What Is Implicit Bias In The Workplace?

Implicit bias in the workplace is a subconscious predisposition that may influence your view based on facts or prior experiences at work. These biases may have a detrimental impact on businesses, for example, during the recruiting process when managers examine different prospects or when certain employees are treated differently than others.

Reasons Why Implicit Bias Exist

Implicit biases arise from a human desire to analyze a large amount of data fast in favor of making quick judgments. The brain employs conveniences to find connections among bits of information to digest it more quickly. Unfortunately, these shortcuts frequently result in detrimental preconceptions when applied to humans. Letting implicit biases and unfavorable preconceptions flow freely in the workplace is dangerous and will almost certainly limit the workforce's diversity.

Types of Implicit Biases that could be Present at the Workplace

Because these biases are implicit by nature, many individuals do not realize they are biased. However, implicit bias may be detected scientifically using implicit association tests. Over 150 cognitive implicit biases exist; however, some are more significant in the job. Consider the following biases:

1. Ageism

The perception that senior workers aren't as capable or effective of executing a task as younger ones is the basis for age discrimination. This notion may arise from the view that an employee's age is linked to their job talents, knowledge, or competence. The bias favors young staff.

2. Conformity Bias

Conformity bias is comparable to peer pressure in that a group's view can influence another person's opinion or decision-making. During meetings and other team events, implicit bias is most prevalent. Members of a team, for example, might impact another person's perspective, affecting the team's behavior or actions as a whole.

3. Affinity Bias

The concept of affinity bias is founded on the assumption that individuals are naturally inclined to like those who are comparable to them. These similarities might be based on age, ethnicity, gender, and other factors. The most prevalent instance of affinity bias occurs during interviews. If implicit bias has an impact on whether or not certain individuals are recruited, it can result in a less diverse workplace.

4. Gender Bias

When one sex is viewed more favorably than the other, this is known as gender bias. This implies that an employee can enjoy a better treatment at work in terms of hiring, promotions, and other rewards without dealing with harassment or quid pro quo.

Women are disproportionately affected by gender bias. Despite their equal ability, women are often viewed less favorably than males, resulting in a gender imbalance in the workplace.

5. Name Bias

When a person draws hasty generalizations about another person purely based on their name, this is known as name bias. Implicit cues regarding a person's race or gender might be found in their name. This can negatively impact the recruiting process since it creates additional biases based on a person's name. When reviewing resumes throughout the employment process, name bias is most prevalent.

Key Features of Implicit Biases

• Both implicit and explicit biases are mental entities that are similar yet separate. They aren't mutually exclusive, and they may even complement one another.
• Our implicit connections do not always correspond to our stated opinions or even represent positions we would expressly support.
• We tend to have implicit biases that benefit our in-group, yet evidence has depicted that we may also have hidden biases that are harmful to our in-group.
• Implicit biases can be changed.
• Our brains are immensely sophisticated, and using several debasing strategies, we may progressively unlearn the implicit connections we've created.
• Implicit biases are all around us. Even those with stated vows to impartiality, such as judges, have them.

Consequences of Implicit Bias at Work

• Implicit Biases can Lead to Inequitable Outcomes

Implicit biases can harm a team's performance. If leadership is influenced by an uncontrolled implicit bias, for example, employees who are impacted by such bias may face unfair benefits or disadvantages. The disadvantage is that certain workers will be treated unfairly even though their job performance is not taken into account. This can hurt team morale and drive people away from the company.

• Biases Prevent Workplace Diversity and Culture

The responsibility for creating a healthy and productive workplace rests with the company's leaders. Diversity and culture are important aspects of creating a healthy workplace. Implicit biases impact individuals' behavior, making it difficult for people of different cultures to work together. It's crucial to remember that everyone is different and that in a dynamic work atmosphere, various minds bring distinct and fresh insights.

Ways to Identify and Address Implicit Bias

So, how does a business deal with implicit bias? Because it is implicit by nature, it poses challenges because it may be difficult to detect.

These techniques should be considered by businesses that aim to address or avoid implicit biases:

• Find out what is implicit bias and how to avoid them

Making sure everyone in your business is aware of implicit biases is the first step toward decreasing their influence. Implicit bias awareness programs would be the first step in overcoming it since it enables employees to know that they all have biases and to recognize their own.

• Determine how biases are likely to harm your business

Biases tend to influence who is employed, promoted, raises, and what sort of job they get, among other factors. Identifying where bias is still most likely to occur allows you to take efforts to guarantee that biases are taken into account when making key judgments in those areas.

• Create workplace policies and procedures

Implicit bias becomes more difficult to introduce when processes for handling resumes and conducting performance reviews are established. Developing a set of questionnaires for all applicants, for example, can assist to avoid implicit biases. Similarly, to ensure neutrality, performance appraisals might be performed by a group.

• Encourage employees to bring up any biases they may have

Implicit biases are less likely to harm an organization the more individuals participate in a decision and more accessible the decision-making process is. Develop a culture that values open communication. Employees will be less hesitant to speak out and correct the record if they suspect a decision has been impacted by implicit biases.

• Raising awareness in the workplace is a good way to start

Employees can analyze themselves throughout training to discover whether they're succumbing to their implicit biases. Workers are taught how to recognize hidden biases and how to combat them when making judgments through education. 

Google, for example, developed implicit bias training for its own 60,000 workers to raise awareness about implicit bias and foster a diverse workplace. Google isn't the only company attempting to combat latent biases. According to a study published in The Wall Street Journal, 20% of big U.S. companies are teaching their staff implicit bias.

Final Thoughts

Implicit bias in the workplace can have a detrimental influence on recruiting and promotion decisions. Businesses that wish to counteract it should spend in training and creating workplace norms to prevent implicit bias from creeping in. Business owners may give tools to their staff, such as training, to help them become more conscious of implicit bias. Fortunately, there are expert services that can help businesses overcome implicit bias.