Study: Three-quarters of Romanian employers give different salaries to employees in similar roles
Around 76% of Romanian employers acknowledge the existence of salary differences between people in comparable roles, according to a national study by Up Romania, one of the key players in the employee benefits market, and Reveal Marketing Research.
Employers said diverging salaries are due to factors such as performance, professional experience, or individual negotiation, according to the study, which looks into company preparedness and employee perceptions in the context of the new European Directive on pay transparency.
On the opposite side, 59% of employees believe there are unjustified salary differences, and only 27% declared a high level of trust in the fairness of the salary system.
Perceptions of salary transparency differ significantly between the two groups. While 96% of employers said they communicate their salary policies at least partially and 43% consider themselves transparent, only half of employees perceive their employer as transparent regarding remuneration.
Moreover, only 49% of employees consider salary-setting rules and criteria to be clear, and 33% said they have no access to any of the evaluated salary information. Lack of access is more pronounced among entry-level employees (48%) and in SMEs (39%).
The data suggested that the main challenge for companies is not the existence of salary differences itself, but the ability to explain and justify them in a clear and credible way. In addition, many organizations are still in a phase of building the infrastructure needed to implement salary transparency.
To that end, 41% of employees said they would accept a slightly lower salary at a company perceived as transparent, with willingness higher among mid-level employees (53%) and those in multinationals (47%). Almost 80% would rather apply to an employer that displays salary information in job ads, and 43% said transparency would directly increase their trust in the company.
On the other hand, only 21% of employers see salary transparency as a major employer branding advantage, although they acknowledge its positive effects on attractiveness and recruitment. The main perceived risks remain employee dissatisfaction (49%) and internal conflicts (42%), concerns that are stronger in large companies.
Around 33% of employees believe that benefits strongly or very strongly contribute to the perception of a fair salary, rising to 43% among management. The most important benefits remain meal vouchers (54%), and 64% of respondents believe their benefits are communicated transparently.
Companies in the study reported using various mechanisms to manage pay gaps. The most common approach was the gradual salary alignment over time (36%), especially in large organizations and multinationals. However, nearly a quarter of employers (22%) said their organization has no clear approach to managing these differences.
The study showed that gender pay gap analysis is present in most organizations, but is most often conducted occasionally (45%), while continuous monitoring is limited to only 16% of respondents. When gender pay differences were identified, 73% of companies said they take at least partial measures to correct them, with more mature processes in multinationals.
The study on salary transparency was conducted by Reveal Marketing Research for Up Romania in May 2026 on a sample of 1,200 urban respondents, including 800 employees and 400 employer representatives (HR specialists, managers, and entrepreneurs).
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