Salary Transparency: What will change for businesses in 2026
The European directive on salary transparency must be transposed into French law before June 7, 2026. Its objective: to strengthen equal pay between women and men and improve the transparency of salary policies within companies.
However, beyond the regulatory aspect, this reform will primarily push many companies to review their HR organization, internal processes, and the way they structure their remuneration data.
Salary Transparency: A reform that goes beyond just salaries
European Directive 2023/970 introduces new obligations regarding remuneration transparency.
Until now, many companies managed salary policies in a relatively opaque manner, with criteria that were sometimes poorly formalized or scattered across different tools.
The reform aims to make remuneration practices more transparent, traceable, and easily justifiable.
According to the official Service Public website, employers will notably have to make accessible the criteria used to determine:
- remuneration;
- remuneration levels;
- and salary progression.
The directive also provides for strengthening the rights of employees and job applicants.
What will change from recruitment
One of the most visible changes will concern job offers.
Companies will now have to:
- indicate the proposed remuneration or a salary range before the first interview;
- communicate certain information on applicable agreements;
- and no longer ask candidates for their salary history.
These measures aim to limit persistent pay gaps and strengthen equity from the recruitment process onwards.
Which companies will be affected?
The directive provides for different obligations depending on the size of the company.
Companies with more than 250 employees
Companies with more than 250 employees will have to submit annual information on pay gaps between women and men.
They will also have to correct certain gaps exceeding 5% when they cannot be justified by objective criteria.
Companies with between 100 and 249 employees
Companies with between 100 and 249 employees will have to produce a report every three years according to a progressive schedule:
- from 2027 for companies with 150 to 249 employees;
- from 2031 for companies with 100 to 149 employees.
Companies with fewer than 100 employees
Companies with fewer than 100 employees will not be subject to the same reporting obligations.
However, they remain concerned by several rules related to:
- remuneration transparency;
- salary progression criteria;
- and recruitment practices.
A very concrete impact for SMEs
For many companies, the issue will not only be legal.
The reform also raises very operational challenges:
- centralization of HR data;
- formalization of remuneration criteria;
- monitoring of salary developments;
- document organization;
- information traceability;
- and preparation of reports.
Many SMEs will gradually have to review:
- their salary grids;
- their internal processes;
- and their HR management tools.
In some cases, the information already exists… but is scattered across several different files, emails, folders, or software.
Why HR tools will become strategic
In this context, HR and ERP tools will play an increasingly important role.
The objective is not only to produce reports, but also to:
- centralize employee data;
- quickly find the right documents;
- track contracts, absences, timesheets, and pay slips;
- and gain better visibility into HR information.
A more structured organization not only facilitates regulatory monitoring, but also:
- internal communication;
- consistency of salary practices;
- and the fluidity of daily HR processes.
The Kafinea Plus
Given the evolution of HR obligations and the need to better structure employee-related information, having a centralized environment becomes a real advantage for SMEs.
Kafinea notably allows you to:
- manage employees and employment contracts;
- track absences and timesheets;
- centralize pay slips and HR documents;
- utilize customizable dashboards and reports;
- and offer an employee extranet to share certain information in a structured manner.
The objective is not only to simplify administrative tasks, but also to enable companies to more easily find the right information, streamline HR processes, and gain better visibility into their data.
In a context where remuneration criteria, histories, and reporting are becoming increasingly important, a centralized HR organization also helps limit the dispersion of information across multiple different files, emails, or tools.
Kafinea thus helps SMEs gradually structure their HR processes without burdening their daily operations.
Salary Transparency: A regulatory… but also organizational evolution
Salary transparency is not limited to a new administrative constraint.
For many companies, this reform primarily marks a broader evolution of HR practices:
- greater traceability;
- more formalized criteria;
- better information flow;
- and a more structured organization of employee data.
Companies that anticipate these changes now will generally find it easier to adapt their processes in the coming years.