Rainmakers
Unconscious Bias
By Dr. Clifford Ferguson
What is unconscious bias and how can you avoid it?
What is unconscious bias? In the working world, we come into contact with people from a multitude of backgrounds. A modern workplace often requires working with and supporting employee’ s differences, involving their unique outlook or experiences. However, because the human brain is wired to make categorisations as a survival tool, we may negatively stereotype people on the basis of their background or other characteristics. This is known as unconscious bias, and this article will explain how best to avoid it to improve your recruitment process, and to promote a non-discriminatory environment for your employees.
Why is unconscious bias harmful in the workplace?
Unconscious bias or identity bias is a human cognitive trait that can lead to the stereotyping of individuals on the basis of background or other characteristics. Our brains are wired to categorise others, particularly by age, social background, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation or education.
While it is common to categorise people |
on the basis of learned social associations, |
these categories can be a positive or negative |
stereotype. This can lead to ineffective |
recruitment |
decisions, |
or |
workplace |
discrimination. |
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According to a UK unconscious bias survey, ethnic minorities were more likely to have reported negative encounters than white people. This included being overlooked in a job application, and being treated differently because of their appearance.
These negative experiences can occur through verbal and non-verbal indications by the other person, either in an interview, job application or on a day-to-day basis in the workplace. While our cognitive ability to categorise is a useful survival tool- discerning whether someone or something is friendly or hostile, for instance- in the working world it can be detrimental to positive relationships.
A modern workplace often requires working with and supporting employee’ s differences, involving their unique outlook or experiences. However, because the human brain is wired to make categorizations as a survival tool, we may negatively stereotype people on the basis of their background or other characteristics. This is known as unconscious bias.
Unconscious bias can also wrongfully lead us to make snap assumptions about a candidate or employee’ s intelligence, emotions or other capacities.
Factors that can influence unconscious bias include: Dress sense; speech patterns or accent; work history; qualifications; school or university attended; gender identity or presentation; name; sexual orientation; ethnicity; visible or nonvisible disability.
Although we may pick up these clues on a day-to-day basis, they also contribute to forming our very first impressions of a candidate or employee. This is known as either the halo effect if we gain a positive first impression on the basis of these characteristics, or the reverse halo effect if they create a negative one.
How unconscious bias can affect the recruitment process
These assumptions can often be completely unfounded in terms of a candidate or employee’ s actual working abilities, characteristics or personal qualities. The society you are in can condition you to make these assumptions through reinforcement in media, parenting or in your own personal social sphere.
The key thing to remember is that unconscious bias is formed unconsciously, which means that we do not realise we have this bias. This means that we might not intend to see a candidate in a positive or negative light on the basis of these indications. We might also form this bias despite our best intentions not to discriminate against candidates and employees. However, recognizing when we are doing this is useful in
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