Disrupting Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

Feb 15

What is Unconscious Bias?

Unconscious, or implicit, bias are the factors that cause us to think and act based on prejudice, stereotypes or misinformation. These biases are often rooted in our upbringing, our political affiliations, our communities, and other factors we’re regularly exposed to. When we allow ourselves to act upon these biases, we are liable to cause harm to those who surround us. Unconscious bias in the workplace is a particularly difficult, yet necessary topic to address.

Research has shown that the unconscious mind is able to process 11 million bits of information per second while the conscious mind can only process 50 bits per second! This incredible delay illustrates just how much of an impact unconscious bias can hold over our thoughts and actions. While most of us strive to be inclusive, if we do not take the time to pinpoint our own biases, we are liable to become a vessel for their harmful influence.

The good news is that with research, education, conversation and intention, we can disrupt our own biases and help others identify and address theirs! Let’s take a look at some examples of unconscious bias.

Examples of Unconscious Bias and their Effect on the Workplace

There are many different types of unconscious bias, each focusing on a particular trait. While we may be familiar with many of these biases, such as race, age or gender, this does not mean that we are free of their influence. Fully understanding the different types of bias and how each one can infiltrate the unconscious mind is the first step to overcoming our own biases, and, in turn, helping those around us to do the same. While the following examples are not a complete list of all areas of bias, they will help to give an idea of the range and depth of unconscious bias that exists.

Conformity Bias

Conformity bias is the tendency to think and act like those who surround them instead of relying on their own discernment. This type of bias is commonly referred to as “group-think.”

Companies are susceptible to falling victim to conformity bias when they focus on “culture fit” over “value add” during candidate searches. If your team of employees are of the same age, gender, race, etc, they are more likely to think and act as a single unit. This is not only detrimental to DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging) efforts, it can also impact your company’s ability to innovate, think creatively and foster growth. Studies have found that diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets (HBR), diverse teams are 87% better at making decisions (People Management), and diverse management teams lead to 19% higher revenue (BCG). These numbers alone show us that encouraging diversity in your people will encourage growth and innovation!

Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias is when we rely exclusively on information that reaffirms our current beliefs and ignore everything that challenges it. This is a harmful trend, and, unfortunately, one that most of us are likely to fall victim to with the wealth of information and misinformation that surrounds us daily.

In the workplace, confirmation bias can lead to personal and professional difficulties. While conducting market research, employee engagement surveys, compensation analysis or customer feedback, we would never limit ourselves to a single source of information. Similarly, when we limit our understanding of cultural, political, and societal evolution, we can quickly become locked into a single way of thinking. This hardened outlook can cause tension between colleagues and other relationships. Encouraging a wealth of information and challenging viewpoints is key to overcoming confirmation bias!

Affinity Bias

Similar to conformity bias, affinity bias is the tendency to associate with people who share your viewpoints, beliefs and characteristics.

Once again, this is an inclination that does more harm than good. While associating with those who share our beliefs and preferences may be easy, it does not challenge our worldview and can limit our scope of understanding. Such limitations can cause prejudice for those who do not fit into our particular group. Promoting DEIB can break the affinity bias cycle and give colleagues a chance to work with people who differ from them instead of against them.

Biases Based on Physical Traits

Unfortunately, there are a multitude of biases that focus on singular human attributes. These biases are the most obvious and, for many, the hardest to break because they are founded on centuries of stereotypes, hatred and misinformation. We’ll briefly address a few of these types of bias below. This list is not all-encompassing, but hopefully it provides enough examples to apply what we learn to all types of bias that we encounter.

Age Bias: This bias applies to all ages. We see examples of age bias in the workplace when older employees are valued for experience while younger employees are expected to work their way up, regardless of education or ability. On the opposite side, many industries focus exclusively on hiring younger talent and ignore older candidates altogether.

Race Bias: Though we are decades past the Civil Rights and Equal Pay Acts, racial bias is still a huge issue in the US. Wage gaps continue to affect people from racial and ethnic minority groups, in a 2022 study, we find that Black men earned 76% of what white men earned in the first quarter of 2022 and Latinos earned 75%. Though steps are being taken to reduce these inequalities through pay transparency laws and initiatives, there is still so much more work to be done. Race is also a subject of social-political tension, with movements like Black Lives Matter resurfacing racial debates both in and out of the workplace. These politically charged topics can stem frustration and tension amongst coworkers.

Gender Bias: Gender bias is another major hurdle in the fight for equal pay, with studies from 2022 showing a gap of 17% between men and women in the same roles.. Typically, women have to fight for respect in positions of authority. More shockingly, 58% of women who have been harassed at work don’t file a complaint according to another 2022 study. Historically, the sexual abuse and harassment of women in the workplace has been tolerated. Acknowledging and addressing this issue head on is a crucial step in addressing gender bias.

Sexual Orientation Bias: Sexual orientation bias is another source of prejudice that has caused harassment, unfair treatment and discrimination in the workplace. In a 2022 study, 46% of LGBTQ+ workers reported having experienced unfair treatment at work, and 10% reporting leaving a job because they were not being treated fairly.

Ability Bias: Ability bias refers to the biases we hold against people with disabilities. Ability bias in the workplace can take many forms, including the refusal to acknowledge a request for reasonable accommodation, offering ADA compliant working conditions or using exclusive language in job descriptions such as ‘able to sit or stand for 8 hours’ or ‘ able to lift 50 lbs.’

Now that we have addressed some of the specific types of unconscious bias, we can take a look at the options we have as individuals and as organizations to disrupt and reverse these harmful prejudices.

How to Disrupt Unconscious Bias in the Workplace

Educate

Take time to educate yourself and your team on the types of unconscious bias so you all have a better chance of identifying and disrupting those biases in the future. Be intentional about the way you relay this information. These topics will likely prompt further questions and discussion, so be sure to give the subject matter the appropriate space and setting that it deserves.

Analyze

Determine which biases are likely to affect your workplace, and use those examples as the catalyst for your education, discussions and action plan. Pulling measurable data from existing DEIB practices and employee surveys is a great place to start.

Set DEIB goals

Incorporate DEIB across all stages of the employee lifecycle, from your hiring practices, to performance management, to compensation and beyond. Make sure your goals are measurable so you can rely on that information while you foster and cultivate DEIB in the future. Here are a few actionable tasks that can help foster DEIB in your organization:

Set up ERGs (Employee Resource Groups) that allow your team to celebrate their individuality and share different perspectives with their colleagues.
Update the wording in your job descriptions to be more inclusive. *
Locate and address any existing pay inequities in your organization.

Set clear expectations and practices for the team

Once you have taken the time to educate your team, set a standard for addressing unconscious bias as it comes up. Many victims of bias have resorted to staying silent to avoid making a scene or invoking further prejudice treatment. Disrupting unconscious bias can only happen when we unite and address it head on. Here are a few helpful practices to keep in mind while disrupting bias as a team:

Create a shared language amongst the team and make sure your employees are clear on why your organization uses one term over another. Consider referencing an inclusive language guide for more context and specific examples. *
Create a norm for flagging and discussing bias in the moment. This practice should not be an excuse to embarrass or shame. As we’ve learned, many factors of unconscious bias are built on misinformation and stereotypes that have ingrained themselves in the zeitgeist of our society. Find a method that is simple and respectful of all involved. This may be an agreed upon word, a hand raise or an actual flag. If the offending party doesn’t understand the reason behind the flag, or if the situation requires further discussion, you can always schedule time to go into detail and work towards a resolution.

Conclusion

Thank you all for joining our dissection of unconscious bias and its effects on the workplace. This is not an easy subject to tackle, on a personal or professional level, so keep in mind that disrupting bias is an ongoing practice. There is no end goal beyond continuing to keep this challenge at the forefront of your mind.

We also encourage you to check out our blog on Writing an Inclusive Job Description. In this blog we break down the unconscious biases that have influenced our hiring practices for decades and provide some insight on the subtle changes in language that can encourage diversity and inclusion in your hiring practices.

We also provide more stats and details on pay inequities based on race and gender in our Salary Transparency blog, as well as the steps that you can take to address and reverse those inequities.

If you are interested in getting support, further resources or coaching as you explore the options for disrupting unconscious bias in your own workplace, feel free to reach out to the HENSLEE HR team here.

We look forward to exploring new topics with you all soon. In the meantime, make space and elevate! 🙌