Pay Transparency Depends on Connected Workforce Data

Pay Transparency Depends on Connected Workforce Data
September 29, 2026 5 mins

Pay Transparency Depends on Connected Workforce Data

Pay Transparency Depends on Connected Workforce Data

Pay transparency is optimized when connected workforce and employee experience data provide context, build trust and create a clear link between reward, performance and career growth. Employers need consistent, high-quality data to build equitable structures and make defensible pay decisions.

Key Takeaways
  1. Pay transparency efforts rely on connecting consistent HR data, job architecture and trustworthy benchmarks along with employee experience data.
  2. Disclosure is driven by regulatory requirements, but confidence in those disclosures comes from good governance, data and clarity.
  3. By integrating better workforce data with online benefit and benchmarking platforms, employers can drive pay transparency and equity to ultimately gain strategic advantage.

The focus of pay transparency efforts is shifting. Whether driven by compliance or strategy, organizations are realizing that the foundation of a strong pay transparency program is consistent, high-quality data.

However, one of the biggest challenges employers face is that the data is often fragmented across multiple systems that don’t talk to each other in a reliable way. In Aon’s 2026 Pay Transparency Pulse Survey, 31% of respondents cited data quality issues as a risk, and 42% said inconsistent job or role data was a primary challenge. This creates the risk of transparency without trust. But before employers can create more cohesion across company data, they need to define what counts as pay.

In some cases, salary information is the only disclosure requirement. But this is not valid for all regulations. The EU Directive on Pay Transparency, for example, states that equal pay extends beyond salary to include wages, bonuses, benefits and any other form of compensation employees receive directly or indirectly from their employer. To ensure preparedness, companies should integrate all rewards information into their efforts. Clear, comparable benchmarking data will also be critical to success.

Why Connected Workforce Data Matters

Fundamentally, pay transparency is about building equitable, defensible pay structures around consistent job architecture. Connected data can serve as the bridge between compensation strategy, reward delivery and employee understanding. Employers need to bring together:

  • Human resource information system data
  • External compensation benchmarks
  • Internal compensation ranges
  • Performance information

Integrating improved workforce and employee experience data with online benefit platforms, like Aon’s Activate, can further drive transparency and ultimately, pay equity across the firm.

“Employees don’t experience pay transparency as a data collection exercise,” explains Anthony Poole, Partner, Human Capital, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “They see it through the communications from the company, conversations with their manager and an understanding of their own total rewards.”

Having accurate, relevant benchmarking data that adjusts in real time to changing market conditions can help employers ensure ranges are competitive, while also defending pay decisions and providing missing context. To further support employees in understanding their total rewards, companies can focus on the following three actions:

  1. Ensure they have clear, relevant and personalized communications that meet employees where they are.
  2. Provide access to pay, benefits and broader reward information in one place.
  3. Connect employee experience with compensation, benefits and reward data.
Quote icon

Many pay transparency regulations are based on all aspects of total rewards, not just salary, so it’s important to see it through that lens. Employees do not evaluate their own pay in a vacuum. Base pay, incentives, benefits, retirement plans and a host of other factors are all part of the equation.

Andy Seabrook-Harris
Technology Product Director, Health Employee Experience, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

It should be noted that more data does not always mean more disclosure. Employers need enough data to make confident pay decisions, but they must also balance transparency with employee privacy, especially in smaller groups. Strong governance helps ensure disclosures are disciplined, appropriate and trustworthy.

Trust Requires Good Governance

Because one of the main goals of pay transparency is to build employee trust, information must be accurate, consistent and well governed. Bad quality data can create confusion, skepticism and disengagement. But equally important is having good governance of that data. This includes:

  • Data Definitions: These could be in the form of consistent standards around what counts as pay. This is especially critical for global organizations managing local requirements.
  • Job Architecture: Having clear, updated job architecture allows employers to compare across functions and different geographies. It also helps employees better understand internal career opportunities and plan their growth within the organization.
  • Access Rights: Who can access data is almost as important as what data is available. Consistent guardrails can ensure that employee privacy is protected.
  • Manager Enablement: Managers aren’t pay experts, nor should they have to be. Enabling them through training to have conversations and empowering them to seek help when needed is an often overlooked, but crucial step.

From Compliance to Strategic Advantage

While compliance is no small task, it should be treated as the baseline for pay transparency. Connecting pay data, reward data and employee experience allows employers to use transparency as a way to emphasize fairness and gain credibility with their workforce. The strategic advantage lies in better engagement, retention and enhancement of an employer’s value proposition. “The difference is not simply disclosing pay ranges, but being able to explain, support and defend pay decisions consistently over time,” adds Poole.

A foundation of connected data gives pay transparency efforts more credibility and a source of confidence rather than risk.

Learn how integrating reliable workforce data and trusted benchmarks with employee experience can help turn pay transparency from a compliance challenge into a strategic advantage.

Aon’s Thought Leaders

Anthony Poole
Partner, Human Capital, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Andy Seabrook-Harris
Technology Product Director, Health Employee Experience, Europe, the Middle East and Africa

Jason Trull
Global Head of Talent Data Solutions

General Disclaimer

This document is not intended to address any specific situation or to provide legal, regulatory, financial, or other advice. While care has been taken in the production of this document, Aon does not warrant, represent or guarantee the accuracy, adequacy, completeness or fitness for any purpose of the document or any part of it and can accept no liability for any loss incurred in any way by any person who may rely on it. Any recipient shall be responsible for the use to which it puts this document. This document has been compiled using information available to us up to its date of publication and is subject to any qualifications made in the document.

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