Unconscious Bias Narrows Your Hiring Pool and Reduces Diversity – Find Out How to Fix It

Intentional and unconscious biases can make it challenging to promote diversity and inclusion at work. These biases can have severe consequences for both the individual employee and the company's success.

Inclusion and diversity are hot topics. Companies are committed to eliminating discrimination in the hiring process.

Blind resume screening

Hiring managers can remove addresses and names from candidate resumes in order to eliminate unconscious biases about gender, race and/or social-economic status. Large companies like Google use this tactic. This strategy is also used by large companies like Google and HackerRank, which use blind programming challenges to screen candidates for technical skills.

Focus on groups can be a great way to get your point across

Cerra and Nukk Freeman agree that focus groups are a great method of identifying unconscious biases in the workplace. You should ensure that everyone is represented by the focus group.

The Project Implicit at Harvard University offers several Implicit Association Tests. These tests assess an individual's implicit associations and help determine whether they think they are "good" or "bad" with certain concepts, terms, or constructs. These tests cover all aspects of life, including careers and weight. It allows you to determine whether certain things are "good" or "bad", then it can also measure your bias towards certain items.

Include unconscious bias training in your anti-harassment and discrimination training

Your organization likely has anti-harassment and discrimination training. These programs tend to focus on the more obvious and blatant forms of discrimination. Cerra and Nukk freeman both state that unconscious bias awareness training is a great way to help employees understand their personal and cultural beliefs. These beliefs are often the root of harassment and discrimination complaints. 

Metrics can be used to identify biases in retention or hiring.

It's impossible to improve something you don't measure. It is possible to identify the strengths and weaknesses of your organization by measuring how many candidates applied for jobs, were accepted and have been successful six months later.

1. Our data shows that hiring decisions can be affected by the gendered language used in job postings. You can attract more women to work for your company by posting job openings.
2. Use stereotype-busting imagery in your company's internal and external materials.

Cerra & Nukk-Freeman recommend your company's website, newsletters, and marketing materials reflect the diversity within your workforce.

This should be a company-wide initiative that includes job descriptions and emails, as well as marketing collateral and sales collateral. Textio's Snyder states that all materials you distribute should reflect your commitment to diversity.

What does unconscious bias in recruitment mean?

1. Unconscious bias refers to when your first impressions of candidates are all that you have. A candidate could be selected over another because they seem like someone you would feel at home with.
2. Even early in hiring, your subconscious bias may make a difference. Unconscious bias, whether positive or negative, can affect your decision.

Develop inclusive hiring practices

Hiring is the first step in creating a safe and equitable workplace. We have solutions that support inclusion and diversity at every stage of the hiring process.

"A man and woman enter the room silently, never speaking. The woman follows the man with her eyes slightly down. The man is wearing shoes, and the woman is naked. The man sits on a chair, and then the woman is placed next to him on the floor. The man behaves as if he were eating from a bowl. The woman then takes the bowl and begins to eat it. The man then places his hand directly above the woman's head after she has finished. He seems to be pushing her head upwards and downwards. His hand does not touch her head. The man stands up, and the woman follows.

The video was then shown to the viewers. They were asked to describe the experience using phrases like subservience,' male dominance,' and 'gender inequalities'.

"The Earth and the woman are sacred and highly revered in the culture you have just seen. The Earth and the woman are so sacred that she can touch them with her feet and sit on them. Only men can experience the Earth through women. It is the man's responsibility to ensure that his wife is safe from poisonous foods. He will die first if the food is poisoned. He is also expected to keep her safe by walking in front of any attackers to avoid them. 

Based on what we believe we know, past experiences, and personal preferences, we make assumptions. These assumptions are then followed up with actions. Matt gives an example of a situation in which these assumptions are followed by actions.

Does it make sense to choose people who are compatible with your culture? It is also possible to choose people you feel you will get along well with. Sometimes, yes. Sometimes, yes.

Unconscious bias could cost you money or talent.

Biased hiring can result in fewer diverse teams. If there's less diversity in your workforce, it can lead to lower productivity and lower revenue.

He adds, however:

"We don't have to present the business case against diversity anymore."

It is not enough to attempt to reduce unconscious bias in the selection of candidates. In situations of shortages or skill gaps, you must reduce bias in the way that talent is found.

You want to diversify your team and diversify the hiring process. You can expand your search for qualified candidates and reach more people than you would if you used your usual strategy to hire.

Matt stated that people have difficulty finding talent in the same way as they used to. They need to be more creative in finding the right skills for their company.

It is possible to remove any barriers and start looking for candidates with non-traditional backgrounds. Matt's podcast episode featured Dominie Moss, The Return hub talking about untapped talent. It brings us back to assumptions: People who are seeking to change careers or have taken a career stop can be unfairly judged. This could lead to us losing great candidates.

"I believe companies who understand this are more likely than their competitors to succeed. Matt believes that it is important to be able to take action and make an impact.

How can you eliminate unconscious bias during the hiring process?

It is crucial to recognize our biases. Matt admits that not all biases can be eliminated, but it is important to raise awareness and help people make better hiring decisions.

Bias could be found everywhere.

Unconscious bias is a common feature in recruitment, especially during the resume screening phase. This is when we determine whether to accept or deny candidates based on their proximity to our ideal candidate.

Unconscious biases are not only something we should be aware of at this stage. Even if we decide to hire someone even though they don't feel right for the job at the time, that initial impression will haunt us throughout the hiring process. It is possible that we will disqualify them later.

Every stage of the recruitment process must be examined, starting with how we recruit and ending with the time that they join our company. Matt elaborates on this by pointing to a company that was having trouble hiring women employees. Instead of being unable to recruit women, they found that men were more likely to accept job opportunities than women.

When they conducted their research, they discovered that many people did not like the company. These reviews weren't known to HR, so they weren't addressed. Job seekers often review reviews on Glassdoor, Indeed and other sites before accepting a job.

That was the one thing that caused the problems in their recruitment process. They wouldn't have known that they were missing something if they hadn't looked at the entire recruitment process to find the gaps.

 Why it is crucial to monitor your recruitment process and collect data to determine where biases are.

Are you referring to the number of applications received? Do you notice that people leave your company after being hired?

Technology's role in increasing diversity

Matt believes technology may be able to solve the problem. Tools can be used to hide applicants' photos. Tools can be used to post job advertisements on multiple sites automatically, which will allow you to reach more applicants in the most unlikely places. Recent trends include anonymizing certain parts of the hiring process.

Matt spoke with Penguin Random House for one episode, and they discussed their entire recruitment campaign without ever seeing any resumes.

Matt claims that they did not ask about their backgrounds, names, or ages. They forced them to complete a written assignment. This was doable for everyone. The shortlisted candidates were only met at the end. The final interview. They were not sure who was coming through. They were able to recruit people who would not have been able to go through traditional recruitment. They found it extremely useful.

Technology cannot solve all problems. Matt discussed recently how AI could be used for more objective hiring procedures, as well as how it is linked with the human factor.

"Can technology create unconscious biases when it comes to recruitment? Are they making it worse? This will be a debate that we'll continue having for many years

Reducing unconscious bias in recruitment

Matt suggests that we should not rely on new technologies but instead think about ways to improve ourselves. Matt cites a particular company that had a problem. Their business had no women in top positions. They set out to correct this problem by discovering unconscious biases in the way hiring managers select people.

This was not an issue technology could fix. Instead, they ran a series of workshops and courses to bring this issue into focus.

Matt provides another perspective: Eliminating unconscious bias doesn't have to be a separate goal from your business goals. It is important that you think about your goals and the steps you will take to get there.

Companies must rethink the way they evaluate employees. What skills, experience, or competencies are necessary for this job? We might be able to hire people with very different skills and experiences if we are open-minded about finding these competencies.

It's important that businesses reflect the community in which they're located.

Sources: 

https://resources.workable.com/stories-and-insights/unconscious-bias-in-recruitment#

https://www.cio.com/article/236467/5-ways-to-reduce-bias-in-your-hiring-practices.html