In 2015, when we founded 3R Strategy, adding salary ranges to job adverts was still considered ‘a bit out-there’.

Asking hiring managers not to quiz candidates about their current pay? That was practically heresy in some circles.

But our founder, Rameez, still made it his mission to educate employers and leaders on the importance of pay transparency.

Now here we are, nearly 10 years later, watching the EU Pay Transparency Directive and other legislation make these practices a legal requirement across the world.

The principles we built our organisation around have become part of the landscape.

A Problem That Needed Solving

Rameez spent years working in corporate reward and HR teams. One thing frustrated him more than anything else: the disproportionate focus on the top 1% of employees.

“There was a whole team managing remuneration committees, long-term incentives and executive pay,” he recalls. “Meanwhile, decisions about the other 99% of the workforce were being made on gut feeling.”

This wasn’t just inefficient. It was fundamentally unfair.

Add to that the common practice of asking candidates about their current salary during recruitment, and you had a system that actively perpetuated pay inequity. Hiring managers could lowball offers based on what someone was currently earning, effectively transferring pay disparities from one organisation to another.

What We Set Out to Do

From day one, 3R Strategy’s purpose has been clear: help organisations build a fair and equitable approach to pay, communicated clearly and honestly to their employees.

We focused on what seemed obvious to us but was strangely controversial at the time:

  • Publishing salary ranges in job adverts
  • Stopping the practice of asking about current pay
  • Using data rather than gut feeling to make pay decisions
  • Being transparent about how and why pay decisions are made

The business case was compelling. Transparent pay practices weren’t just the right thing to do, they made commercial sense. When employees understand how their pay is determined and trust the process, they’re more engaged and more likely to stay.

But for many years, these conversations centred on business benefits, employee engagement and productivity. What’s been brilliant is working with organisations and HR teams who share our vision and values—people who already see the merit in transparency and want practical help implementing it.

The Legislative Shift

In 2023, the EU Pay Transparency Directive was passed. Suddenly, many of the practices we’d been advocating for since 2015 were becoming legal requirements across Europe.

Amongst many other things, the directive mandates that organisations operating inside the EU must:

  • Provide salary ranges before interviews
  • Stop asking about current salaries
  • Make average pay level information available to employees
  • Report on gender pay gaps

Sound familiar?

What This Means for the UK

While the UK is no longer part of the EU, the directive still matters here. UK organisations with European operations must comply. And increasingly, we’re seeing UK-headquartered companies choose to apply the same standards to all their employees, regardless of location. Why treat people differently based on which side of the Channel they work?

Only organisations operating exclusively in the UK remain unaffected—for now. Given the direction of travel, we expect to see similar legislation introduced in the UK eventually.

The Next Ten Years

As we celebrate our 10th anniversary in 2025, it’s gratifying to see the principles we founded 3R Strategy on becoming mainstream. What felt like pushing against a tide in 2015 now feels like we were simply ahead of the curve.

But legislation is just the start. True pay transparency isn’t about ticking compliance boxes. It’s about building trust with your people, making fair decisions and having the confidence to explain them.

That mission hasn’t changed since day one. And it won’t change in the next 10 years either.