Creating a fair and equal workplace where everyone feels valued and respected is no easy task, considering the human predisposition towards bias. Whether realized or not, biases exist and can percolate through diverse aspects of organizational functioning, eroding productivity, teamwork, morale, and the inherent sense of fairness. This post delves deeper into the subject, beginning from understanding bias in the workplace, through strategies for reducing them, leading to long-term practices for fostering an unbiased work culture.
Uncovering Unconscious Bias in the Workplace
In today's diverse work environments, it is crucial to address the issue of unconscious bias. Unconscious bias refers to the attitudes and stereotypes that individuals hold towards certain groups, which can influence their actions and decision-making unconsciously. This bias can have a significant impact on employee morale, performance, diversity and inclusion efforts, as well as hiring and promotion processes. In order to foster a bias-free workplace, it is important to recognize and mitigate unconscious bias through self-awareness, tools and techniques, as well as implementing organizational policies and procedures.
Training for Mid-Level Managers to Mend the Broken Rung
The Broken Rung identifies the initial move from entry-level to manager as “the biggest obstacle women face on the path to senior leadership.” There are five suggestions to fix the broken rung in organizations that see this drop in representation of women moving up to managerial levels. All of these elements work together to interrupt bias in the hiring and promotion process, and it is clear how they can ensure that all diverse candidates are given the appropriate consideration for advancement.
The recommendation I want to focus on today is putting evaluators through bias training. While it is critical for organizations to focus on eliminating bias in all of their processes, it can be especially important for entry-level employees.
3 Things You Can Do in 2020 To Be a Better Champion for Gender Parity in your Workplace
On an individual scale, committing oneself to be a person dedicated to mitigating bias and creating cultural change is much simpler. It begins with a choice, or setting a goal. As it happens to be the time of year where we are creating and refining out goals, we encourage you to consider this one: (re)commit yourself to be a champion for intersectional gender parity. While it may seem lofty, there are small changes that you can make on a daily basis to ensure you are living this pledge.
Case Study: Thompson Hine
Case Study: University of Cincinnati Emergency Medicine
We were invited to deliver an initial foundational overview of unconscious bias and bias interrupters that can be used within the department to continue driving gender equity and representation forward. With this understanding, we will return in July to do a follow up applied learning session. Not only can we see how interrupters have impacted the department over the past 7 months, but we can also implement new tools for greater impact.