As part of their commitment to fostering a diverse and inclusive work environment, many companies strive to confront and address unconscious bias. Unconscious bias refers to harmful and misleading stereotypes about individuals who are perceived to be different based on factors like race, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability. These biases may lead to negative outcomes for affected individuals in a workplace setting, such as alienation, diminished self-esteem and confidence, disengagement and increased stress levels. It can even influence their decision to resign from their jobs.
However, the principle of raising awareness about unconscious bias, though crucial, is not sufficient by itself. Studies, including an analysis of 490 research pieces involving 800,000 participants by psychologist Patrick Forscher and his team, demonstrated that unconscious bias training alone does not alter behaviour. A separate study of over 700 firms conducted by US academicians Alexandra Kalev, Frank Dobbin and Erin Kelly, took this a step further, revealing that these training initiatives often reduced the potential for career progression for black men and women.
Ironically, the mitigation of unconscious bias training can unwittingly aggravate the issue at hand. According to Dr Celine Mullins, a psychologist and leadership trainer, when people are shown that all of us hold some form of unconscious bias, it can inadvertently cause validation of such biases. Therefore, the main focus should lie in implementing a structured system built to modify attitudes and behaviours.
She explains, “Because it’s about unconscious bias, it is important to establish procedures to minimise such bias to the greatest extent possible. Creating a culture of psychological safety, allowing people to voice out, is key. Otherwise, it simply reduces to a pointless procedure-checking exercise.”
The top-ranking officials in the organisation need to instil a standard regarding company culture and practise. It’s important that everyone is aware of the company’s efforts in this regard and its significance.
Moira Grassick, COO at Peninsula Ireland, a company offering training in this domain, stresses that an effective unconscious bias training programme should include detailed insights about the concept, explain its legal consequences and offer tips to recognise and tackle personal biases. Part of this training should be making participants aware of the potential harm caused by making assumptions or decisions based on prejudice.
Grassick emphasises the importance of a comprehensive and well-executed training program in ensuring adoption of ethical practices, and indicates measurable outcomes. She points out that the most notable impact of an effective unconscious bias training programme is minimising bias in the workplace, which consequently provides an assurance that all staff members are safe from prejudiced treatment. Grassick argues that if employees can spot and avert unconscious bias, it makes the organisation less susceptible to tribunal litigations, pecuniary penalties and damage to its reputation resulting from contentious or prejudiced behaviour.
She mentions one of the most important applications of unconscious bias training is found in the recruitment process. Companies are required to confirm their recruiters are free from bias, and job candidates are legally entitled to protection, Mary Connaughton, the Director of CIPD Ireland, states. She highlights an increasing segment of the workforce nowadays consists of individuals from a variety of backgrounds, which is a departure from the norm.
Connaughton stresses the necessity of conducting unconscious bias training in close proximity to interview periods, stating that even if a company believes the training has been done, it needs refreshing. She suggests this training should be incorporated into a larger examination process, where the demographics of job applicants, their success rate in the recruitment process and their retention rate in the company are evaluated.
Moreover, Grassick states her company has observed firms executing a variety of strategies to circumvent unconscious bias in the process of recruitment. She gives the example of blind CVs, which are now practiced by some companies. This means recruitment managers are prevented from seeing any information not relevant to the professional competencies of the applicant such as age, gender or ethnicity. Additionally, many firms are now consciously aiming to have diverse recruitment panels to keep unconscious bias from influencing hiring decisions.
One crucial discussion conducted around this subject is whether it should be obligatory to undergo unconscious bias training. There are experts who suggest that voluntary involvement might only attract those who are already aware of these issues. Nevertheless, others propose that obligatory policies might merely induce a box-ticking exercise.
Mullins theorizes that it depends on the importance given to this issue by each organisation. He suggests if the organisation views unconscious bias as a significant issue, integrating it into other areas like recruitment, induction, learning and promotion, then mandatory training would be suitable. But an occasional approach might inflict more harm than good.