Around half of employees in Slovakia have very little information about their salary, with just a quarter being aware of the salary ranges between positions at the company they work for, while nearly no one has access to information about gaps in pay between men and women.
This stems from a survey carried out by the Platy.sk website in April among 2,426 respondents.
“A large part of the workforce in Slovakia does not know the rules used for their salaries; they cannot compare their salaries with the market and in fact no one has access to information about gender differences in remuneration,” Miroslav Dravecky, product manager at Platy.sk, a part of the recruitment agency Alma Career Slovakia, said in a press release.
But that is set to change soon with the EU Pay Transparency Directive which came into force in Slovakia in early June, after a law transposing its rules into Slovak legislation was adopted by parliament in mid April.
“I’m pleased that after many years, [the legislative framework to support] equal pay for men and women for the same work in the same position or for work of equal value has been achieved,” said Labour Minister Erik Tomas of the Hlas party after the vote.
However, employers have slammed the changes as pointless, saying Slovak legislation already includes regulations on achieving equal pay, and warn that implementing the directive will lead to increased costs for businesses. They say they would prefer to see the government bring in new measures to support the business environment. (The Slovak Spectator)