Two letters have been dominating the conversation about tech in the last few years: AI. With rapid changes and huge opportunities for nearly every industry, AI is being met with excitement and skepticism all at once. For compensation professionals, there are obvious concerns about data safety, but there is also growing interest in how AI can help simplify some of the monotonous tasks that consume comp teams’ time.
When it comes to AI, one important thing to remember is that AI isn’t just generative models like ChatGPT. It’s an array of technologies that allow computers to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, and problem-solving. It analyzes vast amounts of data to identify patterns and relationships, enabling it to make predictions, automate processes, and generate insights.
At its core, AI is about automation, but understanding the potential impact of these automations can be tricky. Where does it fit in? How does it actually improve comp work?
Compensation programs have to be agile. Last year’s plans won’t work again without adjustment, but somehow many compensation professionals are relying on the same technology to support their work that they were using five, ten, even twenty years ago. Employee expectations, budgets, pay transparency policies, pay equity regulations, and job architectures change and shift, but the technology used to make all of those elements work together hasn’t kept pace.
Even with the demand for agility, there are a lot of compensation tasks that take time. Analyze data, generate reports, share insights… repeat. Technology empowers compensation professionals to work more efficiently, and AI can take some of the routine tasks off their plates altogether. For instance, instead of digging into every data point to evaluate pay disparities, AI tools could evaluate full data sets and pinpoint the exact pay gaps compensation professionals should remedy. However, you can’t just pop your survey or employee data into any platform and allow AI to work its magic. AI can help speed up processes in alignment with company goals and compliance needs, but only when paired with human guidance and security measures.
Since we started BetterComp, our team has been dedicated to providing dynamic compensation technology, and our recent $33M in Series A funding is going to supercharge how quickly we innovate. We're excitedly looking to find ways we can help bring more automation and AI to the world of compensation and are working to pair AI with the necessary data protections.
Right now, AI’s possibilities seem endless and we’re just seeing the beginnings of what it can do. One thing we can be sure of is that it won’t replace the need for humans. Bringing AI into the world of compensation isn’t about eliminating the people behind great comp programs; its purpose will be empowering them with unprecedented tools and data. By embracing AI, compensation professionals can shift their focus from repetitive, manual tasks to strategic, high-value work and become true advisors, using AI-generated insights to craft personalized, fair, and competitive total rewards packages that attract and retain top talent. BetterComp is thrilled to help compensation teams move faster and work smarter with cutting-edge AI innovations.