Thank you to all participants who joined our HR Committee session on Pay Transparency.

The quality of the discussions reflected how much this topic resonates across our community.

Here is what we take away from each intervention:

Kristel Welander - Outokumpu

The key takeaway of the day: a concrete case study showing that pay equity is a multi-year journey, not a project with an end date. Key lessons - start somewhere rather than waiting for the perfect system; transparency creates more internal dialogue, which is healthy; and data infrastructure is non-negotiable. Pay equity is a moving target that requires continuous monitoring as your workforce evolves.

Maria Setälä - HR Legal Services

Finnish employers are already bound by existing legislation (Equality Act, Employment Contracts Act), the transposition reinforces and formalizes what should already be in place. The most immediate shifts: salary ranges must appear in job postings, salary history is off-limits in interviews, and employees gain a clear right to request pay information. Pay confidentiality clauses become prohibited.

Thomas Fernandez-Boni - Kopper

The Directive does not fundamentally reinvent the legal landscape, most of its principles already existed in some form across EU member states. What is genuinely new is the inclusion of non-technical skills in the definition of "work of equal value," which expands the scope of what can be compared. The usual Kahoot also created a friendly competition between participants while helping to deepen understanding of the topic.

Florina Andra Ilie - Forvis Mazars

The Directive is not a legal exercise - it's an organizational change. The starting point is building an equitable remuneration system,  defining job grades, benchmarking salaries, and designing transparent pay structures. Without this foundation, compliance is superficial. Leadership commitment is not optional, it sets the tone for everything else.