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.
How are German companies preparing for the arrival of the EU pay transparency directive? In a rather confused manner, partly due to an unclear timetable, according to Anja Weusthoff, member of the executive board of the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) responsible for women’s issues and vice-president of the German Women’s Council. “The government has decided that the issue of implementation provisions and the outlines of the bill will first be discussed at a committee on the implementation of the pay transparency directive ‘with a minimum of bureaucracy’. The deliberations are now complete and the final report is expected around November,” she explains. A preliminary draft bill will then be prepared by the German education ministry prior to a bill being submitted to the cabinet for consideration by parliament.
“Perhaps it will be possible to reach a conclusion by January 2026, but perhaps not,” the union leader told mind RH. From the point of view of worker representation, “this means that we have no details on the rights and role that will be granted to works councils and trade unions, and that it is therefore difficult to prepare staff delegates and trade union representatives accurately”, she explained.
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.