Published June 2026
“How much does my boss make” has crossed everyone’s mind at some point. Especially on the backdrop of stricter Equal Pay regulations, pay transparency moved to the top of organisations’ strategic agendas. Companies encounter pay transparency in various contexts beyond Equal Pay e.g., during hiring where it is prohibited to request candidates’ current pay-levels (in some jurisdictions), when journalists report on CEO-pay, or when managers discuss pay-and-performance outcomes with their team members.
In short, pay transparency spans an expansive rewards-landscape and is central to compensation management. Nonetheless, it remains an elusive topic. Defining pay transparency as “the degree to which an organization openly shares information internally & externally about employee compensation” is conceptually accurate but operationally insufficient – it doesn’t clarify how organisations should structure, govern, and advance transparency in a systematic manner.
Therefore, I have developed a coherent model of pay transparency that enables organisations to assess their current transparency position, take targeted management actions, and measure progress: The Pay Transparency Maturity Framework:
The baseline for the Pay Transparency Maturity Framework is formed by mandatory regulatory requirements. These requirements may span multiple jurisdictions and cover different aspects of compensation disclosure.
This regulatory baseline is complemented by a voluntary pay transparency maturity continuum. Organisations can determine where they wish to position themselves along this continuum depending on e.g., their strategic objectives, culture, and regulatory environment.
The maturity continuum comprises five sequential stages. Each stage builds on the previous one and reflects increasing levels of transparency from an employee perspective. While it may be technically possible to skip stages, doing so often creates transparency gaps that may later be challenged by employees.
The continuum adopts the perspective of the employee. Once the employee questions at each stage can be answered clearly and consistently, the respective stage can be considered achieved.
The stages are as follows:
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What pay elements am I entitled to?
To complete this stage, employees need to understand which compensation elements they are entitled to and how much these are worth.
2. How is pay determined?
This requires an understanding regarding the mechanics of the compensation system. Employees should understand e.g., how jobs are evaluated and graded, how salary ranges are established, and
how variable compensation or bonuses are determined.
3. Why am I being paid this amount?
At this stage, the generic description of the compensation elements and compensation system is being applied to the individual worker. Employees should be able to comprehend how they fit
within this context e.g., explain how their particular performance impacts their pay and why their pay level is adequate.
4. Where is my position in the salary band?
Transparency at this stage requires the existence of salary bands or benchmarking references. Employees should have visibility of the relevant salary range for their role or grade and
understand where their own pay sits within that range. Where formal salary bands do not exist, appropriate market benchmarks may serve as a reference point.
5. What are others paid?
The final stage introduces transparency regarding colleagues’ pay. This can take on many forms including e.g., Gender Pay Gaps, CEO-to-worker pay ratios, aggregated average pay for certain
job titles, disclosure of individual employee’s pay.
With pay transparency at the top of their agendas, companies must be prepared to answer fundamental questions such as “how transparent do we intend to be?” and “how can we manage transparency?”.
The Pay Transparency Maturity Framework provides a structured foundation for answering these questions.
I have elaborated on this framework 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 learn more about the Pay Transparency Maturity Framework and how to embed it within your organisation, you can find more information here - link to The Equal Pay Guide (available on multiple Amazon marketplaces) .
I will also continue exploring practical implications and implementation considerations here on my blog. Completing the journey along the Pay Transparency Maturity Continuum may appear straightforward in theory. In practice, however, organisations frequently encounter structural and communication gaps at each stage. I’ll be glad to dive into these shortcomings in more detail in an upcoming post.