EvenBetter.ai launches AI tool to tackle gender pay gap

Sydney-based startup EvenBetter.ai has announced the launch of an AI-powered platform aimed at aiding businesses in addressing the gender pay gap more effectively.

EvenBetter.ai's launch is timely, coinciding with the release of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency report, which now publicly lists the gender pay gaps for over 9,000 Australian companies. Unlike traditional pay gap reporting, which tends to focus solely on a single company-level metric, EvenBetter.ai aims to address broader issues by considering factors such as talent availability, market conditions, and employee seniority.

Co-founder Sorrel Kesby commented on the current state of gender pay inequality, saying, "The gender pay gap in Australia is above 20%, and while thousands of businesses go through a time-consuming process of collecting and reporting their gender pay gap, they struggle without the specialised technology to drive insightful actions from it." She further added, "Companies that ignore their gender pay gap will be left behind by those that take action. The businesses that move early send a clear message - to both current and future talent - that they are committed to building a fairer, more equitable workplace."

Fellow co-founder Ayal Steiner highlighted the unique value of their product, stating, "We are a technology company; we have no social agenda other than helping companies do the right thing, by women and men alike. There is currently no platform that collects, analyses, and delivers clear, data-driven recommendations for closing the pay gap. We delve much deeper to uncover the true drivers behind gender pay disparities, empowering businesses to take informed, strategic action."

The platform's technology uses an AI model to organise and standardise pay data, leveraging proprietary market benchmarks to deliver high-precision analysis. The insights generated by the platform take into account various dimensions such as market talent structure, diversity analysis, career progression disparities, and pay equality issues.

EvenBetter.ai has already secured initial clients, including property firm Knight Frank and FujiFilm Australia. Knight Frank's Chief People Officer, Kristin Hay, endorsed the platform's approach, stating, "EvenBetter's approach to gender pay management is exactly what we need. It costs our business significantly to create basic reports that are immediately out of date. We need timely, targeted insights to make the best decisions for our business."

Industry experts have also shown support for EvenBetter.ai's methodology. Professor Geni Dechter from UNSW's School of Economics said, "EvenBetter implements a robust and sophisticated methodology to analyse and interpret Gender Pay Gap data. They developed a unique capability to identify and quantify the drivers of a company's gender pay gap by isolating factors such as market talent availability, hiring and promotion biases, and pay equality issues."

Jacqueline Chow, Director at Coles, NIB, and Charter Hall, also commented on the importance of data-backed decision-making, "Every company wants to do the right thing and reduce their gender pay gap. But I have seen many businesses resort to decisions that are not data-backed and hence are ineffective or even counterproductive. EvenBetter's platform arms leadership teams with data and insights to put them on the optimal path to reducing the gender pay gap."