Definition: What is Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias is when you make a quick judgement about people or situations without even realizing it. In context of HR, you often form these biases due to an influence of your background, personal experiences, or cultural differences. What you need to understand is that it might affect the way you hire people, promote employees, or treat them in general.
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To treat all your employees with justice and fairness, you need to be aware of your unconscious biases.
One surefire way to do it is to educate yourself about what these biases are, which, by the way, you’re already doing. So, that’s a good start.
The next thing you’d want to do is pay attention to your thoughts and examine your beliefs. It’ll help you know what your current assumptions for people are.
For instance, do you think a certain type of people would behave in a certain way because they belong to a particular location? If so, you might need to reconsider that it might not be the case and people are different despite coming from a similar background.
Common Types of Unconscious Bias
As we discussed, unconscious biases can impact decision-making in various aspects of life, including the workplace.
So, let’s go over each type of unconscious biases to help you quickly understand whether you’re making an informed decision or is it affected by any of your unconscious biases.
1. Affinity Bias: We tend to like and prefer people who are similar to us in terms of where we come from, what we’ve been through, or what we’re interested in.
2. Confirmation Bias: We have a habit of looking for, understanding, and remembering information in a way that supports what we already believe, often ignoring other points of view.
3. Halo Effect: If we generally think someone is great, we tend to see all of their specific qualities or actions in a positive light.
4. Gender Bias: Having preconceived ideas about how people of different genders should be treated or what they’re capable of.
5. Ageism: Stereotyping or treating people differently based on whether they are younger or older.
6. Stereotyping: Making guesses about people based on their race, ethnicity, religion, or other background factors.
7. Attribution Bias: We give ourselves credit for good things we do but blame outside factors for our mistakes.
8. Availability Bias: Relying on the first examples that come to mind, even if they might not be the most accurate or common.
9. Conformity Bias: Going along with what most people think or do, even if it goes against our personal beliefs.
10. Beauty Bias: Preferring people who we think are good-looking, which can affect decisions about hiring, promotions, and how we interact with others.
Examples of Unconscious Bias
Example of unconscious biases can be a lot, let’s say if you receive two identical resumes and prefer to get the job interview to an Indian sounding name like Karthik Sharma over a white-sounding name like Samantha Carlisle, it’ll be an unconscious bias.
How to manage unconscious bias?
To handle unconscious bias, you’ll need to educate yourself about it and use fair hiring practices and create an inclusive environment. Besides that, to manage the unconscious biases of others you’ll also need to encourage their learning about this topic and encourage everyone to question their assumptions about others.
How does unconscious bias differ from conscious bias?
Unconscious bias happens automatically without us realizing it, while conscious bias is when we knowingly have prejudiced beliefs or actions.
What are common types of unconscious biases?
Common types of unconscious biases include favouring people similar to us, searching for information that confirms our beliefs, and letting an overall positive impression affect how we see specific traits.
How can unconscious bias impact decision-making in the workplace?
Unconscious bias can lead to unfair treatment, affecting hiring and promotions, and making the workplace less equal.
What strategies can organizations use to mitigate unconscious bias?
Organizations can reduce unconscious bias by training people, having diverse hiring teams, using fair recruitment processes, offering mentorship, and promoting an inclusive culture.
How does unconscious bias affect diversity and inclusion efforts?
Unconscious bias can hurt efforts to have a diverse and inclusive workplace by creating barriers, limiting representation, and keeping unfair practices in place.