The Diversity Day episode from the hit TV show, The office, was hilarious and
memorable for its fans across the globe. But the reality of the situation is actually very
harmful to many and goes a long way in creating a workspace that can be toxic and
unsafe for many people in the company. Michael Scott was a great boss in many ways.
He recognized that the employees are the backbone of an organization and taking care
of them was essential for a business to thrive and workers happy. But he chose a way
that was unnecessary and painful to watch. Likewise, toxic workspaces are created on
an everyday basis and people are stripped off opportunities they deserve because of a
phenomenon called the Implicit Bias.
These are thoughts and feelings that exist in us as the word suggests implicitly and
most of the time we are left unaware of the tendencies or preferences it causes us to
lean towards. In a situation where we need to be neutral or look at something equally,
we are biased towards one side. These biases are of various types. Some of them
include-
● Affinity Bias: The human nature in us that pushes us or inclines towards people
who look like us.
● The Halo Effect: The inclination or tendency to like a person because you think
they are a nice person.
● Ageism: Preferring someone who is of a similar age and at the same time
thinking negatively of someone solely based on their age or experience. This
factor or bias is clearly evident in workspaces where there are people of many
generations working together.
● Attribution Bias: Thinking that women are less competent or skillful than men at
performing the same task.
● Confirmation Bias- The inclination towards people who have the same beliefs as
you or validate/confirm your existing beliefs and opinions. This is very dangerous
when it comes to the hiring process if an interviewer lets this sway their opinion.
● Perception Bias: This is the tendency to form stereotypes or assumptions about a
group of people which effectively hinders your judgment when it comes to
deciding their perspective as you can not leave the preconceived notions behind
you.
The key to effectively reducing the number of situations your employees act on their
implicit bias is education. Giving employees quizzes or presenting situations where they
have to react to something or pick between two things and providing feedback is
something that would be very effective.
Another effective solution is establishing a mission statement that includes the
company’s motto on diversity and providing cultural awareness training that hopefully is
not as painstakingly tedious as they make it out to be in the office episode. Many bigsized US companies have started providing implicit bias training to their employees with
more than 75% pledging to mandate it in the near future. With companies like Starbucks
and Disney already making it compulsory for their employees to attend racial bias
training, the step towards educating people about implicit bias seems to be going well.
The first steps towards providing a better environment can be taken right from the hiring
and interview process itself. Firstly make sure the job postings are free of any
suggestive or masculine language as they could cause people to steer clear of your
organization. Make sure the job postings go on websites or platforms where a diverse
group of people are present and you are not just catering to one demographic. Avoid
partiality by not tending towards people you know of or have been recommended to you
by managers.
Script your interview questions in a way that you don't favor a group of people and
everyone is gauged equally. Develop a rubric that you can estimate every one’s
performance with but avoid using any indicators such as name, gender, race or age that
could cause any bias by the interviewers.
Provide your employees with implicit bias quizzes in order to estimate how they think
and assess what you can do to ensure they function well within the morals and
principles of the company. Then you can proceed to have one-on-one interviews with
the concerned employees and point out where they’re going wrong.
You can conduct one-on-one interviews providing feedback on performance and take
any suggestions that employees offer. If they seem feasible and beneficial they could be
enacted upon and the employee could be credited as well if they wish to do so.
In order to ensure the diversity in the office is respected, you can include posters and
decor that is not disrespectful to anyone and makes all the employees feel valued. In
company hoardings and the website pages include pictures of a diverse group of people
and not just one demographic which would veer off people.
In conclusion, as a human resource manager it is key that one understands that they
are the most important piece of the puzzle that is the reduction of implicit bias. It is
impossible to say that we can implicit bias completely but the effort to educate ourselves
against it can be done on a daily basis.