Case study: How Kaneka is preparing for EU pay transparency

Sectors

Others

Solution

HR Administration

Managed Payroll

When the EU Pay Transparency Directive was announced, it was clear it would change how companies across Europe handle reward, equity and communication.

While many organisations are still figuring out what it means for them, chemistry technology company Kaneka recognised early that this would require a real shift in how pay decisions are built and explained.

That’s why speaking with Bart Verhoeven, HR Manager at Kaneka Belgium and Kaneka Europe Holding Company, felt valuable. Kaneka has had solid structures in place for years, including clear job architecture, established evaluation methods and a genuine focus on fairness.

We sat down with Bart to discuss Kaneka’s approach to the directive.

Why pay transparency is important

For Kaneka, the most obvious benefit of pay transparency is increased trust. “Trust in the system,” is the most important gain, Bart says, along with stronger internal equity across genders, competencies and levels.

Another advantage is that transparency also makes it easier to explain how reward systems work. The directive encourages HR to talk more openly about job evaluation, bonus structures, career progression and salary ranges. “The directive pushes us to communicate – it’s a sort of window HR can open,” Bart explains.

Greater clarity supports stronger governance and provides employees with a more consistent understanding of how pay decisions are made.

How Kaneka built on its existing foundations

Prior to the Directive being announced, Kaneka already had several foundational components in place, including job descriptions, a job matrix, external benchmarking and a structured evaluation methodology using the Hay system. A prior pay equity audit with SD Worx also found that Kaneka’s baseline structures were relatively mature.

However, the directive brought new requirements, including formal pay gap reporting and stronger expectations around transparency, such as disclosing salary ranges in job postings. As Bart puts it, “The directive was a wake-up call – something big is coming.”

Despite the uncertainty around the full impact the Pay Transparency Directive would have, Kaneka chose to act based on the information already available.

Bart says, “We set up a project team, so we knew where we needed to work.”

This led Kaneka to launch an HR-led internal project to map outstanding requirements and close the most urgent gaps.

The key challenges

Kaneka’s biggest challenge was bringing all its processes together. The company uses several data sources and reporting methods that needed to work as one system. “We have to bring the dots together,” Bart says.

They found that career paths and competency frameworks needed improvement, and the company needed a better understanding of how to calculate both adjusted and unadjusted pay gaps.

Producing accurate pay‑gap figures requires reliable data, clear formulas and an ability to explain results both internally and externally. This is especially important for reporting, which he sees as the most underestimated part of the directive.

Without this, transparency can be risky. “Some of the formulas: collecting the data, analysing them… it’s not so simple,” he adds.

To combat these challenges, there are several steps that Kaneka initiated, including:

Prioritising the role of HR
Encouraging employee engagement
Preparing for its effect on career development.

Recognising the importance of HR

At Kaneka, HR is driving the pay transparency effort. This is partly because the topic naturally sits with HR, but most managers have not yet absorbed what the directive means.

“It’s not on the radar of the other managers, so we have to coach them,” Bart says

As managers are focused on day-to-day operations, they have limited time to run through detailed regulatory expectations. As a result, HR must design the structure, build the processes and guide leadership through the organisational changes required.

This work is part of a wider multiyear HR transformation that includes updates to evaluations, merit cycles, one-to-ones and bonus communication.

To prepare managers, Kaneka is developing e-learning modules, intranet resources and live information sessions, so they can confidently answer employee questions about pay, bonuses and progression.

Setting employee expectations

Employee interest in the directive is still low. Only a few people are aware of the changes, and formal questions have been rare.

“From the trade unions, I got one formal question until now,” Bart says, noting that the discussion was constructive once the company explained its plans.

HR expects engagement to grow as transparency increases. Employees will start asking how their roles are evaluated, where they sit in the pay structure, how bonuses are built and what realistic progression looks like.

This will raise expectations around fairness and equity and lead to more direct conversations about careers. Bart has already seen this through a manager who expressed concern about a glass ceiling, showing that employees judge the system by how fair and future‑focused it feels.

How transparency is expected to affect career progression

One of the broader impacts of pay transparency is that it forces organisations to confront the realities of career development.

In a mid‑sized organisation like Kaneka, with approximately 350 employees, not every role offers upward mobility, and some positions will stay largely the same unless responsibilities change.

This creates pressure to clarify job architecture. Kaneka sees the need for clearer paths for experts, while for others, horizontal moves and skill development may be more realistic than promotion.

Transparency reinforces that employees judge the system by how fair it feels and what future opportunities it offers.

Pay transparency as an essential shift

Kaneka sees the shift to pay transparency as both a challenge and an opportunity.

Publishing salary ranges will limit negotiation and make it easier for people to compare offers, especially in a market where sectors vary widely.

This extra visibility will increase competition for talent, but Kaneka sees it as a natural part of how the labour market is changing rather than a risk to avoid.

Kaneka’s priorities are now to strengthen data quality, prepare for consistent reporting, refine job architecture and ensure managers can confidently explain how pay and progression work.

Transparency will raise expectations, but it will also deepen trust when communicated well.

Bart sums it up simply: “It’s necessary. It’s already overdue.”

For more information on preparing for the directive, check out our Pay Transparency resources.