What can pay transparency actually give companies?

From individual negotiations to common reference points

“For many years, wages in practice have been guided by needs and opportunities. When the market is squeezed, you pay higher for the same work. And individual negotiating skills have often mattered a lot. This has meant that companies today can have very large pay spreads for the same function, but without a real overview.”

According to John, many companies have worked with pay in single areas, but lacked a unified structure.“Without an analytical approach, wages become a bit like housing prices - it goes up and down without a common reference point. Pay transparency also shifts the focus from individual decisions to the whole.”

When salaries are worked in a more structured way, HR gets a better basis for decisions and a more coherent dialogue with both managers and employees.

Pay transparency is also about jobs and expectations

John compares the development to the way many companies work with job descriptions. “When we hire a new employee, we are often very thorough. We describe the role, responsibilities and requirements clearly. But five years later, the employee often does something else without the framework having been updated. We see the same with pay. One takes a position once, but does not maintain the structure over time.”

The consequence is that both expectations and coherence can become unclear for both employee, manager and HR. Pay transparency therefore opens up not only the conversation about pay, but to a more common understanding of what a role actually contains and how it evolves over time.

“When job and salary are linked, it becomes clearer what is expected in the role and what it takes to develop both professionally and in terms of salary. It gives employees a clearer picture of their opportunities, and it gives managers and HR a better starting point for dialogue about responsibility, development and next steps.”

Building on what companies already have

According to John, it is absolutely vital that work on pay transparency does not become a project where companies feel they have to start over. “Most companies already have a lot of what it takes — data on employees, positions and salaries. Often it is already contained in an HR system, such as Mindkey. Our approach is to start from what exists and build from there.”

Mindkey already supports the work of jobs, roles, responsibilities and salaries, and the upcoming module for salary transparency expands this structure in depth. It allows companies to work more nuanced with their job structure and not just as titles, but as roles that can be compared and analyzed across.

“By working with multiple dimensions in the job structure, companies can compare jobs across functions, analyze employee groups, and work more precisely with salary placement. It provides a much better basis for both dialogue and decision-making.”

At the same time, salary ranges become a natural part of the work. “When wage spreads are very wide, they lose their importance. With a clearer structure, you can instead work with several relevant job levels, so that salary development is more closely related to both role, responsibility and expectations. It makes it easier to explain pay and to work more consistently over time.”

Clarity in recruitment and reporting

A key element of the forthcoming directive is the requirement to disclose salary limits in recruitment. “It will no longer be enough to say 'we pay well. Companies need to relate much more to what a role is actually worth - both internally within the organisation and in relation to the market.”

Here again, structure becomes crucial. When jobs, levels and pay frameworks are linked, recruitment becomes more consistent and well thought out. This creates clearer expectations already in the dialogue with candidates and provides a more realistic starting point for both hiring and later salary development.

At the same time, reporting becomes a natural extension of daily work, and not a separate task. “Reporting should not be a project that you only look at once a year. It must be something that can be extracted when needed with an overview of salary development, differences and contexts.”

More than compliance — a common tool

For John, it is crucial that pay transparency is not reduced to a compliance project that is only activated when reporting is required. “If pay transparency is only about meeting demands, you lose real value. It must be usable in everyday life by HR, by managers and to a certain extent also by employees.”

When salaries are worked more structured and transparent, managers gain a better overview of salary development and the framework within which they make decisions. It provides a stronger basis for dialogue on both performance, development and priorities. At the same time, employees, if the company chooses to open up to it - can get clarity about where they themselves lie and what is expected in order to develop further.

Access to information is role-based and controlled by the company, so there is a balance between transparency and responsibility. “It's not about everyone seeing everything, but about the right people having the right insight at the right time. In this way, pay transparency becomes a common tool that supports better dialogue, more consistent decisions and greater trust - rather than just a requirement to be ticked off.”

From Sensitive Topic to Strategic Strength

“Salary is a sensitive issue. But it's also a very strong signal. When a company works more structured and transparent with pay, it sends a clear message of fairness, accountability and professionalism. It strengthens trust internally, creates better dialogue and at the same time has an impact on the company's employer brand. Pay transparency makes it clearer what is expected in a role and what it takes to develop further. It shifts the focus from individual negotiation skills to common frameworks and clear criteria. It is not about rewarding those who are best at arguing, but about creating a model that is understandable and fair to more.”

Although pay is rarely the only thing that motivates, it has to be right. “Today there is no equal pay for equal work - that's a fact. With the right structure, companies can both explain why things look the way they do today and at the same time work towards a more balanced and transparent future.”

A solution that fits reality

“Pay transparency must work in practice and not just on paper. It's not about squeezing companies into a mathematical box. Reality is more nuanced, and therefore there must also be room for explanations, history and context.”

Instead of looking only at numbers, data and descriptions are combined so that decisions can be documented in a way that is both analytical and human. It allows companies to explain why pay looks the way it does and at the same time work purposefully to create more coherence and direction going forward.

“Pay transparency is not an end in itself, but a tool for better structure, better decisions and a more transparent workplace — regardless of legislation.”

Want to hear more?

Will invites you to a webinar on March 10, 2026, where John delves further into salary transparency and shares several concrete insights into how it can become a part of everyday life. Sign up hereto.