Avoiding Unconscious Bias in the Workplace
What Is Unconscious Bias?
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. When a person has an unconscious bias, it can negatively influence their judgments, resulting in unbalanced decision-making. In the context of workplace bias, it can mean liking or disliking a person or groups of people, basing those preferences on non-factual conclusions.
Everyone has unconscious biases, irrespective of how well-meaning they may be. Human beings are pattern-seekers by nature. The instinct can be very handy when associating a noise or movement with a potential danger, however, we can also sometimes see patterns where there are none. We need to proactively learn to recognize our biases, understand where they come from, and learn how to avoid them.
Where Does It Come From?
Unconscious biases arise from improperly tying past experiences or exposures to new ones. These assumptions are based on a variety of environmental factors. The following is a selection of the most common sources of bias. Learning where they come from will help you better manage your biases in the workplace.
The Media
Various forms of media are ubiquitous to our lives and regularly inform our thoughts and opinions. Each time you watch a show on TV, read about a story or view content online, or even play a video game, your brain makes subconscious entries to a mental database that will influence what you think about people and situations in the future.
Your Upbringing
Many biases result from being around the people you trust and hearing their thoughts and opinions starting from an early age, often without context or other perspectives to compare them to. We base many of our opinions on some of the earliest experiences we have with people. It can be easy to implicitly assume that others have had the same experiences that we have or that our experiences are the norm.
Your Culture
Geographical locations and culture can also elicit bias. For instance, people in the United States tend to value others who are friendly, yet bold and confident. In other countries, such as China, value gets placed on humility and how well people work with others. We tend to have a penchant for our own culture and can form unfair opinions about others based on cultural expectations.
Affinity Bias
Finally, a specific type of bias called “affinity bias” can influence hiring especially. Affinity bias is preferring people who are most like ourselves. This often means referring or selecting a candidate who shares our same race or gender, who went to the same school, speaks the same language, or reminds us of our younger selves. It is also often the cause for inequity in the training, mentoring, and promoting of different groups of people.
How to Overcome Unconscious Bias
The hardest thing to do for most of us is to question what we think and why. We tend to form beliefs and opinions and never challenge them ourselves. However, it is important to always ask yourself, “Why do I feel this way about this person?” or, “Is it possible that I have formed unfair assumptions about them?” Just as we must conscientiously and discerningly evaluate the many different perspectives and biases of information we receive in the media, so must we regularly question our own assumptions about other people.
Don’t make hiring decisions in a silo. Rely on a diverse group of people throughout the process. Standardize your interview questions to remain fair and equitable with candidates of different backgrounds and utilize software that helps reduce bias towards applicant names and demographics.
Finally, seek out personal growth opportunities by learning more about other races, genders, sexual identities, and cultures. Proactively attempt to unlearn the things that lead to unconscious bias by taking online courses, reading articles from other perspectives, and by just getting to know as many people who are different from you as possible.