Driving Equal Pay Forward: From Regulation to Real Impact

text
Published on 26 June 2026

What would happen if tomorrow, your company had to publicly explain its pay decisions?

This is no longer a hypothetical. Across the world, equal pay is moving from a principle companies support to a reality they must prove. And for many organizations, the shift is happening faster than expected.

 Watch the full Webinar Recording here.

Driving Equal Pay Forward: From Regulation to Real Impact

The second of the Equal Pay Webinar Series, co-organized by UN Women's WEPs Secretariat and the EQUAL-SALARY Foundation focused on regulatory environments and company responses.

For many companies, equal pay has long been part of the conversation—reflected in policies and commitments. Yet despite this, progress has often been gradual. Pay gaps persist, not always by intention, but through structures, systems, and long-standing practices.

What is changing now is the context in which companies operate.

A shifting landscape

Regulation is becoming more prominent, and with it, greater expectations around transparency and accountability. 

As Aurélien Joly noted, “equal pay is no longer a question of intent. It’s a question of evidence.”

Across regions, companies are increasingly expected to disclose salary ranges, conduct pay audits, and explain differences. This does not only introduce new requirements—it changes the way pay systems are viewed, both internally and externally. It also brings a practical tension for companies.

Between reacting and preparing

Some organizations are responding step by step—addressing each regulatory requirement as it arises. While this ensures compliance, it can also create recurring exposures and costs, where similar issues need to be revisited repeatedly.

Others are taking a more structured approach, building internal systems that can support pay transparency over time. That includes aligning data across roles and regions, defining job value consistently, and preparing managers to explain pay decisions. 

What regulation is asking in practice

From a policy perspective, the direction is increasingly consistent.

Maria José Chamorro from the International Labor Organization emphasized that equal pay is being defined more rigorously as “equal pay for work of equal value,” requiring companies to compare roles across functions using objective criteria. This often reveals structural differences that were not previously visible.

Roles traditionally held by women may involve comparable levels of skill, effort, and responsibility, yet remain undervalued. With more systematic job evaluations and growing transparency, these gaps become clearer—and more difficult to justify.

How companies are responding

Company experiences of WEPs Signatories shared during the discussion illustrate how this shift can be approached in practice.

At Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania, there is no current obligation to report pay gaps in Albania. Still, the company chose to start building its approach early. 

“We are not here just satisfying the regulator… we wanted to guarantee pay transparency,” explained Suela Totokoci.

Their work focuses on building internal clarity—grouping roles, establishing benchmarks, and analyzing deviations—before moving to external reporting.

At Natura, the process followed a different path but with a similar outcome. Despite a largely female workforce, the company identified gaps in leadership representation and pay. Through a structured approach—combining data analysis, independent validation, and ongoing monitoring—they addressed gaps ahead of regulatory requirements and achieved equal pay in 2022.

As Gleycia Leite described, this required “connecting hearts and… brains”—aligning values with structured analysis and business decisions.

Building credibility

As expectations increase, so does the importance of demonstrating progress.

Marie Berg, representing the Equal Pay International Coalition, highlighted three elements that distinguish strong approaches: “transparency, action, and verification.” Publishing data is one step; acting on it, setting measurable plans, and validating results over time are equally important.

Together, these create the conditions for progress that can be sustained, rather than revisited periodically.

What companies can do

There are many different actions companies can take, the conversation highlighted those that helped the WEPs Signatories most:

  • Build consistent, comparable pay data across roles and regions
  • Establish objective job evaluation methods for “work of equal value”
  • Integrate pay equity into governance beyond HR
  • Develop internal benchmarks and regularly analyze deviations
  • Combine transparency with clear action plans and accountability

Speakers

With thanks to the speakers: