All people are biased toward some things and against others. Believe it or not, even if you pride yourself on not evaluating people based on ethnicity, age, gender, sexual preference, physical and intellectual challenges, and other protected characteristics, everyone has deeply ingrained implicit biases on the subconscious level. Implicit bias plays a role in all social interactions, especially as far as businesses and other organizations are concerned. Fortunately, there are many ways to fight implicit biases. Here are a few.
Promote Anonymity in the Hiring Process
Although it might seem impersonal to obscure things from hiring managers when narrowing down applicants for important positions, doing so helps reduce implicit biases on an institutional level. One way that this is done is by only allowing hiring managers to assess applicants’ suitability for the positions at hand through a digital portal that automatically hides name, gender, and image from view.
Require Managers to Document Reasons for Hiring Decisions
Often, especially as far as experienced decision-makers are concerned, hiring managers claim to go with their “gut feeling” regarding whether to pass on or advance certain job candidates. Rather than allowing hiring managers to cite this reason in advancing or holding back candidates from entering further rounds of consideration, the companies they work for should require them to document real, concrete reasons for their judgments.
Talk About Biases
Rather than acting as if they don’t exist, members of organizations should, whenever appropriate, discuss implicit biases, their origins and merits, and whether they’re valid. Formal implicit bias training is another positive measure businesses can adopt toward reducing common social biases.
Implicit bias training is important for organizations to undergo on a holistic level. Although social biases may exist for many decades or centuries to come, companies can actively help to reduce their impact.
