The new EU Equal Pay Directives bring many changes - PwC is your perfect partner for implementing the requirements!
There is still a gender pay gap of 17.6% in Germany and 13% in the European Union (EU)1). Against this background, the EU adopted a new directive on 24 April 20232), which significantly tightens the legal requirements for companies with regard to pay gaps between women and men. In addition, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) takes up the topic of Equal Pay in the context of sustainable reporting with the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS) published by the European Commission on 31 July, 2023. PwC helps you fulfil these new requirements and to ensure compliance in your remuneration systems quickly, comprehensively and flexibly!
The new EU Directive and the Remuneration Transparency Act
According to the new EU directive on strengthening the application of the principle of equal pay for men and women for equal work or work of equal value through pay transparency and enforcement mechanisms3), companies will in future be obliged to disclose information that will help to improve the comparability of salaries and reveal pay differences. This also includes ensuring that remuneration structures are based on gender-neutral criteria and that the rights of non-binary persons are considered and multiple discrimination is avoided. Based on the EU Directive, the Pay Transparency Act (EntgTransG), which has already been applied in Germany since 2017, will be updated accordingly within the next two years.
1) Eurostat Gender pay gap statistics
2) Gender pay gap: Council adopts new pay transparency rules
3) Proposal for the Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council
From Petra Raspels, Katja Seitz, Pia Isabell Pleines-Müller and Carolina Jahn
Compensation Study 2023 – Executive and Supervisory Board Compensation of the Dax-160 Companies of the Reporting Year 2022
For several years, PwC has published the study on compensation in executive and supervisory boards of listed stock corporations. Our analysis covers the executive and supervisory board compensation of the 160 companies of the DAX family (Dax, MDax, SDax, TecDax) of the reporting year 2022.
The analysis covered the executive and supervisory board compensation of companies listed on the Dax, MDax, SDax or TecDax as of the reporting date, 31 December 2022. The study takes into account the regulations on the disclosure of compensation pursuant to section 162 of the German Stock Corporation Act (AktG), which have been in force since 2022.
§ 162 AktG provides for two different types of interpretation, which can be defined as follows:
- In interpretation type 1, the compensation actually received by the board member in the financial year is disclosed.
- In interpretation type 2, the compensation is disclosed whose underlying activity was fully performed in the financial year.
Compared to the previous year, the second type of interpretation is used significantly more. According to the company, the change aims at a more transparent and comprehensible disclosure as well as an improved connection between performance and compensation in the reporting.
From Petra Raspels, Pia Isabell Pleines-Müller, Carolina Jahn und Jannick Dietz
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