Pay transparency is moving fast from debate to reality. The EU directive is reshaping the rules, UK reporting on ethnicity and disability is on the horizon, and individual US states are racing ahead with their own laws. For employers, the question is no longer if, but how and when to respond.
In the recent Benefits Expert webinar, Pay Transparency at the Tipping Point: The Shift You Can’t Ignore, a panel of experts discussed what this shift means for HR, reward and benefits leaders, and how to get ahead of it. We’ve outlined three takeaways below, you can watch the 30 minute webinar for more rich insight and practical tips.
The panel included Charlotte Williams, talent acquisition manager at Good Energy, Natalie Jutla, head of financial wellbeing and workplace strategy at Perkbox, Chris Andrew, communication consulting lead at Gallagher Benefit Services, and Sarah Jefferys, head of reward consulting at Gallagher UK.
Three key webinar takeaways
1. Transparency is no longer optional, act now
The legislative landscape is changing. Being proactive will help organisations stay ahead of compliance and avoid last-minute risk.
But preparing for greater pay transparency can take time, warned Sarah Jefferys, head of reward consulting at Gallagher UK. “Definitely get started upfront and early. For many of us, there’s still [at least] another pay round before some of this legislation comes in. Use that opportunity wisely to apply for additional budgets or direct money where you need to if there are any unexplainable gaps that might present a risk to the organisation.”
Greater pay transparency can be a powerful lever for talent. Charlotte Williams from Good Energy said that showing salaries on job adverts, for example, directly supports recruitment and DEI goals. Williams shared data showing that women are 65 percent more likely to apply for roles when pay is published. Employers that hold back on transparency risk losing candidates and potentially weakening retention. Her organisation is a founder member of the We Show the Salary campaign.
2. Framing and communication are critical
“With any kind of change of this sort of magnitude, you need to create the right environment, to enable the messages and the initiative to land effectively,” said Chris Andrew of Gallagher. “It’s really important to start by listening to your people, and try to dispel any myths right from the start.”
When gender pay gap reporting came in, Andrew said he was involved in a number of webinars and town hall Q&As. “The majority of the questions were a misunderstanding between gender pay gap and pay equity. So the clarity of the story is absolutely critical. How do we define fairness, here’s where we are today, this is what we’re doing to improve, and just start to head off some of those challenges from the start.”
Natalie Jutla at Perkbox said: “It’s about starting with the why, because a lot of people that work for you and are already in place will not really fully understand why.
“It’s good to kind of go back a few steps and talk about the DEI goals and the fairness of it, and why we’re looking at it now and haven’t perhaps done it before.”
She said it is important to start small. “Start with a few people, pilot it before you go big, so you can make sure it’s almost small and perfectly formed before it gets to be something that gets out of control as it grows.”
3. Solid data foundations are essential
Panellists stressed that pay audits, clear job architecture and bias-free job levelling are the building blocks of transparency. Benchmarking against market data and identifying explainable versus unexplainable gaps allow HR to make targeted changes before new rules arrive. This will limit legal and reputational risk.
The impact of transparency is best understood through a mix of metrics. Engagement survey responses on fairness, retention and promotion rates, and recruitment data such as time-to-hire all provide insight. At Good Energy, publishing salaries improved both applications and retention, strengthening the business case for openness.
- For more practical tips and strategic advice on how to get ahead of pay transparency changes, watch or listen to the 30 minute webinar on catch up.
