Prejudice is a tendency for or against a person or group, especially in a way that is considered unfair. The subconscious mind can be wrong, it can make hasty decisions about people, categorizing them according to gender, race, age, sexual orientation and other characteristics.
Every person could contribute to the development of equality in their workplace. This process starts at the stage of hiring employees for the respective teams.
How to reduce bias during an interview?
To minimize the risk of unconscious bias in the interview process, HR professionals must be consistent. It is important that they are aware of their own biases. They must give all applicants the same information about the selection process.
They must remind themselves and others not to give in to prejudice. Examples of this are candidates with names that do not sound traditional, or when a disabled person or someone from a minority group is interviewed. In such cases, it is important to use open-ended questions to give all applicants the opportunity to demonstrate how well they meet each of the selection criteria. Later, it is good to continue the interview with questions that draw on their individual experiences. A recommendation for specialists is to keep records of the reasons for the candidate’s selection decisions after the interview.
At the interview, personal questions and conversations on topics outside of the interview questions should be limited.
How to avoid bias in a recruitment and selection situation?
Members of selection teams should be aware of their biases when reviewing resumes. It is important to set objective criteria to eliminate the potential for bias. HR professionals must be careful not to make assumptions related to age, qualifications, previous employer or name.
A proven feature of job applications is that when women apply for a particular job, they meet 100% of the criteria, while men would apply if they only mеet 60%.
Addictions occur at every level of the organization and can affect the full life cycle of an employee’s career in the organization from the recruitment process to how people leave the organization.
Only recruiting or inviting applicants from certain universities, not having different interview panels, and using different language to describe a group of employees are examples of unconscious bias in the workplace.
How to avoid bias in a work allocation situation?
Importance must be placed on how work is distributed among team members. One way is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the organization to identify areas where workplace bias can be mitigated. A plan to address potential concerns should then be actively implemented.
The next step is to track cross-industry diversity with a metric. The data often helps to identify potential areas for further investigation. A tip for companies’ HR teams is to conduct regular diversity and inclusion surveys to better understand concerns and challenges teams are facing.
Everyone’s contribution to the workplace
Everyone can actively contribute to creating a workplace where diversity matters. Any team can develop a sense that equality is taken seriously and that different views and ways of working are valued.
Managers should support or initiate projects that promote positive images and stereotypes of diversity. They can encourage others by validating them appropriately and consistently so that encouragement and criticism are not subconsciously driven by bias.
