Affinity bias3/11/2023 ![]() ![]() A good example of this in practice is PwC, who in 2016 announced that all new members of staff must take place in a ‘blind spot’ training session focused on unconscious bias training. Having an awareness and understanding that everyone is susceptible to bias as a part of human nature and acknowledging and identifying bias can help us to move past them. Increasing bias training in organisations can be an effective way to prevent unconscious bias from taking hold. Unfortunately, bias is a part of human nature, however we are in control of letting bias unfairly cloud our judgement. Simply removing the name of a candidate or their gender does not get to the crux of the issue which is that we should not have to remove somebodies’ gender or ethnicity to make them the right fit for the job. On the other hand, it could be argued that this is simply blanketing the issue as it eradicates the chance to acknowledge individual differences in our backgrounds, the diversity in our skills, celebrate these differences, and show how they can make someone a stronger candidate. This is an important asset to diversity hiring and blind and ungendered screening processes certainly have some visible benefits, namely the fact that there was a massive 40% increase in the hiring of ethnic minorities over white able-bodied men and that women are 25-46% more likely to be hired using blind applications. ![]() This can have benefits in that it seeks to remove any kind of bias (racial, gender, background, age, sexual orientation), and allows a level playing field of hiring based on performance and experience. How Do We Challenge Bias? ‘Blind Hiring’Ī potential way to shift the paradigm is blind hiring. Companies should train interviewers on how to avoid unconscious and affinity bias, how to open up an honest dialogue, and how to understand and appreciate the value of diversity. As such, self-awareness of bias in hiring can work towards an increasingly fair and equal hiring process. On affinity bias, Asif Sadiq Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion at Adidas writes that it exists to create a cultural fit rather than respecting that the candidate’s differences help the survival of business through diversity, innovation, and creativity. Builtin argues that to combat this, companies should look for a “cultural add rather than a cultural fit,” which is the idea that widening the candidate pool to people who can add value rather than simply fit the standardised mould and can be beneficial to the culture and success of a company. What is Affinity Bias in the Workplace?Īnother example of potential bias in the workplace is affinity bias in which companies hire the person they deem to be a cultural fit based on personal similarities in experience or background to the interviewee or hiring manager. On an individual level, Funke Abimbola a high-flying Nigerian lawyer and businesswomen spoke to the BBC recently about D&I and stated that she refused to change her African name despite believing that she missed job opportunities because of it. Simply a candidate’s name can unknowingly put them at a disadvantage. The applicants who had ‘white-sounding names’ were far more likely to receive a positive response over people with ‘BME sounding names.’ The applicants who appeared to be white typically received a positive response after sending nine applications with a 10.7% success rate, whilst applicants who appeared to be from BME backgrounds (who were equally qualified with the same amount of experience), only had a 6.2% success rate from 16 applications. For example, an in-depth study conducted by the UK Government examined applicant data from a group of candidates applying to a job. ![]() Unconscious bias is arguably the most dangerous form of bias as it often goes undetected. Or can be deep-rooted in gender and racial stereotypes that negatively label and group people based on assumption, rather than treating them like individuals. Unconscious bias happens as a result of prolonged exposure to negative portrayals of specific individuals in the media. To put this term unconscious bias into more context, research has found that when interview questions are not standardised the questions can be favourable to one specific group of people, which paves the way for inequality in hiring. What is Unconscious Bias in the Workplace? Whilst there are multiple forms of bias, arguably the most damaging biases to the hiring process are unconscious bias and affinity bias. Interview and candidate screening processes are extremely vulnerable to different forms of bias that can prevent from hiring certain candidates based on their race, appearance, background, or gender. The first and potentially most critical phase that needs an injection of diversity inclusivity is the hiring process itself. ![]()
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