Labour law and HR Summary of the Webinar: Pay Transparency 2026 – What Should the Management Board and CFO Know Already Today?

On July 15, 2025, a closed expert webinar was held for members of the DWK Polish-German Business Circle, organized in cooperation with the law firm VON ZANTHIER & DACHOWSKI. The meeting was led by Karolina Barałkiewicz-Sokal and Paula Staszak-Urbańska.

The topic of the webinar focused on the practical aspects of implementing the EU Pay Transparency Directive, which will take effect in June 2026. Many myths and misunderstandings have arisen around this subject, so in the first part of the meeting, Karolina Barałkiewicz-Sokal clarified the facts and debunked the most common myths—including the most widespread one: Will everyone now know how much each person earns? Participants also learned about the communication challenges our clients are already reporting. The speaker demonstrated how, from a legal and implementation perspective, to effectively minimize emotions around the topic of pay and how to conduct internal communication based on facts and a transparent change process.

In the second part, Paula Staszak-Urbańska presented, step by step, what the implementation process of the directive looks like—from the essential ("must have") aspects to those worth implementing if the organization has the capacity ("nice to have"). Drawing on our first project experiences, Paula Staszak-Urbańska showed how to translate legal requirements into specific operational actions.

The meeting ended with a lively discussion and exchange of experiences. We would like to thank all participants for their active participation and invite you to contact us—we are happy to support organizations in their preparations for implementing the Directive.