Diversity & Inclusion and the game of “Biases”

How often have you heard some generalization comments from your Leaders or Managers during selection interviews or promotions etc., such as:

“ People from XYZ state or country are lazy crooks and not trustworthy”;

“Fat people are lazy and lethargic”;

“Females cannot do this job”;

“This person will not conform and adjust to our team”;

“People above 60 years are old and lethargic”.?

Every leader and manager carries certain biases, which influence their actions and behaviors. These could be explicit or implicit, called the “conscious bias “and “unconscious bias”.

“Conscious bias” is to be aware, intentional, and responsive.?On the other hand, the unconscious refers to being unaware or performing something without realizing it. The main difference between conscious and unconscious bias is that conscious bias refers to biased attitudes that you are aware of, while unconscious bias refers to biased attitudes that operate outside your awareness and control.

So, in organizations, you could observe conscious bias, when it prefers a candidate who may have worked at a highly-regarded company or may have graduated from a particular university and you judge the candidate heavily on the merit of their university or past place of work rather than their skills or other aspects of their application. In some employment advertisements especially in the Middle East region, you see it mentioning candidates from western countries or education preferred. Another example of conscious bias could be the reservation policy in India. Some advertisements mention selecting “Female candidates only” or “Male candidates only” for generic roles. In many countries, laws and policies prevent prejudice and bias based on gender, race, age, physical abilities, sexual orientation, and many other characteristics. Hence these explicit biases could be subject to legal scrutiny.

?On the other hand, "Unconscious bias" in the workplace is a “subconscious preference”. This may be due to an individual’s past experiences or opinions based on facts or social or religious influences. Unconscious biases may not be not illegal but may be frowned upon.

Unconscious biases are more challenging as they are usually individual-centric and depend upon an individual's attitude or beliefs about others that happen without the person being aware of the same. Leaders and Managers need to self-check their unconscious biases and see if they impact their decisions.

Unconscious Biases can create unfair disadvantages and hurt a team. Employees may receive this unfair treatment which can hurt team morale. These biases could also prevent diversity and influence the culture of the organization.

So, when do we see “Unconscious Biases” happen most? It can take place at any time as it influences a person at any point without the person realizing it. However, there are two common instances: during the hiring process, when managers conduct an interview, they can unknowingly fall victim to a bias that they may have and decide based on the manager's subconscious attitude towards that person during the interview. Secondly, when considering people for promotions: instead of focusing on an individual's work performance or contribution to a team, Managers may focus on the bias they may have about certain people.

Some common “Unconscious biases": you might have observed:

Age Bias: based on the belief that older employees aren't as competent in performing a job as younger employees

Conformity bias: Pressure is to agree with others in a group or second guess the thoughts of others in the group.

Affinity Bias: based on the idea that people are naturally drawn to like other people similar to themselves. These similarities like age, race, religion, region, gender, and others.

Physical appearance, Beauty & Weight Bias: a person judges another person based on how attractive they seem to be, or how heavier or lighter than average weight or their physical appearance.

Gender bias: when one particular sex is treated more favorably than the other sex. This means that a person can receive better treatment in the form of hiring, getting promotions, or other work perks without involving harassment like quid pro quo.

Halo effect and Horn Effect bias: Halo effect: one outstanding quality or accomplishment takes precedence over any negative attributes the person may exhibit. The horns effect is the inverse of the halo effect. Rather than acknowledging and focusing on positive attributes, bias focus on a single negative characteristic.

The law does not differentiate between unconscious or conscious bias: discrimination is discrimination, whether intentional or not. We regularly see employees who believe they have been unfairly treated due to “Biases”.

Organizations embarking on Diversity and inclusion should sensitize their leaders and Managers on various “Biases” likely to be prevalent in the organizations.