On the same topic
With only a few months remaining before the deadline to transpose the EU pay transparency directive — a reform set to significantly impact employers — mind RH is publishing a series of country overviews examining how its implementation will affect key European markets and how businesses are preparing.
On 25 November, Minister for Social Affairs and Employment Korinna Schumann announced that her ministry had begun consultations with the social partners with a view to drafting a bill to transpose the European pay transparency directive. ‘In our country, we talk very little about pay in the workplace. It’s a very strong taboo. It’s considered indiscreet or shameful. This has to stop,’ explained Dorottya Kickinger, Federal Secretary for Women’s Issues at the Austrian Trade Union Confederation (ÖGB), to mind HR. Of course, she points out, many sectors have agreements and pay scales, and the 2004 Equal Treatment Act (Gleichbehandlungsgesetz – GlBG) already establishes the principle of ‘equal pay for equal work’: ‘But anything beyond that, such as bonuses and allowances, remains largely secret, and employment contracts with confidentiality clauses are common.
As a Berlin correspondent for the French and Swiss press since the late 1990s, I cover a wide range of economic, political and social issues, with a particular focus on the German business and labour market. My areas of interest include co-determination, digitalisation, demographics and ESG/DEI policies.