How to Wage War Against Implicit Bias in the Workplace?

As a responsible employer, you likely do all within your power to make your employees feel safe, valued, respected and heard while they work under your leadership and direction. You probably hold team meetings to ensure everyone is on task and looked after. You prioritize mental health and put programs that work to do so. In more practical terms, you invest in comfortable ergonomic desk son shares to ensure that remote workers have the things they need to do their job efficiently and organize special events to boost office morale. You may want to wage war against implicit bias.

Being a good employer is no easy task, and she may feel overwhelmed at the prospect of everything you need to do to keep your business running smoothly and your staff working happily. The aspects we’ve discussed so far are obvious, even basic, Things that any reputable bus must offer to their employees. However, there are more inconspicuous and subtle things that you need to address if you truly want to be seen as a boss that takes the safety of their employees seriously. 

One of these hidden issues is that off-implicit bias in the workplace. This enemy of security and employee satisfaction can rare its undetectable head in any business of any industry. It’s a subtle but malicious Disease that can take hold and cause lasting and severe harm to your employees as individuals and also to your business. Therefore, you must know what this enemy is, understand the forms it takes and act to remove it effectively; it won’t be easy, but every effort you make will be sure to be worth it. 

What is Implicit Bias?

Let’s start by answering this simple question: what is implicit bias? Implicit bias is the idea of preconceived prejudices and ideas without intending to. While it is true that only a very few today act in an outrightly discriminatory way, the truth is that we all carry biases and prejudices whether we think we do or not. Unconsciously, people hold various attitudes, judgments, and prejudices about certain people. The source of these feelings is often unknown, and even the feelings may go unnoticed for a time; however, they are likely to become evident by means of a person’s actions. Even if a person acts on the implicit bias, they will likely not be able to identify the prejudice in that eats, and this is. The undetectable nature of this negative trait makes it all the harder to fight against.

How Can You Fight Wage War Against Implicit Bias?

With something as allusive as implicit bias, it is useful to be given examples of this quality and use them to understand it more fully and be able to identify it better in the future. Several examples of implicit bias in the workplace that you have been the victim of, or the unknowing perpetrator of, over the years. Here are three to name a few:

1. Bias due to gender. Due to the coverage, it has received on the news, and through social media, bias based on gender is a more well-known cause of prejudice. This bias refers to the unfair preference of one gender or another, and while it can happen to either gender, it’s more likely to happen to men. This means that when it comes to hiring new starters or choosing employees to promote, men are likely to have the upper hand even though their female counterpart has the same experience and qualifications. 
2. Similarity or affinity bias. It’s a fact of humanity that we prefer people that are more like ourselves. However, this tendency can lead to Co-workers choosing to spend more time with other employees who they share similarities with. While this may feel more natural, it makes it more difficult to connect with others and can leave some people feeling isolated and neglected. 
3. Bias due to age. Age bias refers to the tendency we have to have certain feelings about a person due to their age. Older people may have a hard time working for someone younger than them, assuming they are inexperienced and unqualified. On the other hand, younger employees may need help to view older new starters as capable, assuming that they won’t be able to pick up the skills they need in their new role.

So, what steps can you take to stand against implicit bias?

Acknowledge the Problem to Wage War Against Implicit Bias

Humbly acknowledge that implicit bias is a fact of life, something that we all need to be aware of and work on. If you pridefully issue, we don’t have a problem; you put yourself and your team in a dangerous position.

Educate, Educate, Educate

One vital step is to hold implicit bias training designed to help all members of staff identify and address areas of bias and to give them actionable steps that they can take to improve themselves. It helps team members to see the bigger picture and understand the full impact their actions can have on others that they work with. 

Use Professional Hirers

Hiring is one of the processes that will likely be affected by implicit bias. This being the case, it may be prudent to hire a professional hiring agency who are expert in creating a diverse group of candidates. The process will be thorough and completely unbiased and without prejudice. With this expert assistance, you will have a wide range of employees with varied and unique skill sets, which are bound to bring great benefits to your whole business. 

Create a Program of Accountability

Accountability can add a great deal of emphasis to any initiative, particularly regarding implicit bias. The problem that many businesses face is that even once old habits have been identified and addressed, it’s easy to slip into a former way of doing things that is inevitably influenced by implicit bias. Hence, creating an accountability program will make inclusion a topic that stays at the front of your employees’ minds to achieve a fair and diver working environment that is also sustainable. 

The war against implicit bias can be won!