1. Croatian Context & Regulations

Key Laws

• Gender Equality Act (Zakon o ravnopravnosti spolova): prohibits pay discrimination and mandates annual reporting of gender pay data by employers with ≥50 employees.
• Labour Inspectorate Guidelines: companies must publish gender pay gap results on their website and submit to the Ministry by 31 March each year.
• EU Pay Transparency Directive (2023/970) transposed into Croatian law, requiring “equal pay for equal work” metrics and reporting by 2027.

Who Should Use This Guide?

• CEOs & Boards
• HR & Compensation Teams
• Legal & Compliance Officers
• Diversity & Inclusion Leaders
• Payroll & Data Analysts

Why Conduct a GPG Analysis?

To comply with national and EU law, identify pay disparities, improve employer reputation, and support ESG commitments.

2. Gap Calculation Methodology

1. Select Snapshot Date

Choose a consistent date each year (e.g., 31 December) for pulling payroll and HR data.

2. Data Collection

3. Data Cleaning

• Convert salaries to full-time equivalent (FTE).
• Ensure all figures in HRK at snapshot rate.
• Map any uncoded roles to closest NKZ category.

4. Calculate the Gender Pay Gap

Formula:
(Men’s avg/median pay − Women’s avg/median pay) ÷ Men’s avg/median pay × 100

5. Test Common Drivers

• Unequal pay for equivalent roles
• Men over-represented in leadership
• Segregation in high vs low-paid occupations
• Inequality in part-time work
• Differences in hiring, promotion & turnover

3. NKZ Occupational Classification

What Is NKZ?

The National Classification of Occupations (NKZ 2010) is maintained by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. It groups jobs by tasks, skills and qualifications in a gender-neutral manner.

Structure

• 1-digit Major Groups (9 groups): e.g. 1 – Managers; 2 – Professionals; … 9 – Elementary Occupations.
• 2-digit Sub-Major: ~28 clusters.
• 3-digit Minor: ~130 families.
• 4-digit Unit: ~450 detailed occupations (e.g. 2413 – Financial Analysts).

Connection to ISCO-08

• CBS provides a crosswalk mapping each NKZ 4-digit code to its ISCO-08 equivalent.
• Mapping based on alignment of job tasks, skill levels & qualification requirements.
• Enables international benchmarking of Croatian GPG data.

Assignment & Validation

• Map internal titles to NKZ 4-digit codes in HRIS.
• Validate each group has ≥5 employees before reporting.
• Store both NKZ & mapped ISCO codes for transparency and audit.

How Croatia Uses NKZ to Classify Occupations

1. Underlying Taxonomy: NKZ 2010

The National Classification of Occupations (NKZ 2010) is maintained by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. It groups jobs by tasks, skills and qualifications in a gender-neutral manner.

• 1-digit Major Groups (9 groups): e.g. 1 – Managers; 2 – Professionals; … 9 – Elementary Occupations.
• 2-digit Sub-Major Groups: ~28 clusters of similar roles.
• 3-digit Minor Groups: ~130 families of occupations.
• 4-digit Unit Groups: ~450 detailed occupations (e.g. 2413 – Financial Analysts).

2. Connection to ISCO-08

• The Croatian Bureau of Statistics provides a crosswalk mapping each NKZ 4-digit code to its ISCO-08 equivalent.
• Mapping is based on aligning task descriptions, required skill levels, and qualification criteria.
• This enables Croatian pay-gap analyses to benchmark against international ISCO standards.

3. Assignment & Validation

• Map each internal job title in your HRIS to the closest NKZ 4-digit code.
• Validate that each occupational group has at least 5 employees before reporting to ensure privacy and statistical reliability.
• Store both NKZ and mapped ISCO codes for internal audits and external disclosures.

4. Benefits of NKZ for GPG

• Objectivity: Official, publicly published definitions by Croatian authorities.
• Comparability: Consistent with national labour statistics and ISCO benchmarks.
• Granularity: Drill down from 1-digit majors to specific 4-digit occupations.
• Neutrality: Based solely on job content—tasks, qualifications, experience.