view to transparency, fairness and accountability.

- Salary audit to identify inconsistencies and prepare the basis for overcoming them.

- Definition of salary ranges, to ensure consistency and fairness.

- Well-defined promotion criteria to promote transparency.

- Openness to confrontation to promote internal dialogue and build trust from the outset.

- Involvement of managers and the legal team so that everyone is aligned and up-to-date to more easily ensure continuity and compliance.

* Chief Executive Officer of Michael Page