How PayAnalytics could be the solution to gender pay equity

We recently visited Iceland and this was one of the interesting company’s that help move the needle on pay inequalities, for gender and other factors very quickly, by utlitising a data driven approach.

Mind the gap: PayAnalytics’ solution at a glance

• PayAnalytics helps companies achieve pay equity and build equitable workplaces.
• Our software solution assists organizations in eliminating pay disparities based on demographic factors, track diversity progress, and eradicate systemic bias.
• Trusted by companies of all sizes, including Fortune 100 and Fortune Global 500, in over 75 countries for 1 million+ employees.
• Companies can measure, close the gap, report, and sustain fair pay with PayAnalytics.

Empowering organizations of all sizes to eradicate bias

Diversity, equity, and inclusion have become top-of-mind across organizations in every industry on a global scale; as a part of this movement toward transparency and equality, fair pay has taken center stage. But corporate mandates and government legislation can’t make the pay gap—across any demographic dimension (e.g. race and, gender)—magically disappear. And simply paying everybody more won’t solve the problems of underlying systemic bias either. PayAnalytics empowers organizations of all sizes to address inequalities in compensation from Day One, with powerful user friendly analytics and visualization tools, no matter where they are on their pay equity journey. 

Over a decade ago, one of our founders, Sigurjón Pálsson (then the Chief Operating Officer at a major financial institution) noticed a pattern in his employees’ compensation: Women were making less than their male colleagues overall, representing an 8% pay disparity. Over the next year, he and his HR staff made concerted efforts to correct the imbalance, but by the time the next salary assessment came around, they realized their hard work had come to naught. The pay gap wasn’t shrinking, and he could find no obvious solution. 

Where there isn’t a solution, make one

Determined to find the root cause of the bank’s pay gap, Sigurjón paired up with people analytics and statistics experts Dr. Margrét Bjarnadóttir and Dr. David Anderson. The end result? PayAnalytics, a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) solution that features a full suite of compensation analytics tools to help companies measure and close their pay gaps—and then keep them closed. 

Equipping HR with quantitative decision-making tools

PayAnalytics changes how organizations measure and close the gender pay gap by equipping HR managers and consultants with quantitative decision-making tools. PayAnalytics is underpinned by the belief that we must go beyond ‘equal pay for equal work’, addressing ‘equal pay for work of equal value’ and ‘for substantially similar work’ in order to combat a culture of systemic bias. 

As such, the solution empowers users to conduct salary reviews and measure discrepancies in pay based on a variety of customizable factors; it then makes recommendations for closing those pay gaps. PayAnalytics was the first tool on the market to integrate additional genders—not just male and female—and to take into account demographic variables beyond gender, such as age, race/ethnicity, and disability. 

Its sophisticated reporting and visualization capabilities clarify the impact of hiring decisions, promotions, and salary adjustments. By gaining deep insights into their pay structures, users are able to achieve and maintain parity. 

About our founders

In 2016, Dr. Bjarnadóttir co-founded PayAnalytics with Dr. David Anderson. 

Dr. Bjarnadottir and Dr. Anderson share a background in operations research and data analytics consulting; they have a history of solving complex problems using mathematical modeling. 

Their scholarly publications on analytics range from finance and public health to sports and— most importantly—people analytics. One of their most recent joint papers, “There are No Colorblind Models in a Colorful World,” described the bias embedded into people analytics that use AI and the need to affirmatively identify and correct unwanted biases. 

Ms. Bjarnadóttir also examined this issue in layman’s terms in her 2023 HBR article.

About Margrét Bjarnadóttir

Margrét Vilborg Bjarnadóttir, founder of PayAnalytics, is an Associate Professor of Management Science and Statistics at the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Her research focuses on using data-driven decisionmaking to address complex problems with a significant social impact. As an educator, Margrét is adept at communicating complex concepts—including those that underpin the PayAnalytics software—to non-technical audiences.

Margrét represented PayAnalytics at the annual Nordic Fintech Week, where we received the Nordic Fintech Impact Award.

Her work on pay equity has appeared in  the Harvard Business Review, Forbes, BBC, Authority Magazine, Inside Big Data, and HR Magazine. In 2020, she was awarded the GWIIN Overall Inventor Innovator Platinum Award for her innovative approach to addressing pay equity. In 2019, she was named University Woman of the Year in Iceland for the impact of her work. She is not waiting 200 years to close the pay gap. 

Customer success stories 

PayAnalytics has helped companies of all shapes and sizes on their pay equity journey. 

Here are a few examples of our clients´ success:

Allianz

Allianz, a global insurance company with 160,000+ employees in 70+ countries, partnered with PayAnalytics in mid-2020; by the end of that year, each local entity had run an independent analysis of its pay structures using our solution. With PayAnalytics, Allianz closed the pay gap, making equity a part of its corporate DNA for the long haul.
Learn about Allianz’s success

Vís
A small Icelandic insurance company with 200 employees and historically progressive hiring practices closed its pay gap with PayAnalytics in 2022.

Read about Vís

Press Coverage and Publications 

• Why Attempts to Close the Pay Gap Fail
• Using People Analytics to Build an Equitable Workplace
• We´re not waiting 200 years to close the pay gap

See more breaking stories here.