A Deep Dive into Unconscious Bias

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A Deep Dive into Unconscious Bias

By: Chinar Khalsa
Posted on: 14 Oct 2022

People tend to categorize or organize things to keep them simple and manageable. How we physically manage things is the same way our brain organizes or categorizes people in different buckets, often unconsciously, to ease the work. The categorization is based on previous experiences, likes or dislikes, prejudices, influences, and suggestions. This is what we call “unconscious bias.”

Biases can be classified broadly as Confirmation, Affinity, Attribution, Conformity, or Halo Effect. But I think it is beyond this because every brain has a distinct way of processing things. The unconscious is also called implicit or hidden because it’s outside of one’s conscious awareness and control. Most research studies suggest that people can act based on prejudice and stereotypes without intending to do so. It is essential to make a conscious effort to overcome our unconscious bias because, although we are unaware of the bias, it may affect our decision-making process.

Let’s look at some examples of bias that will help you understand and relate to your own experiences.

A luxury hotel in a metro city is looking for a front desk manager. The HR department interviews many viable candidates and shortlists a male candidate who graduated in 1985. The interview goes well; the candidate answers all the questions and has an excellent background in customer service. The profile is put on hold, and the HR team interviews the next candidate – a pretty-looking female. Compared to the senior candidate, her experience is quite average, but she’s the one who gets the offer. WHY? This situation falls under multiple categories – age bias, gender bias, and beauty bias.

A leading multinational company is hiring a C-level executive. When other CXOs from the company spread the word in their business networks, here’s what they say, “We are looking for a new COO and “HE” must be from The Ivy League. WHY? This is a classic case of gender bias in leadership roles. It’s also affinity bias because most of the company’s executive leaders have studied at Ivy League colleges.

Unconscious bias can be ignored if it’s at an individual level. However, bias in talent acquisition leaders or hiring managers may severely hinder their hiring goals. I recommend the three ‘A’s – a self-evaluation tool to identify and overcome your unconscious bias.

Analyze: Observe the pattern when we reject candidates; check your feedback. Are the reasons repetitive? We can ask our peers or team to give us feedback because they may perceive things differently.

Accept: We need to have the ability to accept our bias. It’s not wrong to have implicit bias; often, it’s an involuntary reaction. However, it certainly is harmful once our bias becomes explicit and we realize that we are biased but do not wish to change.

Address: Working on the bias involves a conscious effort. But it’s vital, so it does not interfere with our hiring decisions.

Not the ideal way to overcome our biases completely, but following the three ‘A’s will undoubtedly help.

As the Diversity SME at iPlace, I have assisted several clients in curbing unconscious bias within their hiring process and adapting best practices for achieving their diversity goals. Some hiring strategies include implementing effective ways to recruit diverse talent, utilizing blind hiring techniques, identifying ways to avoid losing talent due to unconscious bias, and understanding the importance of diversity at the leadership level.

We are just starting to address the challenges of building a diverse workspace. And I am keen on collaborating with like-minded individuals focused on making a difference. Let’s connect.

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1 Comment

Hashmita says:
Oct 14 2022 20:57
Very well articulated..People tend to distort,delete or generalise the information they are gathering. Unconscious biases lead to unwelcoming expirences and can tarnish the confidence of people involved resulting in less productivity.. You have hit very important point Chinar.. A good read.