NTT Business Solutions revealed advances in gender equality in the workplace are being undermined by a lack of support for women, impacting retention rates and motivation.

The company is employing an AI diversity, equity and inclusion tool to address disparities it found in the theory and application of policies to promote women in the workplace.

NTT deployed karafuru AI to analyse various aspects of women’s experience in the workplace after a survey it conducted among 120 non-managerial women aged between 30-years and 49-years found elements including the quality of communication and fair evaluations were not up to scratch.

The company noted a high level of satisfaction in the quality of dialogue with superiors, but stated “psychological burdens on the front lines” are affecting the workers’ drive and making it hard to hold on to them.

NTT is using karafuru AI to simulate one-to-one meetings to address unconscious bias, active listening, positive feedback and proposed solutions.

The tool is also being used to provide positive feedback.

“This system allows users to reflect their own communication trends and clearly identify areas for improvement,” it explained.

A key feature is karafuru AI’s ability to visualise trends across an organisation, enabling “HR and management” to “identify issues and use them to improve”.

NTT stated the AI is enabling it to establish the reality of women’s working lives in a way not possible through equality processes alone.