Equal Pay Champion Certificates: 22 Employers Care About Pay Equality

SELECTIO Grupa, a leading consulting group in human resources that has conducted over 20,000 evaluations of HR systems in some of the most successful organizations, gathered a renowned HR community and about fifty HR directors and CEOs to announce the second generation of Equal Pay Champion certificates. The companies recognized as leaders on the long road to reducing pay disparities are: A1 Hrvatska, Addiko Hrvatska, Atlantic Grupa, CEMEX Hrvatska d.d., Coca-Cola HBC Hrvatska, Fresenius Kabi d.o.o., Generali osiguranje d.d., HEINEKEN Hrvatska, Hrvatski Telekom d.d., JGL d.d., JT International Zagreb d.o.o., Kaufland Hrvatska k.d., KONČAR, METRO Cash & Carry d.o.o., Nestlé Adriatic d.o.o., Nexe d.d., Nova TV d.d., Pliva Hrvatska, Podravka d.d., Porsche Croatia, Privredna banka Zagreb d.d., and Sandoz d.o.o.

The Equal Pay Champion certificate is open for applications from all companies regardless of size and type of activity. The aim of the certificate is to recognize organizations that are pioneers in achieving gender equality and to encourage others to make positive changes in their internal policies.

– Last year, 16 companies received the Equal Pay Champion certificate, and that moment was a crucial step towards achieving equal pay for equal work in workplaces across Croatia. This year, there is a noticeable increase in the number of certificate holders, indicating a growing courage among organizations that are now ready to examine their pay systems to confirm that their employees have the right to equal pay for equal work – said Aleksandar Zemunić, director of SELECTIO Group.

Significant progress visible compared to last year

All companies that were part of the certification process for the Equal Pay Champion have demonstrated significant progress in preparing for the implementation of European Union Directives and building fairer pay systems compared to last year’s certification. Employers who had an established practice of annually monitoring the gender pay gap last year have further expanded and deepened their analyses over the past year and have worked from several aspects to close the current pay gap as well as to prevent the emergence of any future gaps.

– The goal of Equal Pay Champion holders is to build a culture that promotes employee development, regardless of gender or any other irrelevant criteria. We had the opportunity to assess the quality of initiatives that lead to a more equitable representation of genders in higher and top positions in the long term. Some of these initiatives include educational programs, popularization of certain professions, and employee development through leadership and mentorship programs such as the Equal Play Mentorship, an inter-organizational program for mentoring and developing women – stated Lara Šubić Šuša, project manager of the Equal Pay Champion project from SELECTIO Group.

Croatia’s average still lags behind the European Union

The SELECTIO Women Index, which has measured the share of women in the management of companies within the CROBEX index for 20 years, stands at 22.5 percent this year. In comparison, the representation of women in the management of the 100 most significant companies on the London Stock Exchange is 43.4 percent (The Female FTSE Board Report), and according to the new EU Directive, the share should be at least 33 percent.

In the area of wages, Croatia is close to the average of the European Union, where women earn 13% less per hour than men. The reasons for the pay gap are complex and multifaceted, prompting the European Union to adopt a Directive aimed at reducing the gap to 5 percent or less. The implementation of the Directive on pay transparency and equality, among other things, means that from June 2026, confidentiality clauses regarding salaries will become redundant as job advertisements will have to include details about the starting level or salary range. Employers will need to develop a more precise and unbiased job architecture, and salary ranges will need to be communicated to candidates during job interviews. Additionally, employers will no longer be allowed to ask candidates about their salary from previous employment, and data on gross salaries and hourly rates for all jobs will need to be publicly available and provided in written form to enable the assessment of employee work value based on objective, gender-neutral criteria such as skills and responsibilities. Upon implementation of the Directive’s goals, all employers with more than 50 employees will be required to provide their workers with detailed information about pay grades and criteria for salary increases.

– Holders of the Equal Pay Champion certificate have shown readiness for the upcoming changes, but most organizations in Croatia are still not sufficiently familiar with the Directives. The process of discovering and reducing pay disparities is lengthy and requires thorough preparations for which timely resources must be secured, clear strategies defined, and systematic monitoring and reporting mechanisms established – adds Šubić Šuša, project manager of the Equal Pay Champion project from SELECTIO Group.