According to Harvard Business Review, companies have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in diversity initiatives, yet roughly 85% of board members and executives are still white men. Despite our best intentions, unconscious biases make people reluctant to go against the status quo still exist.

One study looked at these biases in both controlled and real-world scenarios and found that the diversity of a candidate pool had a massive impact on the final selection.

You may think this is a basic probability, but the numbers suggest otherwise.

If you have four candidates considered when hiring for one role:

  1. If 3 out of 4 are diverse, you have a 60% chance of achieving a diversity hire.
  2. If 2 out of the 4 are diverse, you have a 50% chance.
  3. If you have only 1 out of 4, you have a 0% chance of hiring diversity.

Hiring managers need to know that presenting only one woman or minority as consideration for a position might be futile if the diversity of the team is the goal. But if they can change the status quo of the finalist pool by simply including two diverse candidates, then diversity has a fighting chance.

Review of your hiring processes to eliminate bias will also advance diversity in your team. One study resulted in a change of hiring methods of many orchestras that now conduct blind auditions where the evaluators cannot see the race or gender of potential candidates, leading to more diverse talent. Another study identified significant bias of (diverse and non-diverse) law firms partners who review candidate’s writing sample, which was actually the same legal memoranda of diverse and non-diverse lawyers with the name changed to appear to be a white candidate and others a black candidate. The difference in grading simply based on the perception of someone’s race led to more aggressive remarks and much lower grades for black candidates on average than white candidates. This study has led to many legal organizations removing names from candidates’ writing samples and other materials to prevent bias in hiring, which has opened the door to improved diversity in the legal field. And another study showed that persons of color and female names on resumes were less likely to receive an interview than white male candidates even though the resume was the same.

Unfortunately, the recruitment process is ripe for unconscious bias.  We tell hiring managers to “trust their gut,” meaning make the decision based on intuition. Hardly a fair approach to hiring talented candidates.

But, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know biases exist.

There are many different types of biases that can play a role in hiring and ongoing career decisions. Below are some common biases and opportunities[1]:

  • 1. Affinity Bias. Refers to our tendency to gravitate toward people like ourselves, leading to hiring or promoting individuals who are most like us—for example, the same race, gender, age, or educational background.

Opportunity: Be aware of your biases and look beyond the affinity to see core skills. It’s essential to ensure candidate slates for open positions include qualified women and people from other underrepresented racial/ethnic groups.

  • 2. The “isms” such as ageism, racism, sexism. Discrimination based on age, race, or sex occurs all too often and, unfortunately, impacts women more than men, and ageism can happen to the young and the old.

Opportunity: Remove information from job descriptions and web copy that infer a particular demographic group such as age, race, gender, and sexual orientation.

  • 3. Beauty Bias. Making decisions about someone based on how attractive they are is a form of bias we don’t consider enough. Those perceived as more attractive are viewed more favorably and reap the benefits of that perception. It can have a reverse effect too. Those considered attractive can be recipients of others believing they didn’t earn their position and only achieved success based on their looks. Or even assume an attractive individual isn’t intelligent.

Opportunity: Be aware of any preconceived notions during the hiring process, promotion opportunities, or project assignments. Instead, focus on their experience, successes, and capabilities, not how they look. Consider how you’d feel about this candidate if thinner or more/less attractive.

  • 4. Conformity Bias. When your opinion is influenced by the ideas of others, whether it’s a co-worker or leader.

Opportunity: Consider using structured interviews and having each interviewer’s singular opinion come back to the decision-maker separately and without sharing it across the other interviewers.  

  • 5. The Contrast Effect. Comparing one person’s performance to another when you experienced the individuals in close succession. The problem with this bias is that it removes the ability to assess an individual based on their collective strengths and skills. If you look at each person as a unique talent, you can see their distinctive value more clearly.

Opportunity: If you find yourself comparing two people during the hiring process, write down why you lean toward one over the other. Ensure your assessment is of the individual, not in comparison to one another. Try looking at an individual in their entirety and what they can bring to the role.

  • 6. Name Bias. Judging a person based on their name and resulting perceived background happens all too often. Whether that name reveals gender, race, or something else, there is an immediate judgment placed, and usually, it’s negative and sways the hiring process.

Opportunity: Take the bold step by removing candidates’ names from resumes to ensure you and other hiring managers choose people based on their skills and experience, not a preconceived idea of their identity.

Consider a New Approach to Your Hiring Strategy

Now that you have an idea of just some of the unconscious biases that permeate the recruiting and promotion processes, it’s vital to know the steps to eliminate them. We outlined opportunities within each, but at the very most, these five strategies can dramatically improve your diversity hiring success rate.

Blind Resume Review

Consider assigning someone who will not be on the hiring committee to remove biased language from the resumes and portfolios [china pen or adobe redacts]. This language includes anything that highlights gender, race, religion, or any other diversity identifiers before providing them to the hiring committee members.

Consistent Standard Questioning

This approach may feel counterintuitive to some who have interviewed candidates for years. There is a tendency to personalize an interview by getting to know them with a few leading questions and seeing where the conversation goes. But it’s essential to use the same questions for every candidate and in the same order. This consistency allows for the same consideration for each candidate.

Blind Writing Samples

Much like the blind resumes and cover letters, it’s also necessary to take the same care with any writing samples you may have required of a candidate. While it’s less likely to find some of the same identifiers, there could be some or even language use, spelling, or cultural indicators in writing that give away a candidate’s background.

Isolated Feedback Channel

We talked about this above in conformity bias. Still, it’s essential to create suitable mechanisms and platforms so a consistent protocol follows. Provide the proper channel for committee members in charge of hiring to give their feedback individually instead of in front of a group to avoid any swayed influence.

Remove/Replace Visual and Verbal Cues

This strategy might require a bit more work on your part but is vital to unbiased hiring. As you assess the end-to-end hiring process, locate any digital signifiers which give away someone’s identity. Instead, try using avatars and different voices to remove those identifiers.

Diversity in the workplace brings different perspectives, fresh ideas, innovation, and financial success. The organization benefits, but so do the people that make up the workforce. We learn from each other and expand our capacity and future possibilities. Eliminating unconscious bias from practices such as hiring, performance reviews, promotions, and project placement opens the door to engaged employees, increased retention, client satisfaction, and future business growth. Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way.

Other Resources on Unconscious Bias:

[1] Credit to Catalyst, a global non-profit focused on accelerating progress for women through workplace inclusion, as the resource and genesis for many of these ideas. See Catalyst’s full article cited above.

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