How to negotiate salary under the EU Pay Transparency Directive

Every EU member state was required to transpose the Pay Transparency Directive into national law by 7 June 2026. If you're negotiating a salary anywhere in the EU right now, the ground under that conversation has shifted — and most people negotiating across the table from you don't know it yet.

Here's what actually changed, and how to use it.

You can now ask what the pay range is before you apply

Employers are required to disclose the salary range for a role in the job posting or before the first interview, depending on how their home country implemented the directive. If a recruiter dodges this, you're allowed to ask directly: "Could you share the salary range for this role before we go further? I understand that's required now under the Pay Transparency Directive." Framing it as a compliance question, not a demand, keeps the tone easy.

You can request pay-level information about comparable roles

Once you're employed, most transpositions give you the right to ask your employer for the average pay levels, broken down by gender, for employees doing the same work or work of equal value. This is different from asking a colleague directly what they earn — it's a formal request to HR, and they're required to respond.

Large employers now have to report gender pay gaps

Companies over the relevant employee-count threshold (thresholds phase in by size through 2027) must publish gender pay gap figures. If your employer has published one, that number is public leverage. A gap of even a few percentage points is a legitimate, factual reason to ask whether your own pay reflects it.

What this looks like in a real conversation

“"I've seen that [Company]'s published gender pay gap report shows a gap of [X]%. I want to make sure my own compensation is in line with that commitment — can we look at where I sit relative to the band for my role?"”

That's a very different opening than "I feel underpaid." It's specific, factual, and hard to wave away with a vague "that's just how it is here."

If you want the fuller picture on how pay transparency laws work and how to use them to check whether you're underpaid, read our companion piece on using pay transparency to find out if you're underpaid. And if you want to see how the EU compares to global pay gap data, our statistics page has it broken down by country.