Salaries in job ads will stay a mystery — but the era of secret paychecks is coming to an end

Employers in Czechia will not be required to state salaries directly in job postings — contrary to expectations, the final version of the amendments to the Labour Code turned out to be milder than originally proposed. However, starting January 1, 2027, a whole set of other changes will take effect: pay-secrecy clauses will disappear from employment contracts, and employers will be banned from asking candidates about their previous salary, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs' press office reports.

Why people rarely change jobs

According to the Czech Statistical Office, roughly 4.4 million people are employed in the country, and including entrepreneurs, total employment exceeds 5.2 million. Only about 15% of employees change jobs each year — around 660,000 people — whereas the European average for workforce turnover reaches 20%.

One reason is uncertainty about future earnings. Companies often leave salary figures out of job ads, causing some candidates to simply skip applying. According to a survey by Grafton Recruitment, 96% of job seekers consider publishing a salary range to be honest and an important factor in their decision-making, yet only 28% of employers regularly disclose this information.

"When a job ad lacks salary information, candidates often read it as a sign of low pay or a lack of transparency at the company," notes Jitka Kouba, Marketing Director at Grafton Recruitment and Gi Group. According to her, employers who hide salaries to keep "room for negotiation" actually end up losing suitable candidates before first contact is even made.

The trade union association ČMKOS has advocated for maximum transparency from a candidate's very first inquiry — the organization's chairman, Josef Středula, has stressed that publishing salary ranges would help narrow the gender pay gap.

What will actually change starting 2027

The final Czech version of the amendments, based on an EU directive, turned out milder than expected. As the Ministry of Labour confirmed, neither the directive nor the draft law requires publishing the salary or the criteria for determining it directly in the job posting — candidates will learn the exact figure no later than before negotiations for an employment contract begin.

Nevertheless, employers will face a new obligation: to demonstrably inform candidates of the minimum pay for the position before contract negotiations start. In addition, HR staff will be barred from asking about a candidate's previous salary — a tactic that was often used in the past to offer newcomers only slightly more than they earned before, instead of fairly assessing the position's market value.

The situation inside companies will change as well: pay-secrecy clauses in employment contracts will become void, and employees will gain the right to request data on the average salary of colleagues in comparable positions — including a breakdown by gender.

Business and experts react to the softened version

Employer representatives support the milder version of the law. "It's important that when transposing the directive, Czechia keeps a minimalist approach and doesn't burden businesses with extra obligations beyond European requirements," said Zdeněk Zajíček, President of the Czech Chamber of Commerce.

Economists believe that publishing salaries in job ads would nonetheless speed up and reduce the cost of hiring by cutting down on futile negotiations. Analysts also agree that disclosing salary ranges alone won't solve the shortage of qualified workers in the labor market, but it would be a step in the right direction — provided companies list a realistic range rather than a single fixed number, and clearly separate base pay from bonuses.

Source: denik.cz