Diversity & Inclusion: What role can Executive Search play? Diversity Inclusion Survey Report | Page 27

Findings show that diverse candidates may be negatively impacted by unconscious bias and by clients choosing the ‘safe’ option. Additionally, 45% of respondents felt that there was a lack of diverse candidates, although this may be an issue of perception rather than fact. Why clients choose the ‘safe’ option A number of unconscious or implicit biases are known to affect recruitment decisions. For example, Affinity Bias is the unconscious tendency to prefer people with whom we share traits or qualities. Confirmatory Bias can then reinforce this bias as it refers to how people primarily search for bits of evidence that back up their existing opinions, rather than looking at the whole picture. Status Quo Bias is an emotional preference for the current state of affairs or status quo. Put simply, most humans don’t like change. Biases such as these and others can contribute to an unconscious preference for candidates who share traits with the existing majority, leading to continued homogeneity. “Clients ask for diverse shortlists, we provide exceptional (female for example) candidates and yet they go for the male candidate because they are the safe option, and perhaps have more experience at the top, so they don’t become part of the wider picture of bringing in a high potential, highly-skilled candidate because they perceive risk.” Survey Respondent www.invenias.com | [email protected] / 27