Published May 2026
You can find the full video interview with Michael
Illert on Linkedin HERE.
_____
The European Pay Transparency Directive lands this year, and many businesses are treating it as a compliance exercise.
That's a strategic miss.
In a recent interview I made the point plainly: the business cost of getting this wrong sits anywhere between zero and millions, depending on where your
organisation genuinely stands today.
And full compliance, even if you achieve it for June, is only a snapshot. Every hire, promotion, and pay decision either reinforces equal pay or erodes
it.
My three priorities for any reward or HR leader who feels behind:
- Fix the compensation structure first. Job grading, and disciplined use of discretion in bonuses.
- If you're over 150 EU employees, prepare for the 5% gender pay gap trigger and the gender-neutral factor analysis it forces.
- If you're smaller, focus on internal transparency, the ability to explain pay differences when employees ask.
Most companies underestimate the third one. You can have a perfectly fair compensation system and still lose the narrative if you cannot communicate
it.
Nine minutes of the conversation is in the video.
Worth it if equal pay is on your plate for the next 90 days.
I explore the Equal Pay landscape in more detail in my book “The Equal Pay Guide – a practical framework for understanding, explaining, and managing Gender Pay, Equal Pay, Pay Equity & Pay Transparency”.
If you would like to conduct rigorous Equal Pay analyses and translate insights into impactful actions, you can find more information here - link to The Equal Pay Guide (available on multiple Amazon marketplaces)