See how leaders, including Sapia’s CEO Barbara Hyman, reacted to the Treasurer’s 2020 Federal Budget, and their comments on how it will impact Australian businesses.
Featured in Business Daily Media | Wed 7th October 2020
Dr Benjamin Coorey, Archistar Founder & CEO
“The R&D incentives initiative is a game changer for us because it provides the very thing that all start up businesses want – certainty. These changes are strongly supported because it means we can, as a business, confidently invest in more people to deliver innovative solutions and provide material outcomes for economic growth.”
Andrew Johnson, ACS Chief Executive Officer
“ACS is delighted to see the recognition of the importance of technology professionals in Australia’s recovery from the COVID-19 downturn with the emphasis on IT and cybersecurity in this year’s budget.
The 50,000 new higher education short courses which include IT subjects is an important part of addressing skill shortages across the Australian economy.
Coupled with this, the announcement of $240m to support female cadetships and apprenticeships in science, technology, engineering and mathematics will go some way to address the under-representation of women in the ICT sector.
Along with the measures announced in last week’s advanced manufacturing and Digital Business plans, the budget lays firm foundations for a tech led recovery.”
Leica Ison, CEO of regulation technology provider Skyjed
“I welcome the Treasurer’s announcement that the government will provide $231m over four years to support economic recovery by employing more women in the workforce. The funding to increase the number of co-funded grants to women-founded start-ups, and to establish the women in STEM industry cadetship program is a fantastic step in the right direction.
As a female tech founder of an emerging RegTech provider of a digital product governance platform, these initiatives are refreshing and will certainly drive growth in our digital economy.
Australia has over 80 emerging RegTech providers supported by the RegTech Association, and if each of them plans to create around ten new jobs in next 12 months, we are well on the way to not only supporting modern manufacturing and the broad range of Australian industries (clean energy, MedTech, IoT, retail) but also to building a global RegTech export sector.
There is a substantial opportunity for high export potential of RegTech right at the time when our country needs it most. Global RegTech spending is predicted to exceed USD $127 billion.
I would however encourage the government to go harder on looking at initiatives to promote commercialisation. In Australia, a gap exists in commercialisation – after R&D when a start-up needs to find product-market fit and scale-up. Australia needs more effective incentives for this ‘cliff’ to ensure commercialisation and that jobs of the future stay in Australia.”
Dr Silvia Pfeiffer, CEO of Coviu
“I highly commend the government’s decision to double the number of Medicare funded psychological services through the Better Access Initiative. We’ve seen a huge spike in mental health related problems since the outbreak of COVID-19, and this is projected to get worse. Better Access funds telehealth mental health consultations, and thus enables equitable access for all Australians.
But there are more challenges than just mental health. I would have liked to have seen a broader approach to the digitalisation of healthcare. The global pandemic has accelerated digital transformation in healthcare. However, the Federal Budget was missing any concrete indication from the government to properly see this through; the digitalisation of our system starts with a long-term pledge to the reimbursement of telehealth items.
Healthcare businesses aren’t going to invest in the necessary training, hardware and infrastructure setup for digital transformation if there is no long-term government commitment.
We all want to live in a country where quality healthcare is accessible to all. However, it’s going to take more support from the government to get there. I’m hopeful that it won’t take us another pandemic to realise this.”
Carl Hartmann, co-founder of HR technology platform, Shortlyster
“While the JobMaker Hiring Credit and the $1.2bn investment to support apprenticeships and trainees are strong initiatives to boost employment, neither of these measures holistically address employment with thousands of Australian white collar workers looking for work who could be utilised more effectively now to help further stimulate the economy. The JobMaker Hiring Credit will be paid at a rate too low to seriously help any business pay the wage of a skilled worker, of which there is high demand for amongst small to medium businesses and this ranges from everything from tech engineers, accountants, marketeers, IT and business professionals.
“To get Australians back to work we need to get more creative in how we view people’s skill sets. The JobTrainer package announced earlier this year is a step in the right direction for helping upskill Australians, but we need more investment in the learning and development space for programs to help job seekers transfer their skills into new industries. The job market is down, but the reality is that there’s still a lot of businesses operating. When they are hiring, they need to be able to screen applications for transferable skill set. All this while making the right hires quickly.”
“It is positive to see reinforced support for mental health initiatives, but this focus needs to be on preventative measures that can help support the wellbeing of Australians before it reaches crisis level. While support for organisations like Beyond Blue is necessary, we also need long term investment for mental health in the learning and development space to create initiatives that can be delivered at a workplace level to support the wellbeing and resilience of Australians as an ongoing priority.”
Arun Maharaj, CEO of HashChing
The expanded First Home Loan Deposit Scheme is a fantastic step in the right direction – too many people living in expensive cities have been missing out for for too long. Increasing the caps on the price of homes that can be purchased to as much as $950,000 will go a long way towards helping to kick start the building boom which is absolutely critical to our economy.
However, it is a shame the HomeBuilder scheme was not extended. This would have been a fantastic way to rejuvenate the property market.
John Manusu, cofounder of Aegros
“The Federal Budget is rightly looking to stimulate the economy. It is pleasing to see that more funding for medicines is being injected into the Modern Manufacturing plan. Unfortunately, the breakthroughs we need to overcome the current pandemic will, and are coming from, the smaller companies like Aegros.
To date, we have not seen any targeted support for Australian innovation sectors. This plus the cut in innovation company grants has really cut into Australia’s innovation engine. It may well explain the decrease we have seen in Australia’s productivity over the last 10 years.
Despite this, the Government still hasn’t considered reactivating the SME company R&D commercial project grants,. Those grants provided up to 50% funding to cover the cost of bridging the death valley between prototypes and a commercial product. There’s still much to learn for the Australian government, particularly from Israel, whereby this model of funding has been used to have successful companies repay sales grants. The beauty of this approach is the funds have to be spent first before the Government co-funds. Ensuring only worthwhile projects are supported and ensuring the funds are spent and not used to pay down debts.”
Barbara Hyman, CEO of Sapia (Formerly PredictiveHire)
“It is comforting and critical that the government has recognised the important need to invest in thIs younger generation. They are both the worst-affected as a group by COVID in the short term. They are also likely to beat a larger cost of the impact of COVID on the economy and employment opportunities for the next 5 to 10 years.
Despite this, the investment in training only pays off if the individual has a good idea of what jobs they are best suited to. And we all know that career counselling from school and beyond is pretty much non-existent.
The more understanding for the kind of role and environment that brings out the best in an 18 or 25-year-old and the deeper self-awareness they have about their strengths, the more ROI both the government and the individual will get from this massive investment. Scaleable career discovery should really be a part of this and the R&D backing in this year’s budget should be used. This technology is here now through AI-led personalised scaleable career coaching. Perfect for the scale of the challenge we face in a world where face-to-face contact is becoming less necessary.”
Jason Waller, CEO of InteliCare
“While any increase in funding is welcomed for the aged care sector in crisis, it seems the Government’s 2020-21 budget comes without fundamental structural changes.
The government mentioned an increase in-home care packages alone – and when we already have an average of nearly $8,000 per person unspent, and over 100,000 on the waiting list (almost as many as the 136,000 receiving a package), it does feel a bit like putting a bandaid on a shark bite.
Care providers are already overworked and understaffed, and Australia needs to be spending the money more effectively and efficiently. The aged care sector is clearly in crisis. Thus, instead of adding more funding or policies to what we are already doing, we need to stop the bleeding at the source and become preventative rather than reactive. The government should be enabling families to take charge of their own care to relieve the over-stressing and this could be achieved through technology.
The first contact is via general practitioners and the existing healthcare network. We need to make assistive technology MBS approved and put the power back into the hands of the individual, and save on higher cost services that are, simply put, too little too late.”
Mandeep Sodhi, CEO and founder of Effi
“It’s encouraging to see $2 billion injection in R&D incentives. The mortgage broking and the mortgage sector overall is rapidly digitising and this program will only help support its disruption and drive efficiency in the mortgage market. However, there’s still no support for software-based R&D activities which is going to drive the next phase of growth for Australia. AI will be the key for driving productivity of Australians and companies like Effi will be investing heavily in R&D to develop right AI solutions and compete at a global level – but this is only possible if companies like Effi can access R&D incentives easily.
On the other hand, tax support for businesses and incentives for hiring are also good, as they are also needed to help businesses sustain growth.”
Dirk Steller, founder of fintech VC firm Seed Space
“The federal government’s move to invest $28.5 million in expanding Australia’s world-leading Consumer Data Right is an excellent move forward that will help Australia move closer towards realising its open banking transition. The Consumer Data Right and Open Banking is an important initiative that serves up plenty of advantages for Australian customers. It will allow fintech entrants to provide new and improved products by offering data-driven insights and more compelling, tailored and personalised offerings for Australians, all of which will drive economic growth and improved customer outcomes.
At Seed Space, we believe that collaboration is a key driver of success and the $9.6 million proposed by the government to expand the Fintech Bridge program is a welcome initiative that builds on the government’s ongoing multilateral fintech expansion initiatives that are all aimed at helping Australian fintechs grow and scale into key offshore markets such as Europe and the UK, as well as learning from international counterparts to ensure our home grown fintechs are at the operating in line with global best practice.
We also strongly believe the $11.4 million for Australian regtech companies to help ease regulatory burdens is an important initiative. The government is also making available $6.9 million in funding for two blockchain pilots to test how the technology could be used to reduce regulatory compliance burden for businesses. These pilots will complement the National Blockchain Roadmap and will allow the development of successful use cases in how blockchain can help reduce frictions and pain points right across industry verticals.”
Bill Fry, managing director of Eve Investments
“The federal government has stepped up to the plate and provided critical funding support that would allow local manufacturers to continue to innovate, particularly in critical export sectors like retail and health and wellness.
The R&D initiatives will be most welcome to Australian emerging companies seeking to grow and realise their export potential. With regards to this, EVE are currently working on new product development with our honey and tea tree and the development of strains of probiotic that work synergistically to maximise the gut health benefit to consumers. R&D assistance from the government in this process would enable innovation by bringing these products to market much quicker and into the hands of everyday Australians.
Support will also be given to manufacturers to upgrade and improve manufacturing equipment to expand production. At EVE, we are firmly focused on identifying new opportunities for scale, and dovetails nicely with our expansion plans for new export markets and the need to increase our manufacturing capacity. It also is a critical step in providing new employment opportunities for Australian businesses in manufacturing.”
Joe Demase, managing director of listed telco 5G Networks (ASX:5GN)
“The budget saw the federal government go much further in recognising what is going to be leading the engine room of the Australian economy both now and in the months ahead: small business.
Many SME businesses across Australia have been left ill-equipped to respond to COVID-19 and we must provide these businesses with a clear path for recovery and getting back to operating very quickly. With over 2 million SMBs across the country, accounting for more than 97 per cent of all Australian businesses by employee size, this business segment is the beating heart of this country.
What we would have liked to see more is additional consideration for helping businesses in regional areas, particularly those looking to adjust to operating in a new normal and supporting their digital footprints. The message is clear: if you’re in any business, you’ve got to be investing in digital resilience.”
Maz Zaman, co-founder of TaxFox
“I’m happy to see that this year’s budget includes a number of great outcomes for the startup community. In particular, we welcome the $2bn boost for R&D as this is the lifeline of the tech sector and will provide greater certainty for investment and help support the development of novel technologies within Australia.
The investment in the 5G network and infrastructure is another win for us as better internet means improved connectivity for startups with their employees, customers, partners and networks, ultimately speeding up growth capability.
The $9.6M investment for fintechs will enhance support for businesses to expand internationally and encourage foreign investment and job creation in Australia. The investment in blockchain technology will also help support the fintech community through encouraging broader uptake of blockchain by these businesses which can help improve transparency and rescue regulatory compliance costs.
We welcome news of the personal income tax cuts which will be of great support to many founders who are working full time to support their side hustles. Tax relief will lower the cost of living and allow founders longer runways.
Investment in measures to improve STEM gender equity in Australia is another positive outcome for startups as this will see startups have access to larger talent pools and new perspectives which previously impacted startups having ‘male blinkers’.”
Source: Staff Writer at Business Daily Media, October 7 2020
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New Research Proves the Value of AI Hiring
A new study has just confirmed what many in HR have long suspected: traditional psychometric tests are no longer the gold standard for hiring.
Published in Frontiers in Psychology, the research compared AI-powered, chat-based interviews to traditional assessments, finding that structured, conversational AI interviews significantly reduce social desirability bias, deliver a better candidate experience, and offer a fairer path to talent discovery.
We’ve always believed hiring should be about understanding people and their potential, rather than reducing them to static scores. This latest research validates that approach, signalling to employers what modern, fair and inclusive hiring should look like.
The problem with traditional psychometric tests
While used for many decades in the absence of a more candidate-first approach, psychometric testing has some fatal flaws.
For starters, these tests rely heavily on self-reporting. Candidates are expected to assess their own traits. Could you truly and honestly rate how conscientious you are, how well you manage stress, or how likely you are to follow rules? Human beings are nuanced, and in high-stakes situations like job applications, most people are answering to impress, which can lead to less-than-honest self-evaluations.
This is known as social desirability bias: a tendency to respond in ways that are perceived as more favourable or acceptable, even if they don’t reflect reality. In other words, traditional assessments often capture a version of the candidate that’s curated for the test, not the person who will show up to work.
Worse still, these assessments can feel cold, transactional, even intimidating. They do little to surface communication skills, adaptability, or real-world problem solving, the things that make someone great at a job. And for many candidates, especially those from underrepresented backgrounds, the format itself can feel exclusionary.
The Rise of Chat-Based Interviews
Enter conversational AI.
Organisations have been using chat-based interviews to assess talent since before 2018, and they offer a distinctly different approach.
Rather than asking candidates to rate themselves on abstract traits, they invite them into a structured, open-ended conversation. This creates space for candidates to share stories, explain their thinking, and demonstrate how they communicate and solve problems.
The format reduces stress and pressure because it feels more like messaging than testing. Candidates can be more authentic, and their responses have been proven to reveal personality traits, values, and competencies in a context that mirrors honest workplace communication.
Importantly, every candidate receives the same questions, evaluated against the same objective, explainable framework. These interviews are structured by design, evaluated by AI models like Sapia.ai’s InterviewBERT, and built on deep language analysis. That means better data, richer insights, and a process that works at scale without compromising fairness.
Key Findings from the Latest Research
The new study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, put AI-powered, chat-based interviews head-to-head with traditional psychometric assessments, and the results were striking.
One of the most significant takeaways was that candidates are less likely to “fake good” in chat interviews. The study found that AI-led conversations reduce social desirability bias, giving a more honest, unfiltered view of how people think and express themselves. That’s because, unlike multiple-choice questionnaires, chat-based assessments don’t offer obvious “right” answers – it’s on the candidate to express themselves authentically and not guess teh answer they think they would be rewarded for.
The research also confirmed what our candidate feedback has shown for years: people actually enjoy this kind of assessment. Participants rated the chat interviews as more engaging, less stressful, and more respectful of their individuality. In a hiring landscape where candidate experience is make-or-break, this matters.
And while traditional psychometric tests still show higher predictive validity in isolated lab conditions, the researchers were clear: real-world hiring decisions can’t be reduced to prediction alone. Fairness, transparency, and experience matter just as much, often more, when building trust and attracting top talent.
Sapia.ai was spotlighted in the study as a leader in this space, with our InterviewBERT model recognised for its ability to interpret candidate responses in a way that’s explainable, responsible, and grounded in science.
Why Trust and Candidate Agency Win
Today, hiring has to be about earning trust and empowering candidates to show up as their full selves, and having a voice in the process.
Traditional assessments often strip candidates of agency. They’re asked to conform, perform, and second-guess what the “right” answer might be. Chat-based interviews flip that dynamic. By inviting candidates into an open conversation, they offer something rare in hiring: autonomy. Candidates can tell their story, explain their thinking, and share how they approach real-world challenges, all in their own words.
This signals respect from the employer. It says: We trust you to show us who you are.
Hiring should be a two-way street – a long-held belief we’ve had, now backed by peer-reviewed science. The new research confirms that AI-led interviews can reduce bias, enhance fairness, and give candidates control over how they’re seen and evaluated.
Blog
AI Maturity in the Enterprise
Barb Hyman, CEO & Founder, Sapia.ai
It’s time for a new way to map progress in AI adoption, and pilots are not it.
Over the past year, I’ve been lucky enough to see inside dozens of enterprise AI programs. As a CEO, founder, and recently, judge in the inaugural Australian Financial Review AI Awards.
And here’s what struck me:
Despite the hype, we still don’t have a shared language for AI maturity in business.
Some companies are racing ahead. Others are still building slide decks. But the real issue is that even the orgs that are “doing AI” often don’t know what good looks like.
You don’t need more pilots. You need a maturity model.
The most successful AI adoption strategy does not have you buying the hottest Gen AI tool or spinning up a chatbot to solve one use case. What it should do is build organisational capability in AI ethics, AI governance, data, design, and most of all, leadership.
It’s time we introduced a real AI Maturity Model. Not a checklist. A considered progression model. Something that recognises where your organisation is today and what needs to evolve next, safely, responsibly, and strategically.
Here’s an early sketch based on what I’ve seen:
The 5 Stages of AI Maturity (for real enterprises)
- Curious
- Awareness is growing across leadership
- Experimentation led by innovation teams
- Risk is unclear, appetite is cautious
- AI is seen as “tech”
- Reactive
- Gen AI introduced via vendors or tools (e.g., copilots, agents)
- Some pilots show promise, but with limited scale or guardrails
- Data privacy and sovereignty questions begin to surface
- Risk is siloed in legal/IT
- Capable
- Clear policies on privacy, bias, and governance
- Dedicated AI leads or councils exist
- Internal use cases scale (e.g., summarisation, scoring, chat)
- LLMs integrated with guardrails, safety reviewed
- Strategic
- AI embedded in workflows, not layered on
- LLM/data infrastructure is regionally compliant
- AI outcomes measured (accuracy, equity, productivity)
- Teams restructured around AI capability — not just tech enablement
- AI-Native
- AI informs and transforms core decisions (hiring, pricing, customer service)
- Enterprise builds proprietary intelligence
- FAIR™/RAI principles deeply operationalised
- Talent, systems, and leadership are aligned around an intelligent operating model
Why this matters for enterprise leaders
AI is a capability.And like any capability, it needs time, structure, investment, and a map.
If you’re an HR leader, CIO, or enterprise buyer, and you’re trying to separate the real from the theatre, maturity thinking is your edge.
Let’s stop asking, “Who’s using AI?”
And start asking: “How mature is our AI practice and what’s the next step?”
I’m working on a more complete model now, based on what I’ve seen in Australia, the UK, and across our customer base. If you’re thinking about this too, I’d love to hear from you.
Blog
Beyond the Black Box: Why Transparency in AI Hiring Matters More Than Ever
For too long, AI in hiring has been a black box. It promises speed, fairness, and efficiency, but rarely shows its work.
That era is ending.
“AI hiring should never feel like a mystery. Transparency builds trust, and trust drives adoption.”
At Sapia.ai, we’ve always worked to provide transparency to our customers. Whether with explainable scores, understandable AI models, or by sharing ROI data regularly, it’s a founding principle on which we build all of our products.
Now, with Discover Insights, transparency is embedded into our user experience. And it’s giving TA leaders the clarity to lead with confidence.
Transparency Is the New Talent Advantage
Candidates expect fairness. Executives demand ROI. Boards want compliance. Transparency delivers all three.
Even visionary Talent Leaders can find it difficult to move beyond managing processes to driving strategy without the right data. Discover Insights changes that.
“When talent leaders can see what’s working (and why) they can stop defending their strategy and start owning it.”
Metrics That Make Transparency Real (and Actionable)
🕒 Time to Hire
What it is: The median time between application and hire.
Why it matters: This is your speedometer. A sharp view of how long hiring takes and how that varies by cohort, role, or team helps you identify delays and prove efficiency gains to leadership.
Faster time to hire = faster access to revenue-driving talent.
💬 Candidate Sentiment, Advocacy & Verbatim Feedback
What it is: Satisfaction scores, brand advocacy measures, and unfiltered candidate comments.
Why it matters: Many platforms track satisfaction. Sapia.ai’s Discover Insights takes it further, measuring whether that satisfaction translates into employer and consumer brand advocacy.
And with verbatim feedback collected at scale, talent leaders don’t have to guess how candidates feel. They can read it, learn from it, and take action.
You don’t just measure experience. You understand it in the candidates’ own words.
🔍 Drop-Off Rates, Funnel Visibility & Automation That Works
What it is: The percentage of candidates who exit the hiring process at different stages, and how to spot why.
Why it matters: Understanding drop-off points lets teams fix friction quickly. Embedding automation early in the funnel reduces recruiter workload and elevates top candidates, getting them talking to your hiring teams faster.
Assessment completion benchmarks in volume hiring range between 60–80%, but with a mobile-first, chat-based format like Sapia.ai’s, clients often exceed that.
Optimising your funnel isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing smarter, with less effort and better outcomes.
📈 Hiring Yield (Hired / Applied)
What it is: The percentage of completed applications that result in a hire.
Why it matters: This is your funnel efficiency score. A high yield means your sourcing, screening, and selection are aligned. A low one? There’s leakage, misfit, or missed opportunity.
Hiring yield signals funnel health, recruiter performance, and candidate-process fit.
🧠 AI Effectiveness: Score Distribution & Answer Originality
What it is: Insights into how candidate scores are distributed, and whether responses appear copied or AI-generated.
Why it matters: In high-volume hiring, a normal distribution of scores suggests your assessment is calibrated fairly. If it’s skewed too far left or right, it could be too hard or too easy, and that affects trust.
Add in answer originality, and you can track engagement integrity, protecting both your process and your brand.
From Metrics to Momentum
To effectively lead, you need more than simply tracking; you need insights enabling action.
When you can see how AI impacts every part of your hiring, from recruiter productivity to candidate sentiment to untapped talent, you lead with insight, not assumption. And that’s how TA earns a seat at the strategy table.