Effectively navigate Swiss and EU pay equity and transparency requirements
Position your organization at the forefront of fair pay practices in Switzerland and across the European Union. With evolving regulations—from Switzerland’s Gender Equality Act to the EU’s Pay Transparency Directive—today’s employers face mounting legal, reputational, and talent-attraction risks if gaps go unaddressed. Mercer blends in-depth local expertise, a proven analytical approach, and hands-on support to ensure you not only comply but are enabled to lead the conversation through greater equity, transparency, and trust.
Why pay equity and transparency matter – now
Doing what is right.
It’s no longer neglectable that organizations are moving towards more transparency, no matter whether they strive for a market-leading position and thereby will boost their employer brand and work culture, or whether they focus on compliance. Before any other reasons, the key argument for an elevated focus on equity and transparency is fairness and the aim to provide equal opportunities to everyone, regardless of any demographic indicator.
- 1 Regulatory Compliance
- 2 Reputational Risks
- 3 Talent Attraction and Retention
- Switzerland: Companies with more than 100 employees must perform a pay equity analysis every four years under the Federal Act on Gender Equality, unless they can prove a pay gap lower than 5%.
- EU: Companies with 250 or more employees in Member States implementing Directive 2023/970 must provide transparent information on pay levels and ensure internal pay audits.
Failing to conduct or publish a mandated equal-pay analysis can expose you to:
- Employee claims, including back pay and damages for discrimination found via your own—or court-mandated—pay analysis results.
- Procurement consequences, since the Federal Act on Public Procurement requires that government contracts only be awarded to suppliers who guarantee equal pay for men and women.
- Reputational damage among current and prospective employees, clients, and other stakeholders.
Prospective and current employees demand demonstrable fairness. Pay transparency boosts employer brand, engagement, and diversity outcomes.
Common Challenges
- Complex Multi-Jurisdictional Rules: Aligning Swiss and various EU national requirements on data scope, methodology, and disclosure timelines.
- Data Quality and Integrity: Ensuring uniform job-level classifications, capturing bonus schemes, variable pay, as well as allowances and benefits consistently across countries and business units.
- Gap Diagnosis and Remediation: Pinpointing unexplained pay differentials, drilling into root causes—whether structural, market-driven, or unconscious bias—and crafting sustainable remediation strategies.
- Change Management and Communication: Designing clear governance, stakeholder buy-in, and employee communications to support transparent pay conversations and a culture change.
Key features
-
Readiness assessment
Use our award-winning solution “Pay Transparency Readiness Assessment” to understand where you stand compared to compliance requirements and market practice and which actions are required to close gaps toward equity and transparency. -
Robust statistical analysis
Leverage regression-based and decomposition techniques to quantify explained vs. unexplained pay gaps by gender and other demographic variables. -
Targeted remediation planning
Develop prioritized pay-adjustment roadmaps, budgeting scenarios, and career framework reviews to close gaps and allow for transparency. -
Technology-enabled monitoring
Explore our pay equity and transparency solution portfolio—both Mercer proprietary and partner options—to become self-sufficient. -
Change management and communication
Enable your organization for pay transparency with Mercer’s change management approach and ensure reporting and communication are aligned with compliance and your organization’s strategy.
TAAP+
Talent All Access Portal
Available in a range of different options, get easy access to the data, tools and insights you need to lead your organisation toward success.
