From Christmas Eve, employers will be required to inform job candidates about the proposed salary and to use gender-neutral job titles.

INFORMATION OBLIGATIONS.
A person applying for employment must receive information from the employer about:

• the salary, its starting amount or range, and
• relevant provisions of the collective bargaining agreement or remuneration regulations – where the employer is covered by such an agreement or has internal remuneration regulations in place.

Does the salary information have to be included in the job advertisement?

No. There are three possible moments when the employer can choose to provide this information, provided that the candidate has a real opportunity to see this it and to negotiate knowingly:

1. in the recruitment advertisement,
2. before the interview (if there was no advertisement or if it did not include the required data),
3. before establishing the employment relationship – as the final moment.

Is an informal conversation about salary between the candidate and recruiter sufficient to meet the statutory requirement, if the recruiter simply makes a note of it?

No. The information must be provided either in paper or electronic form. Such a conversation is allowed, as long as the recruiter does not ask about the candidate’s current or past salaries.

Example:
The organisation decides that information about the proposed starting salary will be provided only before signing the contract. During the first interview with an external recruiter or initial screener, the selected candidate asks: “How much will I earn?”
You do not want to lose the candidate, but at the same time you need a consistent and verifiable recruitment process.

Do you know how to handle this? You must prepare for such situations, as salary issues may become a key factor in attracting candidates.

What is worth having in place?

• a recruitment process flowchart indicating at which stage the statutory obligation will be fulfilled;
• standardised responses to be given at interim stages, tailored to the organisation.

ORGANISATIONAL OBLIGATIONS – ensuring that:

• job advertisements and job titles are gender-neutral;
• the recruitment process is conducted in a non-discriminatory manner (Article 183ca).

It is advisable to start organisational preparations now, including:

• adapting the language of job advertisements and titles by eliminating gendered terms (e.g. “warehouseman”, “assistant [female form in Polish]”) and introducing neutral forms such as “office employee” or “project manager”;
• developing guidelines for recruiters to ensure that interviews are compliant and free from stereotypes – avoiding phrases such as “this is a male-dominated industry; are you sure you will manage here?”;
• ensuring consistent recruitment standards for processes conducted by external providers, by reviewing existing contracts and clarifying provisions regarding neutral job advertisements and fulfilling information obligations towards candidates.

Find more articles in PRO HR July 2025.