Salary Ranges in Job Ads: EU Pay Transparency Rules Explained
Date Published
Salary Ranges in Job Ads: EU Pay Transparency Rules Explained
If you hire anyone in the EU, the way you write a job ad just changed. As of the directive's 7 June 2026 transposition deadline, you can no longer post a role, run candidates through three rounds of interviews, and reveal the pay only when you make an offer. You owe applicants a number up front. And you can no longer ask what they earn today. These rules sit in Article 5 of the EU Pay Transparency Directive (Directive (EU) 2023/970), and they apply to employers of every size. This guide answers the questions comp and talent teams ask most: what you must disclose, when, and how to set a range you can defend.
TL;DR
- Article 5 requires you to give applicants the initial pay level or its range before the interview — in the vacancy notice or beforehand.
- You cannot ask candidates about their current or past pay. The salary history ban applies to you, your recruiters, and any agency or AI screening tool acting for you.
- Pay ranges must rest on objective, gender-neutral criteria — which means your job evaluation has to hold up.
- The transposition deadline was 7 June 2026; obligations apply even where national law lags.
- Job postings and titles must be gender-neutral, and the whole recruitment process must be non-discriminatory.
Do I have to put a salary range in every job ad?
You must disclose the initial pay level or range — but the directive lets you choose when. You can publish it in the vacancy notice, or provide it to the applicant before the interview. Either way, the candidate must have the number before they negotiate. Many employers simply put the range in the ad: it's the cleanest way to prove compliance and it filters out mismatched applicants early. Whichever route you pick, "we'll discuss compensation later" is no longer allowed.
Can I still ask candidates what they currently earn?
No. Article 5 explicitly prohibits you from asking applicants about their current pay or their pay history with previous employers. The logic is straightforward: when offers anchor to a candidate's prior salary, any gap they carried — including a gender-based one — follows them into the new job and compounds over a career. The ban covers everyone acting on your behalf: internal recruiters, external agencies, and automated screening tools. If your applicant-tracking system has a "current salary" field, remove it.
How do I set a range I can defend?
A posted range is a public claim that the role is worth a certain amount, and the directive requires that claim to rest on objective, gender-neutral criteria — not a hiring manager's gut. This is where job evaluation does the work. A point-factor method scores each role against weighted compensable factors — skill, effort, responsibility, and working conditions — so two jobs of comparable demand land in the same band regardless of who holds them. That gives you a documented basis for every number you post, and the same evidence you'd need to defend work of equal value if a claim arises. If your ranges come from market matching alone, pressure-test them now: could you explain one to a regulator using factors, not anecdotes?
Wondering whether your job architecture can support transparent ranges across every req? See how PointFactors scores roles against defensible, gender-neutral factors.
What else changes in recruitment?
Two things. First, job titles and advertisements must be gender-neutral — both the language and the framing. Second, the recruitment process as a whole must be non-discriminatory. Pre-employment transparency is the front end of a larger set of obligations the European Commission designed to close the EU's 11.1% gender pay gap — from the right of employees to request average pay by sex to gender pay gap reporting and joint pay assessments. The pre-hire rules are simply the first ones candidates will notice.
Frequently asked questions
Does this apply to roles outside the EU? The obligations attach to jobs based in EU member states. If you're hiring for an EU-based role, the rules apply even if your company is headquartered elsewhere.
Do I have to post the range publicly, or just tell the candidate? Either — publish it in the ad or provide it before the interview. Publishing it is the easiest way to evidence compliance.
How wide can the range be? The directive sets no maximum width, but the range must rest on objective criteria. An implausibly wide band (say, €40k–€120k) invites scrutiny and undercuts the transparency the rule intends. Tie the range to the role's evaluated level.
What if my country hasn't passed its transposition law yet? The deadline was 7 June 2026. Several states are running late, but comply now — the obligations flow from EU law, and waiting creates legal and reputational exposure.
Does the salary history ban apply to internal promotions? The directive targets recruitment of applicants, but the safer practice for internal moves is the same: base the offer on the role's evaluated worth, not on prior pay.
For the full set of obligations beyond the job ad, see our employer requirements checklist and the complete EU Pay Transparency Directive guide.
The bottom line
Posting a pay range isn't a formatting change — it's a commitment that the number is defensible. The employers who'll handle this well are the ones whose ranges already trace back to a consistent, gender-neutral evaluation of each role. If yours don't yet, build that foundation before the next req goes live. Book a PointFactors demo and see how point-factor scoring gives you a range you can stand behind for every job you post.
Justin Hampton is the founder and CEO of PointFactors.