Tech Solutions: Leveraging Innovation to Close the Gender Pay Gap

The UK is, generally speaking, a progressive society – and one which has come a long way from the prejudices of its stratified industrial past. As far as we have come, and as many vital rights we have won in the process, though, there is still a great deal farther to go.

The gender pay gap is a particularly egregious example of this, highlighting how structural and systemic prejudices continue to bubble under the surface of superficially equitable industries. According to data from the Office for National Statistics, the gender pay gap across all types of employees in the UK sits at a projected 14.4%; the average working man could stop working for the year in the second week of November, and earn the same as a woman working end-to-end.

This is a systemic problem, but not one that requires top-down systemic change to impact. Businesses and business leaders can look inward at their own staff cohort and company practices, in order to make a change for the better. Doing this has been made triflingly easy, too, with new tech innovations and greater platforms from which to make an example of oneself.  How, then, can a business leverage innovation to close the gender pay gap?

Data Analytics and AI

Data is central to addressing the gender pay gap on a company-wide level, where subjective and individual executive experience can lead to implicit bias or disproportionate efforts to redress the balance. Pay data and employee demographics need to be carefully compiled to illustrate the objective state of a business’ staff cohort.

The glaringly-obvious innovation with respect to technology is, of course, AI. Machine-learning algorithms have improved exponentially over the past two decades, and we now have an extremely wide variety of commercially accessible AI tools. Some of these tools are excellent at performing data grunt work, enabling businesses to interpret large streams of data and discover discrepancies or discriminatory practices.

Transparency

Transparency is the other side of the coin to data analysis, and just as important for both company and industry accountability. Taking the results of a business’ analysis, making them a central aspect of a public-facing Gender Pay Gap Report, and publicly announcing direct steps to address the findings, will improve the business’ reputation and encourage external candidates.

Challenges and Opportunities

The key challenges that face any business looking to address the gender pay gap are legal in nature. For one, any changes a business intends to make should be compliant with the Equality Act 2010, necessitating legal expertise and oversight as motions progress. For another, the handling and interpretation of employee data presents key risks where GDPR and data breaches are concerned.

For all the challenges presented by this gargantuan task, the opportunities are far greater. Properly addressing inequality in business hiring practices and executive structure will make a business all the stronger for the future, and ensure it is no longer hamstrung by discriminatory frameworks.