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The current development around the EU Pay Transparency Directive means that different countries across Europe are now moving at different speeds, and in Sweden the timeline has changed. 

This creates a more complex landscape for organisations, with new questions around what to prioritise and when.

We share our perspective on what this means in practice, and how organisations can move forward.

Our experience is that many organisations still have significant work ahead of them to put all the right pieces in place in a sustainable way. This is not only about a future legal requirement, but about building a strong overall approach to pay governance - including job architecture, pay policies, pay setting, salary criteria, analysis, data quality and clear processes. 

At the same time, Sweden’s existing equal pay audit requirements remain in force, which means that the work around equal pay, analysis and structure continues to be important here and now. 

We therefore see this as an opportunity to use the time well: to work more thoroughly, create better structure and build the right foundations for the future. 

While the timeline in Sweden has shifted, the underlying work remains highly relevant. For many organisations, this is an opportunity to focus on the fundamentals that will be required regardless of the final regulatory outcome.

In practice, this means strengthening job architecture and role clarity, and ensuring salary data is accurate and comparable. It also means defining clear salary criteria, building processes for analysis and follow-up, and preparing managers to communicate pay decisions transparently.

Organisations that use this time to build strong foundations will be better positioned, regardless of how and when the directive is ultimately implemented.

For multinational organisations, this topic is also bigger than the implementation in any one country. As countries move at different speeds and with potentially different interpretations, the need for a clear and sustainable group-wide pay governance model becomes even more important. 

At Pihr, we support our customers across all parts of this journey, and we would be happy to continue the dialogue on what the right focus should be for your organisation going forward.