Gender pay obligations across EMEA

HR News - By Deborah Margolis & Raoul Parekh - 12 July 2019

While HR professionals may feel they've now got to grips with gender pay reporting, similar legislation is being introduced in other countries. So HR must understand regional variations

Gender pay has become a hot topic over the past decade and the size of some companies’ gaps regularly makes front-page news. The results of Littler’s recent annual employer survey showed that gender pay equity is seen as the most concerning HR issue among European employers, with 37% of those surveyed saying it has caused a 'high or very high' level of concern in the workplace.

But how can a multinational employer or an HR professional with responsibility across EMEA comply with a messy patchwork of laws?

How have gender pay laws developed across Europe?

Over the past few years we have seen gender pay reporting laws come into force in a number of European jurisdictions. Governments have introduced mandatory reporting obligations for companies that employ more than a specific number of employees.

In Great Britain employers have been dealing with reporting obligations for two years already. However, in some jurisdictions reporting requirements have been introduced much more recently. For example, in Spain the relevant legislation was only passed in March. Reporting obligations now affect or will soon affect most medium-sized employers that operate in western Europe and employers should be aware of the gender pay laws relevant to the jurisdictions in which they operate.

You can read the full article here.