Unconscious Bias in The Workplace: How to Identify It + 12 Practical Ways to Tackle

Unconscious bias in the workplace can be hard to put your finger on unless you have clear-cut evidence that screams out there's a problem. 

Take recent performance review data from The New York Times, which highlights that not a single black employee received the highest employee evaluation rating during 2020. Perhaps unsurprisingly, 90% of the 50 employees to hit this top-level were white. 

Digging deeper into the performance review history reveals that people of color have consistently received lower ratings than white people throughout the years. 

So, what's going on? Why are companies failing to recognize the achievements of their diverse workforce and reward them accordingly?

The answer often comes down to unconscious bias. This guide will unravel how extensive these implicit biases are, the damage they can cause, and what we can collectively do to identify and eliminate them in the workplace.

☹️ What is unconscious bias?

Unconscious bias happens when we have preconceived ideas about a person or group of people without realizing it. And we might allow our negative attitudes, feelings, stereotypes, or beliefs to affect our judgment of others. Often, this isn't our fault.

Our brains receive as much as 11 million pieces of information each second. So bias is nature's way of making sense of overwhelming amounts of data to get us safely through the day.

Research from the University of British Columbia suggests this doesn't start at birth. Babies don't negatively associate with unfamiliar groups or races. Negative and positive biases can form as early as the age of 3 or 4 years old. They develop further as they become strengthened by friendship groups, entertainment, and even media reports. And some of our biases may even become deep-seated. 

While we can't be responsible for the involuntary way our brain categorizes information, we can be aware that unconscious bias exists. So then, once we acknowledge bias, we need to start taking steps to prevent it from influencing our decisions.

🏢 4 Ways implicit biases affect the workplace

Unconscious biases might seem harmless enough if they happen in our subconscious and don't translate into blatant prejudice. But the problem is, they do! And there are some pretty ugly results when we bring bias into the workplace. 

1. Creating unfair disadvantages

Unconscious biases can prevent qualified employees from getting hired, promoted, or fairly compensated. 

2. Preventing diversity and culture acceleration

Economic Geography research proves that companies with diverse teams are more successful. Yet, many organizations continue to battle against a lack of diversity. 

💡 Check out 32 ways to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace. 

3. Affecting team dynamics and decision-making

Unconscious bias also influences how we interact with and make decisions about our colleagues. 

4. Preventing effective succession planning

Companies need the strongest line-up of candidates ready to take the reins in the C-suite and other key positions. 

But if unconscious bias has infiltrated your succession planning decisions, you may not accurately pinpoint the best successors. 

🕖 When do unconscious biases happen most? 

There are specific moments when we might be more susceptible to letting bias shape our judgment. And these will likely have the most impact on employee experience or even their overall career.

For example: 

• Recruitment: a hiring panel may overlook talented candidates due to bias. 
• Interview process: interviewers may ask leading questions to elicit a particular response.
• Onboarding: new hires may feel like they need to assimilate into a "norm" to fit in. 
• Feedback: managers may give harsher criticism to some employees and not others. 
• Illness: employers and medical professionals regularly fail black patients by not taking their pain or illness seriously, a problem concerning sick leave. AAMC reports myths like "black people have less sensitive nerve endings than white people."
• Performance appraisals: some employees may feel their cultural background holds them back from being fairly assessed or promoted. 
• Leadership selection: companies often choose leaders that look and think like them rather than those that would be the best fit for the role. 

💡 How can we tackle unconscious bias? 

Here are a few measures to prevent unconscious bias from impacting our decisions. 

1. Understand what unconscious biases are 

The first step is recognizing that unconscious bias: 

1. exists, 

2. is damaging, and 

3. that we have the power to stop these cognitive reflexes from turning into physical actions that negatively impact those around us in the workplace. 

"We are human beings, and even if we want to be free of bias, they can influence our thoughts and behaviors. However, as an HR leader, it's relevant to identify and check them and implement a strategy to be as objective as possible." Maciek Kubiak, Head of People at PhotoAID. 

2. Learn how to identify bias

You can use Harvard online tools, like the Implicit Association Test (IAT), to reveal any personal biases. The IAT measures the speed of your responses to determine whether there's an unconscious association between two concepts. Take tests in the following areas to see how you fare. 

• Transgender IAT 
• Skin-tone IAT 
• Sexuality IAT 
• Gender-Career IAT 
• Native IAT 
• Asian IAT 
• Religion IAT 
• Weapons IAT 
• Weight IAT 
• Disability IAT 
• Gender-Science IAT 
• Race IAT 
• Age IAT 
• Arab-Muslim IAT 
• Presidents IAT. 

Besides taking a formal test, you can also look for trends in your people data. ‍

Saadia Hussain, Finance and HR Director of Pearl Scan, explains: "One way to identify unconscious bias is to look for hiring and promotion decision patterns. If certain groups of people seem disproportionately represented or excluded from certain roles, that can be a sign of unconscious bias.

Another way to identify unconscious bias is to solicit feedback from employees. If employees feel that they are being treated unfairly or that there is a lack of diversity in the workplace, that can also be a sign of unconscious bias." 

3. Overcome denial 

As unconscious biases are invisible, it's easy for companies to adopt a head-in-the-sand approach to dealing with them. 

Tesla is an example of a company that hasn't accepted its bias problem. The State of California has recently brought a racial discrimination lawsuit against Tesla, despite the company losing a similar case not long before. 

Tesla reacted with this statement: "Our company has more than 33,000 employees, with over 10,000 in the Fremont factory alone, so it is not humanly possible to stop all bad conduct."

Tesla can protect its employees and workforce by learning more about organizational biases and taking steps to remove them. 

4. Provide examples of how to change behavior 

Leaders can provide their employees with examples of how to change behavior. 

For example, Google's "unconscious bias" training includes a case study of a qualified job candidate who doesn't "fit the mold" of what leadership thought the role required.

The study says that if recruiters had given the candidate a chance, they would have excelled in the role.

Such inclusion training can help employees see how their biases might impact their decisions. 

5. Break stereotypes 

Breaking stereotypes often comes down to raising greater awareness about groups or communities.

Tip: Set up employee resource groups (ERGs) to provide a forum for employees from minority groups to share their experiences and feel supported in the workplace. ERGs can also help break down stereotypes by organizing events and activities that help employees learn more about each other. 

6. Focus on the potential for growth

If you identify that an employee, manager, or general workplace culture has a bias problem, it's important to focus on growth potential rather than dwelling on past mistakes. 

Focusing on the future means creating a plan for moving forward that includes changing policies and practices, linking bias training to employee development cycles, and offering extensive support.

By taking these steps, companies can begin to address their unconscious bias and create a more diverse and inclusive workplace.

7. Promote accountability 

We also need to move away from a culture of blaming bias on our subconscious. Then, we need to take ownership of our actions. 

John Amaechi, Founder of APS Intelligence Ltd, says: "I have a problem with the term "unconscious bias." The moment actions enter the real world and leave our head, they are no longer unconscious. We cannot deal with the problem until we learn to accurately describe it."

At a company level, we can take accountability by admitting our mistakes and implementing change. 

For example, Starbucks did this in 2018 when two black men got unjustly arrested for doing nothing more than waiting for a business meeting to start without first ordering a beverage. Following the arrests, the coffee shop giant reacted by closing more than 8,000 stores to roll out racial bias training to staff at the cost of $16 million in revenue, according to Forbes. 

The incident should never have occurred, but the response proves that the company holds itself accountable for what happened and isn't afraid to take decisive action. 

8. Bring diversity into your recruiting and hiring decisions 

Update your talent management strategy by increasing diversity in your workforce. When making hiring decisions, use a diverse panel of interviewers and create a list of essential qualifications for the role. You need to ensure you're not inadvertently biased toward candidates who look and sound like you! 

Sanya Nagpal, Head of Human Resources for Leena AI, takes us through a bias-free hiring approach: "To eliminate any biases, the first step is to identify whether any biases exist in the decision-making process. To identify, you need to check the existing data and look for patterns. For example, during hiring for a technical role, you find that the gender ratio shows more male candidates reach the final rounds than female candidates. 

Once you have identified this, you need to get to the bottom of the data to figure out why female candidates are unable to reach the final stages - if it is an issue with the applicants, an interviewer issue, or an assessment issue because of which female candidates are unable to progress. Once you have identified the exact reason, you can go back to tackle the bias by consciously implementing strategies or agendas to ensure the elimination of the bias. 

Similarly, if you find patterns in the process, try to pinpoint whether it is because of the process or an individual. If it is the process, you can further modify it to eliminate the bias. But if you notice the bias is because of an individual, communicate with that person to resolve the bias." 

9. Set goals for diversity, equity, and inclusion 

DEI efforts should receive the same attention as any other business goal: 

• setting realistic yet ambitious targets, 
• measuring progress, and 
• holding people accountable.

Tip: Create a diversity and inclusion committee to form and prioritize your DEI goals.

The University of British Columbia believes there are two approaches you can take: 

• Strategy-focused diversity and inclusion committee - to oversee goals related to policies, programs, and system change. 
• Implementation-focused diversity and inclusion committee - for on-the-ground initiatives, including events, workshops, webinars, data analysis, etc. 

10. Encourage good practices and continued learning 

It's not enough to set company diversity goals to eradicate bias. You'll also need to foster a culture of inclusion.

This means creating an environment where everyone feels safe to share their ideas and perspectives. Do this by: 

• Providing training and resources on bias-focused topics. 
• Publishing a clear diversity statement. 
• Encouraging employees to have difficult conversations. 
• Highlighting the successes of your DEI initiatives. 
• Expecting employees to be allies.

Coach and mentor Bernadette Pawlik also suggests to "Make sure that your interview/hiring team includes those who have experienced bias first hand in their own lives. People of color, immigrants, those who come from low-income family backgrounds."

11. Encourage employees to solicit feedback

Bias can be a complex topic to broach, but it's crucial that employees feel comfortable enough to do so. As such, encourage employees to give and receive feedback regularly.

At Zavvy, we're huge advocates of 360-degree feedback, which allows employees to get feedback from their peers, managers, and direct reports. This type of feedback is essential for creating a culture of openness and transparency.

➡️ Check out our 360 feedback tool to create your own open feedback culture.

12. Track improvements and adjust your goals

As with any area of DEI, it's essential to track the progress of your unconscious bias elimination so you can make necessary adjustments along the way. 

Are you seeing the results you want? 

If not, it might be time to rethink your strategy.

👩🏻‍🦯 15 Types of unconscious bias & how to avoid them 

Visual Capitalist reports that there are 188 different types of biases. Still, we won't overwhelm you by looking at all of them here today. So instead, we'll explore some of the most common biases. 

Affinity bias

Affinity bias occurs when we favor people who remind us of ourselves. This bias manifests when we're more likely to award opportunities or resources to individuals whose backgrounds or characteristics resemble ours.

This type of bias makes it difficult to see the potential in someone or offer the same benefits to someone whose circumstances or identity don't align with ours.

Black employee and single mother Abi Balogun requested to work from home during lockdown restrictions. She needed to care for her clinically vulnerable son during his cancer treatment. Her white employer denied her remote work request. Yet, they allowed her white coworker that needed to care for her mother, who was also shielding.

Balogun's employer sacked her when she complained. Still, an employment tribunal concluded that her dismissal and treatment were "acts of race discrimination." 

Confirmation bias

Confirmation bias happens when we give more credence to information that confirms our preexisting beliefs while disregarding evidence that contradicts them. This bias can lead us to make snap judgments and hasty decisions without considering all the available evidence.

Let's take a concrete example. A hiring manager is looking to fill a customer service role in their company. They receive two applications, one from a man and one from a woman. Both candidates have the same qualifications and experience. The hiring manager is male and believes customer service is a "woman's job." He decides to award the role to the woman without considering the man's application any further.

Attribution bias

Attribution bias is when we attribute someone's actions to their personality rather than the reality of the situation. This type of bias frequently crops up during the recruitment process. 

For example, if an employer sees a gap in a job seeker's employment history, they might assume that person is lazy or was unable to find work. They would not be able to see that the candidate took four months to care for their school-age siblings after their mother passed away.

Conformity bias

Conformity bias is the pressure we feel to conform to the norms and values of the groups we belong to. This bias can lead us to adjust to the status quo and resist change, even when it's in our best interests. 

A psychological study by Solomon Asch asked participants to identify the longest line out of three options. Over 75% chose incorrectly – they felt pressure to conform even though the answer was clear. 

The Halo effect

The halo effect is when we attribute positive qualities to someone based on one positive trait. This bias can lead us to make assumptions about people without knowing all the facts. 

Physical traits can also sway these assumptions. 

For example, if an employee dresses smartly, we might also consider that they're great at their job. But there's no evidence to back this up. 

A Princeton study found that research participants considered people to be an average of 2 points (on a 10-point scale) more competent when they wear "richer" clothing. Researchers repeatedly told participants to ignore clothing, but the results persisted. 

The Horns effect

In contrast, the horns effect is when we attribute negative qualities to someone based on one negative trait. This bias can lead us to make assumptions about people without knowing all the facts. 

For example, if employees are late for work, we might assume they're lazy and unprofessional. 

Contrast effect

The contrast effect is when we compare people or things against each other rather than assessing them on their merits. This bias can lead us to make judgments that don't reflect reality. 

Looking at the contrast effect during the hiring process, we might give a candidate a wildly negative rating because the other candidates were exceptionally strong. 

Likewise, if the hiring pool is particularly weak, we might give the best candidate a much higher score than expected. 

Gender bias

Gender bias is the tendency to give preference to one gender over another.

Typically, white heterosexual males receive preferential treatment over female employees in the corporate world. Take a look at the CEO list of Fortune 500 companies, and you'll see only 8.8% of the names are female. 

Women in the workplace constantly face bias about their ability to work and raise a family, deal with hormones, handle menopause, and lead teams. 

However, gender biases and stereotypes also impact men. For example, Nursing Times reports that only 11% of nurses are male due to "perpetuated gender-based images of nursing" as "women's work." 

Ageism

Ageism is discrimination against people for being too young or too old. At the upper end of the scale, our workforce needs to stay at work longer to keep up with the cost of living and pay for retirement. 

US adults now work to an average age of 63 or just under 65 for UK employees, and they don't face an easy time. 

AARP reveals that 93% of workers believe age discrimination is a regular occurrence. But it's not just veteran employees who experience it. At the other end of the scale, ageism also affects younger workers who employers label inexperienced. 

The BBC reports that college graduate Leia joined a business development team at a mid-sized tech company and faced explicit remarks about her age. After identifying inefficiencies and offering suggestions, her superiors called her out for showing "too much ambition." They even outright asked her, "What does a 23-year-old know about these things?"

Name bias

A landmark study in 2003 found that resumes with "black-sounding" names were less likely to get callbacks than those with "white-sounding" names. 

A recent update to the study conducted by the University of Chicago and the University of California proves that little has changed. 

Anchor bias

Anchor bias is when we let the first piece of information we receive about something color all subsequent information.

For example, if a hiring manager knows a candidate is from a prestigious school, they might be more likely to overlook red flags in their resume or performance. 

Nonverbal bias

Nonverbal bias is when we judge people based on their appearance, body language, or other nonverbal cues.

For example, a hiring manager might consider that a person with a weak handshake is submissive. But what if they're having difficulty with this physical greeting because they recently broke their finger? 

Authority bias

Authority bias is when we give too much weight to the opinions of people in positions of power.

This bias can result in us blindly following orders or making decisions based on the say-so of an authority figure rather than using our judgment.

🆘 When we don't have a diverse set of leaders making decisions, this problem becomes worse.

Ableism

Ableism is a form of discrimination or social prejudice against people with disabilities. It manifests in the workplace when employers make assumptions about an employee's ability to perform their job based on their disability.

This bias might include a belief that a person with a visible disability can't do a job that requires physical labor or that a person with a mental illness will be unreliable.

Microaggressions

Microaggressions are subtle but offensive comments or actions that impact a particular group of people. They are sometimes so subtle that the person who perpetrates them isn't even aware that they're doing it.

Microaggressions can be anything from using offensive or stereotype-based language to making assumptions about someone's competence or qualifications.

For example, 98% of women were advised to smile more during their careers. This request is a sexist microaggression. This demeans women and implies that their default expression is angry or unapproachable.

Tip: Overcome these biases with awareness of the circumstances and characteristics that make someone similar or different to you, and try not to let them influence your decision-making. Instead, focus on the candidate or colleague's merits, achievements, and potential.

💪 What is effective unconscious bias training?

To reduce the impact of bias at work, we need to do more than acknowledge it exists. 

Effective training strategies include actionable ways to eliminate physical actions motivated by bias. 

When training works well, employees will understand their own biases, label them as such, and take different actions than their subconscious would like. 

➡️ Hit the mark by measuring the effectiveness of your training initiatives.

Spaced repetition is one of the best ways to incorporate regular bias training into the workplace. Microlearning is when employees receive daily digestible chunks of information to learn. Sessions take 5-10 minutes to complete, and the knowledge repetition drives real behavioral change while increasing retention.

➡️ Drive behavioral change with Zavvy

It's time for leaders to get their heads out of the sand and admit that unconscious bias exists in their company culture. Bias is natural and widespread, but we must train our workforce on how to mitigate its impact. 

Zavvy offers a comprehensive behavioral training program that weaves right into the flow of work. Our microlearning platform enables employees to access timely, relevant content that fosters a bias-free workplace.

Request a demo today to see how it works!

❓ FAQs

Unconscious bias in the workplace is a vast topic, so we've rounded up answers to your most pressing questions. What is unconscious bias at work? 

Unconscious bias (also known as implicit bias or cognitive bias) is a mental shortcut humans use to make quick decisions. 

Bias often finds its roots in our personal experiences, beliefs, and values. Unfortunately, this efficiency can have negative consequences for people at work. Managers and peers may inaccurately perceive a coworker as lazy, incompetent, or not cut out for leadership based on that person's background, ethnicity, or gender. But these factors bear no correlation to someone's actual abilities.

What are the most common unconscious biases? 

There are 188 different unconscious or implicit biases. Among the most common types of bias are affinity bias, confirmation bias, attribution bias, conformity bias, the halo and horns effect, contrast effect, gender bias, ageism, name bias, anchor bias, nonverbal bias, authority bias, ableism, microaggressions.

How do you facilitate unconscious bias training? 

There are a few key things to keep in mind when you're planning unconscious bias training for your organization: 

1. Ensure the training is interactive and engaging.
2. Focus on real-life examples of bias in the workplace.
3. Provide actionable tips for employees to avoid bias.
4. Use multiple delivery methods (e.g., microlearning, simulations, videos).
5. Follow up with employees after the training to see what they have retained and where they need more support.

Learning should be spaced and regular for maximum knowledge retention. 

How does unconscious bias affect diversity? 

Unconscious bias can harm diversity in the workplace. When people make snap judgments about others based on their appearance, background, or name, they may overlook qualified candidates for jobs or promotions. This can result in a homogenous workforce that doesn't reflect the diversity of the customer base or society. 

What is the difference between diversity training and unconscious bias training? 

Diversity training focuses on increasing awareness of the different types of people in the world. The goal is to create a more inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and respected. On the other hand, unconscious bias training allows employees to identify their personal biases and take steps to avoid acting on them. 

Both are integral to creating a harmonious company culture of respect and will lead to tangible changes in behavior when leaders prioritize this type of training.