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Albert Mercadé Laborda

Author

Albert Mercadé Laborda

Marketing Manager

Albert leads marketing and growth at TalentUp, where he works at the intersection of HR, compensation & benefits and pay transparency. He turns TalentUp's salary data into practical guides that help HR and Total Rewards teams benchmark pay, build fair salary structures and get ready for the EU Pay Transparency Directive.

Articles
62
Topics
6
Latest article
19 October 2026

Articles by Albert Mercadé Laborda

Compensation

AI Pay Premium 2027: What AI Skills Are Worth in Europe and Beyond

AI engineers earn about a quarter more than software developers in Europe, but the premium swings from +5% to +40% depending on country, role and how you measure it. Here is what TalentUp data shows and how to price AI skills without breaking your pay structure.

Albert Mercadé Laborda 18 min read

Compensation

HR Budget Planning: How to Build Next Year's People-Cost Budget

A practical guide to building the workforce budget for 2027: every cost line, how to cost a new hire with employer social security rates for Spain, Germany, the UK and Ireland, TalentUp market pay for 10 common roles, scenarios and budget-vs-actual tracking.

Albert Mercadé Laborda 13 min read

Compensation

Salary Review Process: A 12-Week Step-by-Step Playbook for HR

A practical playbook for running a salary review cycle in Europe: a week-by-week timeline, who does what, data prep, budget pools, a worked merit matrix, calibration, communication, off-cycle requests and the pay equity check before sign-off.

Albert Mercadé Laborda 15 min read

Benefits

Vacation Days in Europe 2026: Annual Leave by Country Compared

A verified 2026 table of statutory annual leave and public holidays for the EU-27, the UK, Switzerland and Norway, the CJEU rules on carry-over and payout, and TalentUp data on how many vacation days employers put in their job ads.

Albert Mercadé Laborda 15 min read

Benefits

Working in High Temperatures: An Employer's Guide to Heat at Work

How heat affects office performance and safety, the legal temperature limits and heat-alert rules in Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium and the UK, a step-by-step heatwave work policy, and TalentUp data on summer hours in 2026 job ads.

Albert Mercadé Laborda 12 min read

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