Unconscious bias is part of human nature. It happens when people make snap judgments and form opinions about people and situations without realizing it. Unconscious bias in the workplace can negatively impact diversity and inclusion practices for recruiting, hiring and promotion.
Although all people have some form of unconscious bias, the tendency to have biases of different types can be mitigated.
Raising awareness
Dealing with biases begins with awareness of these biases both internally, such as by recognizing biases in oneself, and externally, such as organizational practices and individual actions.
When biases are truly unconscious, combating them begins with raising awareness of their existence. Once people become aware of these biases, they must confront them, and this helps them identify their mistakes.
Awareness training on this topic can begin to inspire behavior change. This type of training should give employees the opportunity to learn about unconscious biases, recognizing their own biases and dealing with them in day-to-day decision-making.
Eliminating biases
To eliminate unconscious biases, it is important to flag the types of biases that are likely to happen in the workplace. By providing proper awareness training and putting processes and structures in place that identify unconscious biases, organizations can take positive steps to minimize them as they can affect every aspect of the organization.
Failure to conduct such training risks failing to engage employees and so they will become participants in disempowering organisational processes. This can limit the impact of these efforts.
By labeling possible biases and bringing them to a conscious level, leaders and employees can become more aware of how these biases affect decision making, hiring, promotions, rewards, and organizational culture.
*This article is part of a research paper “Unconscious Biases – Types, Effects, Solutions”, which will be published in Volume 24 of the journal “Sofia University – Faculty of Economics”.
