Implicit Bias Training Cost: What You Should Consider

Implicit bias training costs approximately between $2000 to $6000, based on the length of course and topics covered.

Implicit bias: An overview 

Implicit bias at the workplace means the unconscious discrimination that an employee might encounter in their organization. Also, to curb the existence of this prejudice among the workforce, companies usually spend on implicit bias training workshops and programs. 

Furthermore, the objective of these implicit bias training programs is to enlighten the employees of an organization regarding specific hidden prejudices that they may own towards their colleagues. Being an extended arm of diversity and inclusion workplace training, an individual participating in this training program will be able to determine underlying biases or opinions that they might have towards another individual. Some of the most prevalent types of implicit biases in a workplace are as follows:

• Affinity Bias

Affinity bias usually occurs when individuals favour people identical to them in some manner since they believe them quicker to interact and befriend and more compatible. 

It could be due to mutual likes, pursuits or shared attributes like geographic location or ethnic backgrounds. However, note that this affinity bias could lead individuals to believe that somebody is not qualified or suitable for a job position since they have a different ethnicity or experience. 

• Conformity Bias

Conformity bias refers to a tendency to make decisions based on the choice of others instead of following personal preferences. 

Maintaining a considerable team and encouraging them to voice their feelings courageously concerns bringing a broad range of understanding and expertise to the table, allowing even more innovative and well-considered ideas to arise. Therefore, it is crucial to ensure that employees do not feel compelled to conform to other points of view.

• Attribution Bias

Attribution bias relates to how individuals interpret their personal and others' behaviour. They like to compare their accomplishments on their capabilities and missteps on occurrences beyond their control. On the contrary, people tend to correlate other achievements to fortune and incompetence to a lack of aptitude. It can point to differences in hiring and performance evaluations.

• Gender Bias

Gender bias is one of the most extensively discussed and estimated types of prejudice in the organization, and it can lead to discriminatory expenses for owners and the workforce. Gender prejudice can set itself at the workplace in different aspects, such as male applicants getting hired for a physically laborious job or female employees getting less pay than men even in lower positions. 

• Halo effect

The halo effect is another significant implicit bias type when one attribute of an individual or thing gets employed to form an overall judgement of that individual or item. One instance of this can be the judgement that a fine-looking someone in their picture would also be a good individual in real life. 

This perception is usually formed by a person's choices, biases, principles, and social perception.

The primary problem with the halo effect is that it can lead to discrepancies in how workers are treated based on little knowledge. Also, from performance assessments to hiring candidates, the halo effect can drastically transform how someone considers a person.

Top tips for an effective implicit bias training 

Implicit bias, whether real or perceived, impacts company performance. Also, according to research, a lack of implicit bias training can cost U.S. businesses approximately $450 billion to $550 billion per year. 

Therefore, it becomes crucial for every organization to keep aside some funds for implicit bias training to ensure they never spend a hefty sum on managing the repercussions of lack of implicit bias training. However, conducting implicit bias training can be challenging for many companies as it can question lifelong ideas and influences people to explore and own up to their prejudices. 

So, to ensure that your implicit bias workplace training never does more harm than good, below are some tips for creating effective implicit bias training. 

• Plan your implicit bias training carefully.

It is crucial to ensure that your employees comprehend what is implicit bias training before attending the training session. Therefore, it is better to provide factual information and reading resources to the attendees that will help them equip themselves for the training session. 

Also, as some participants will inevitably be suspicious, distrustful or uninformed, it is prudent to explain to them in advance what implicit bias is, where it suits your company's diversity and inclusion approach and why the training is taking place. 

Moreover, business administrators must likewise consider delivering implicit bias training to a group of employees who operate closely together. It facilitates organizational teams or individuals who perform similar roles to share problems and solve issues collectively. In addition, building a secure workplace and time for employees to mirror these learnings before, during and after implicit bias training can make a significant difference. 

• Target all departments

For a long time, implicit bias training was only applicable to the human resources department and the recruitment team. It is because ths was the most prominent occurrence. Nevertheless, it soon became evident that prejudices are present in almost every organizational department.

Thus, the strategies that a company may implement post implicit bias training must apply to every business team. One way of assuring that every department remain free from implicit bias is to have an inclusive leadership in your organization. 

• Increase interaction

Another characteristic to look for in an implicit bias training program includes communication. An organization may look to participate in an implicit bias training program simply because they require to meet a specific quota or order put forward by the state.

So, to enhance the engagement with your workforce and set a better example, the training program should have more communication overall. It can include conversation in smaller groups and other exercises. 

• Revive your employment approach

To ensure that implicit biases do not adversely affect your hiring choices, you must review and reestablish your employment approach. For example, various studies indicate that some phrases or expressions in job descriptions can prevent women applicants from applying for a specific job role. 

Hence, you must guarantee to update all the job specifications to attract a more expansive pool of job applicants. In addition, you must likewise ensure to employ individuals only on their excellence and not by glancing at their name or ethnicity. 

So, it is better to consider supplying applicants with sample projects to comprehend their problem-solving techniques and work contributions. Ultimately, organize the interview process, as chaotic interviews lead to poor hiring decisions.

The bottom line 

In a nutshell, implicit bias training has become a vital part of every company where business owners must follow up on implicit bias training sessions with a debrief session. Also, these debrief sessions usually ingrain attention and increase education of implicit bias to gauge any changes in prejudice. 

With this, employees can feel inspired to research and consult their ideas and come to terms with what they have found from their implicit bias training. Therefore, companies should look for an implicit bias training program that does not burn a hole in their pockets and also remain efficient in mitigating unconscious biases.