Spain approves new rules on transparent and predictable working conditions

At a glance

• Workers must receive key information about their employment terms from the start of the employment relationship, rather than within the current two-month period.
• Employers will be required to provide more detailed information on matters such as pay, working time, probationary periods, training entitlements, applicable collective agreements and procedures for changes to essential terms.
• The reforms strengthen transparency and accessibility, including access to algorithmic management criteria affecting working conditions and requirements to provide information in accessible formats for workers with disabilities.

On 8 September 2026, the Spanish Council of Ministers approved a Royal Decree implementing the EU Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions Directive. The stated objective is to improve transparency in employment relationships by ensuring that workers have access to essential information about their employment from the very beginning of the employment relationship and requires collective agreements that provide for probationary periods longer than the statutory norm must justify the reasons for doing so.

A central feature of the reform is the requirement for employers to provide workers with comprehensive information on the essential elements of their employment. This includes details such as the start date and, where relevant, end date of employment; the place of work; job duties; professional classification; remuneration and the method for calculating variable pay elements; working time arrangements; overtime and its compensation; annual leave; probationary periods; training entitlements; termination procedures; applicable collective agreements; and arrangements relating to social security management. 

The regulation also enhances transparency regarding access to the algorithmic criteria and rules that influence or determine their working conditions. Remuneration information must explain not only basic salary but also supplements and how they are calculated. This information must be provided in a format that is appropriate and accessible for workers with disabilities. Employees whose existing contracts do not contain all the required information will be able to request it, and employers will have a maximum of 30 days to respond.

The regulation also introduces additional information obligations for international assignments. Where work is performed abroad, employers must provide advance information on matters such as the destination country, duration of the assignment, currency of payment, benefits in cash or kind, expense compensation and any repatriation arrangements. This information must be supplied before the employee is deployed overseas.