Pay Transparency · New service 2026

Pay transparency becomes mandatory.
We make you ready to report.

EU Directive 2023/970 shifts the burden of proof, onto you. Hill Digital brings 50 years of people expertise and sovereign AT/EU infrastructure into your pay structure. Prepare calmly, instead of repairing under time pressure in 2027.

Request your free readiness check How we work

Human in the Lead. AI in the background: your dry run, before an authority does it.

Hands documenting, a transparent pay structure
Why not to wait now

At this pace, equal pay takes 165 years.
Your first report is due in 2027.

The gender pay gap in Austria stood at 17.6% in 2024. Over 25 years it has narrowed by around five percentage points. The EU draws one conclusion from this: no more voluntary measures, but a reporting obligation with teeth.

The directive has been in force since June 2023. A national draft law is still missing, and that is exactly what tempts companies to wait. But the obligation is certain, and your data basis for the first report is being created in this very year.

17.6%
Gender pay gap Austria 2024 (Statistik Austria)
100+
Employees = subject to reporting
5%
Threshold above which you must explain
2026
The year the first figures come from
The directive in concrete terms

Four places where it applies at once.

Pay transparency is not a single report. It changes reporting, recruiting, employee rights and your job architecture all at once.

01

Reporting obligation to the authority

Companies with 100 or more employees report the gender pay gap to a national body, officially and verifiably, no longer just internally.

02

Transparency in the application process

Candidates must know the starting salary or pay range before negotiating. Asking about previous pay becomes inadmissible.

03

Right to information for employees

Employees may request the average pay of comparable groups broken down by gender. The criteria for setting pay must be objective and gender-neutral.

04

Evaluation of work of equal value

You have to define what equal work and work of equal value mean in your organisation, with a gender-neutral evaluation system. This is where the real work sits.

The point that gets lost in conversations

The burden of proof reverses.

If the unexplained pay gap in a comparison group exceeds 5% and is not objectively explained or remedied within six months, you are required to carry out a joint pay assessment.

In a dispute, in future you have to prove that there is no pay discrimination, not the employee. A pay gap without an objective explanation thus turns from a risk into a claim.

The expensive part
≠ Maths

Calculating the gender pay gap is statistics. The effort and the risk lie in the question before it: what exactly counts as work of equal value in your company? Without a transparent, gender-neutral job evaluation you are comparing apples with pears, and a gap built on a shaky job structure will not hold up when it matters.

The Hill Digital service

From a compliance deadline to a robust pay structure.

Four modules, introduced step by step, a platform plus Hill experts as a managed service. You carry no setup risk, you gain clarity about your own company.

01

Scope & readiness analysis

We clarify from when and across how many entities you are subject to reporting, and where you stand today.

  • Threshold & deadline check (2027 / 2031)
  • Entity & location mapping
  • Maturity score & action roadmap
02

Job evaluation of work of equal value

The core: a gender-neutral, transparent evaluation system based on the Hill comp methodology drawn from thousands of mandates.

  • Job architecture & job families
  • Gender-neutral evaluation criteria
  • Documentation that holds up when it matters
03

Data & gap analysis (dry run)

An internal trial run shows your pay gap today, including variable components and benefits in kind, not just base salary.

  • Data quality & gender breakdown readiness
  • Gap calculation per comparison group
  • Identification of the 5% risk zones
04

Reporting & process readiness

We anchor transparency where it is lived every day: in recruiting, pay setting and reporting.

  • Pay ranges in job adverts
  • Right-to-information process & templates
  • Authority report & AI Act-compliant documentation
The timeline

The deadline is only the trigger.

Most of the preparation, data quality, job evaluation, processes, is independent of the exact wording of the national law. Every measure creates value as soon as it is in place.

2023

Directive in force

(EU) 2023/970 in force since June 2023, transposition deadline into national law: 7 June 2026.

2026

Your data year

The figures for the first reporting wave come from this year. What you prepare now, you will not have to repair later.

2027

First reporting obligation

For companies with 150 or more employees, reporting to the national body kicks in.

2031

Second wave

Companies with 100 to 149 employees become subject to reporting.

What you should do now

Five steps that create value today.

1
Clarify your scopeFrom when are you subject to reporting, across how many entities?
2
Check your dataIs pay data complete, analysable by gender, including variable components?
3
Group your rolesIs there a transparent structure for equal work and work of equal value?
4
Review your processesPay ranges in adverts? Has the question about pay history disappeared from recruiting?
5
Calculate one figureAn internal dry run shows where you stand today, before an authority does it.
✓
Start with Hill DigitalWe support all five steps, from analysis to the finished report.
Our promise

What we do. And what we deliberately do not do.

Transparency is part of our Hill expertise. We build trust by also naming the no clearly.

What we do not do

  • No black-box AI, every evaluation is transparent and traceable.
  • No mere Excel sheet that only looks compliant.
  • No data mining, no sensitive personnel data leaving your organisation.
  • No legal advice, we prepare you on a factual basis and work together with your lawyers.

What we do

  • Bring 50 years of Hill people and comp expertise into your pay structure.
  • Evaluate work of equal value transparently and gender-neutrally.
  • Sovereign, EU-compliant infrastructure, AI Act-ready out of the box.
  • Turn the obligation into real clarity: fact-based pay decisions, less exposure, more trust.
Make more of the obligation

Three reasons to act now.

01
Certainty

The obligation is certain

Even without a national law: the reporting obligation and the reversal of the burden of proof are coming. Whoever prepares now repairs nothing later under time pressure.

02
Risk

The 5% threshold

An unexplained gap becomes a claim. A robust job evaluation is the most effective protection against exactly this scenario.

03
Opportunity

Clarity as a gain

Clean pay structures build trust within your own ranks and a fact-based basis for every pay decision.

Your next step

Free pay transparency readiness check.

In around 15 minutes we show you from when you are affected, where your biggest risks lie and which three steps have the greatest leverage. If it fits, we talk about Hill Digital. If not, you leave with concrete industry insights. You have our word.

Request the readiness check See the modules

Direct contact: info@hill-digital.at · +43 800 66 55 04

This article does not replace legal advice. It summarises the status of the EU Pay Transparency Directive (EU) 2023/970 as of 25 June 2026. Gender pay gap statistics: Statistik Austria (Gender Statistics 2026).