Advanced data analytics will now ensure Australian workers are paid correctly after the launch of PaidRight, a spinout of CSIRO’s Data61 and PwC.
PaidRight’s platform uses advanced data analytics to enable employers to review the accuracy of their payroll.
“This launch is the culmination of years of research development and market-testing with CSIRO’s Data61, PwC and major household brands” said PaidRight’s CEO Duncan Stone.
“The conga line of trusted businesses getting caught up in underpayment scandals keeps getting longer and longer — it’s now so prevalent that payroll and wage non-compliance is one of the key risks facing businesses in Australia.”
PaidRight works by interpreting payroll data, such as rosters and timesheets, against the complexities of modern awards and enterprise agreements to identify payroll discrepancies on an ongoing basis. According to Mr Stone, the platform is over 98 percent accurate.
Wage misconduct by Australian employers often results in significant ramifications for the business in question. Reputation damage, loss of employee trust, economic penalties and occasionally criminal implications for directors in certain industries.
According to The Fair Work Ombudsman’s annual report released in November 2020, the organisation recovered $123 million for over 25,500 underpaid employees in the last financial year, including $90 million in underpayments reported by employers.
Findings from the federal government’s financial technology and regulatory inquiry this September highlighted the need for payroll software to increase small and medium businesses’ compliance with complex industrial awards setting pay.
“With an estimated cost of $250 billion per year, compliance has now become Australia's fastest growing sector. Wage underpayment presents a huge compliance challenge for businesses big and small,” says Dr Jon Whittle, Director of CSIRO’s Data61.
“PaidRight aims to digitally transform the process of wage compliance by autonomously auditing the accuracy of payrolls. It ensures employees are paid correctly and saves businesses time and money during times of volatility.”
“The technology is based on more than a decade of research in legal informatics and computational law. The merging of this deep experience with PwC’s intricate customer compliance and audit knowledge created the perfect balance to such a revolutionary tool,” explains Dr Whittle.
Besides ensuring employees are paid correctly, PaidRight has the potential to save Australian businesses billions of dollars a year at a vital time for the economy, and has already been used to check over 75,000 employee wages totalling more than $6.8 billion.
Find out if PaidRight is right for your business here[Link will open in a new window].