The day is observed to promote equality and non-discrimination, and to raise awareness of the negative impact of racism and racial discrimination on individuals and societies worldwide. It is an opportunity to reaffirm the commitment of the international community to eliminate all forms of racism and racial discrimination and to promote understanding, tolerance, and harmony among people of all races, cultures, and backgrounds.
Unconscious bias at work & recruitment
Unconscious bias is believed to be a major cause of discrimination which is still evident in the workplace (Forbes). It is described as an invisible yet persistent force in the workplace that can limit opportunities such as promotion and career advancement. For those employees impacted by such restrictions, this would have a direct and negative impact in allowing them reaching their full potential. Unconscious bias also creates an environment where meritocracy, fairness, and equality are not the norm.
Several ‘experiments’ have been undertaken to investigate and highlight bias within recruitment. Government civil servants sent almost 3000 job applications from English and Asian sounding names. The results were a ratio of 9:16; a positive invitation for a telephone or face to face interview for every 9 applications for the western name and a positive result in every 16 for others (Guardian). Likewise, Inside Out London conducted a similar experiment with the western CV name achieving 3 times the success of the Asian CV name (BBC).
One way to identify and address this bias in recruitment would be to remove bias identifying data from those recruiting; names, ages and elements of educational history from CV’s before handing to the team to select who they would like to interview. In addition to bias training which is becoming ever popular, by choosing candidates ‘anonymously’, HR can analyse their ‘average’ applicant and ‘interviewees‘ and compare that to the average hired applicant and the company’s demographics.
This method has potential to help both identify and change unconscious bias, as one of the best ways to alter deep rooted behaviours is to address them. By interviewing the right skilled applicant, interviewers use the same questions to help compare candidates fairly. By interviewing people from cultures who normally do not even make interviews, your experience and interaction with people from these backgrounds adapt to meet your experience, hence the change by education and life experience.
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Ensuring that employers are paid at their level of experience, and within defined pay-scale bands can also help prevent wage gaps, ensuring staff are happier, reduce churn when similar jobs elsewhere are paying more, and promote a healthier organisational culture. Some organisations are being proactive, analysing their staff pay and making alignments, rather than ignoring the issue. Larger companies already report their pay gap and this in time is expected to be further expanded to include minorities.
Companies trying to treat people fairly now are promoting themselves as positive places to work. Which would you rather work for? An organisation that looks to be fair and listen or not?
These are just a couple of easy and very obvious suggestions to help inequality by ensuring the right people get interviewed. The whole issue of gender or racial bias is something companies need to understand they need to address. For younger generations, your name may not even be such an identifying feature. In recent years we have seen a movement towards gender fluidity, which for the younger generation will be something they will expect to be accepted as a norm in society. This would render the whole idea of gender or name bias as very much out of date.
By considering those you already have in the business, by encouraging open dialogue and policies that both address bias and ensure pay equality, we will ensure the best for our businesses and people. This increased respect for different perspectives is essential if we are to create a fair and equitable workplace.
To know more on how to address and resolve the unconscious bias in recruitment and compensation, get in touch with our HR & payroll experts.