Topic · Pay & rewards
Pay, rewards and the future of work
In short
Rewards are everything an employer offers in exchange for work: pay, benefits, well-being, development and recognition. They are changing fast. Pay transparency laws are opening up salary information across Europe, and digital money is starting to change how, where and in what currency people are paid.
Key facts
- Total rewards
- Compensation, benefits, well-being, development and recognition (WorldatWork model)
- EU pay transparency law
- Directive (EU) 2023/970
- Deadline for EU countries
- 7 June 2026; only Italy, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia met it
- First gender pay gap reports
- Due by 7 June 2027 for employers with 250 or more workers
- Salaries in stablecoins
- Legal in some countries, restricted in others; tax and labour rules apply either way
Pay & rewards
What “total rewards” means
People rarely join or stay for salary alone. Total rewards is the discipline of designing the whole offer, pay, benefits, well-being, development and recognition, so that it attracts the right people, rewards the right behaviour and stays affordable. Get the design wrong and an organisation pays for one thing while asking for another.
That gap between what a system rewards and what it asks for is the thread running through Borja’s work, from compensation consulting to his book on Spanish politics.
Pay transparency has arrived in Europe
Directive (EU) 2023/970 requires employers to tell candidates the starting pay or pay range for a job, bans asking about salary history, gives employees the right to know average pay levels, requires gender pay gap reporting and puts the burden of proof on the employer in equal pay disputes.
EU countries had until 7 June 2026 to turn it into national law, and only four made the deadline. Employers with 250 or more workers must publish their first gender pay gap reports, on 2026 data, by 7 June 2027. For companies hiring in Europe from the Gulf or elsewhere, pay structures built on objective, gender-neutral criteria are no longer optional.
Digital money and payroll
Stablecoins make it possible to pay a contractor on another continent in minutes, or to let an employee in a high-inflation country receive part of their pay in digital dollars. Before offering either, HR and finance need clear answers: does local labour law require wages in the national currency, how is tax withheld and reported, does the employee freely choose it, and who carries the risk if something goes wrong?
Borja co-chairs the People & Organisation Committee at the Middle East Stablecoin Association, which works on exactly these questions: what stablecoins and blockchain change for work, pay and people.
Borja’s view
Borja spent his consulting career on compensation and benefits, at Mercer and later leading compensation and benefits globally at FTI Consulting’s Delta Partners. His conclusion runs through everything he writes: people do what the system rewards, not what they are asked to do.
Questions
What is total rewards?
The full package an employer offers for work: compensation, benefits, well-being, development and recognition. Designing it as one system, rather than piece by piece, is the core of modern reward strategy.
What does the EU Pay Transparency Directive require?
Pay information for candidates before hiring, a ban on salary history questions, employees’ right to pay information, gender pay gap reporting and gender-neutral pay structures, with the burden of proof on employers.
When do companies have to report their gender pay gap?
Employers with 250 or more workers must report by 7 June 2027 on 2026 data, then every year. Employers with 150 to 249 workers start the same year and report every three years; those with 100 to 149 start in 2031.
Can a company pay salaries in stablecoins?
In some countries, usually with the employee’s consent and for part of the salary; in others, labour law requires wages in the national currency. Tax applies either way, so local legal advice comes first.
