Belgian CEO Puts €10,000 Salary on Billboard as EU Deadline Looms
A 33-year-old Belgian CEO has plastered her €10,000 gross monthly salary on a giant billboard in Antwerp, sparking a national conversation about pay transparency just days before Belgium is set to miss a key European Union deadline on the issue.
Maura Nachtergaele, co-founder and CEO of the HR tech startup Payflip, launched the provocative campaign to break what she calls a deeply ingrained cultural taboo around salary discussions in Belgium. The billboard, located in Antwerp’s Scheldestraat district, features her portrait alongside the words: “I earn 10,000 euros gross per month.”
“I’m not doing this to show off,” Nachtergaele told 7sur7. “I want to start a societal debate on salary transparency and show people that there is no shame in what you earn.”
The Salary Taboo in Belgium
The campaign has struck a nerve in a country where money remains a deeply private matter. According to a 2026 study by Partena Professional in collaboration with Ghent University economist Stijn Baert, only 4 out of 10 Belgian workers know what their closest colleague earns, and 7 out of 10 do not know the salary of their best friend. Just 14% of workers say they are comfortable discussing pay, while 50% actively dislike the topic.
“It’s a real shame that we still talk about money the way our grandparents talked about sex: with embarrassment and in hushed tones,” Nachtergaele told RTBF.
Her company, Payflip, has operated with full internal salary transparency since its founding six years ago. All 50 employees have access to a salary matrix that shows exactly what everyone earns, with no individual performance bonuses. Nachtergaele describes this openness as a strategic HR advantage for attracting and retaining talent.
Belgium Misses the EU Deadline
The billboard campaign comes at a critical political moment. The EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970), adopted in May 2023, requires all member states to transpose its provisions into national law by June 7, 2026. Belgium will not meet that deadline.
Employment Minister David Clarinval has formally requested a six-month delay from the European Commission, asking it to suspend infringement proceedings while Belgium finalizes its legislation. The Federation of Enterprises in Belgium (FEB) has welcomed the delay, citing the complexity of reconciling the new directive with Belgium’s existing 2012 transparency law.
“It’s a legally and technically difficult matter,” Yves Stox, Managing Consultant at Partena Professional, told RTBF. “It’s not enough to pass a law and it’s done. The social partners also need to agree to adapt collective labor agreements. Not to mention the fact that Belgium already has transparency legislation from 2012: do we keep it, adapt it, or create a whole new law?”
The Partena study paints a worrying picture of employer preparedness: one in five Belgian employers were still unaware of the directive as of early 2026, and 36% had planned no measures to comply. Meanwhile, only 51.8% of Belgian workers feel fairly paid, down from 57.3% in 2025, with 18.1% of women reporting feeling poorly compensated.
The Gender Pay Gap Dimension
The EU directive is fundamentally aimed at closing the gender pay gap, which averages 11.1% across the Union. Under the new rules, employers must disclose salary ranges in job postings, workers can request average pay data by gender for similar roles, and companies with 50 or more employees must report on gender pay gaps. Detailed reporting requirements for companies with over 150 employees will take effect in 2027.
“Salary transparency isn’t just a tool for reducing gender inequalities: it’s a strategic HR tool for attracting, retaining, and motivating talent,” Nachtergaele said.
A Cultural North-South Divide
The research also reveals a notable cultural divide within Belgium. While 75% of Flemish workers are open to discussing salaries, only 60% of Walloon workers feel the same way. This divergence mirrors broader cultural and political differences between the country’s two main linguistic communities and suggests that national implementation of the directive may face varying levels of social acceptance.
What Happens Next
If the European Commission grants Belgium’s request, the new transposition deadline would fall around December 2026. However, the Commission has previously signaled reluctance to grant delays, and infringement proceedings could result in financial penalties for Belgium.
Meanwhile, Nachtergaele hopes her billboard will spark a broader movement. “In principle, the deadline falls this Sunday. We won’t meet it and that’s a shame,” she told 7sur7. “But with this billboard in Antwerp, I want to prevent us from getting bogged down in a predictable political debate. Salary transparency is not a political question. It’s a societal necessity.”
As Belgium races to catch up with its EU obligations, one CEO’s bold gesture has ensured that the conversation about pay — uncomfortable as it may be — is no longer being whispered behind closed doors.