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.
Boosting Inclusion: How Gender Workplace Diversity Drives Success
In today's diverse and interconnected world, fostering an inclusive and balanced workplace has many benefits. Not only is it morally right to ensure equal representation and opportunities regardless of gender, but it's also a clear business advantage. From technology giants like Google paving the path to inclusivity, small startups and traditional firms alike can gain insight and direction in their journey towards gender diversity. Today we are taking an in-depth look into the nuances of gender diversity, its importance, and its impact on a business's success. We discuss several strategies followed by successful corporates to create an inclusive environment and unravel research findings linking gender diversity to economic benefits and innovation.
Exploring Gender Bias in the Workplace
Gender bias remains a prevalent issue in the workplace. The unequal treatment and opportunities based on gender have long hindered the progress of gender equality. It is crucial to understand the concept of gender bias, the various manifestations it takes in the workplace, and how it can be addressed and overcome. By exploring these topics, we can strive towards creating a more inclusive and fair working environment for everyone.
Unpacking Gender Bias: A Close Look at Its Impact and Our Collective Role
The journey to overcoming gender bias is indeed a collective responsibility. Every single step taken in this direction matters and contributes towards building a more equitable society. However, the key to achieving real change lies in staying committed to the cause and consistently working towards the goal. When it comes to gender equality, change is definitely possible, but it requires persistent efforts from all stakeholders.
Leadership's Role in Managing Bias in the Workplace
Bias in the workplace can have a significant impact on individuals and organizations alike. It affects decision-making, relationships, and overall work culture. In this post, we explore the concept of bias and its effects on the workplace. We also discuss strategies for managing and reducing bias, the role of leadership in creating an inclusive culture, and ways to measure progress and ensure continual improvement. Join us as we delve into the complexities of bias in the workplace and explore practical steps towards a more inclusive and equitable work environment.
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.
Gender Inequality in the Workplace
Gender inequality in the workplace remains a persistent and widespread issue. Women, in particular, continue to face numerous obstacles in pursuing their careers, including unequal pay, limited career development opportunities, and prevalent gender stereotypes. This article will delve into the root causes and consequences of gender inequality in the workplace, as well as discuss strategies and best practices for addressing this issue.
The Roots of Unconscious Bias
Unconscious bias refers to the biases that we hold without even realizing it. These biases can affect our decisions and actions, often leading to unfair treatment or discriminatory behavior. In order to address and mitigate unconscious bias, it is crucial to first understand its roots and underlying factors. This post explores the meaning of unconscious bias, the various types of biases that exist, and the effects they can have in different contexts. Additionally, it delves into the factors that contribute to unconscious bias, including the influence of background and personal experience, societal and cultural conditioning, and the role of media and stereotypes. Furthermore, it examines the science behind unconscious bias, touching upon the workings of the human brain, implicit association tests (IAT), and the role of social psychology in shaping our biases. By gaining a deeper understanding of these topics, we can strive towards a more inclusive and equitable society.
Understanding Unconscious Bias: Definition, Causes, Effects, and How to Overcome
Unconscious bias is the automatic associations or attitudes that people hold about groups of people or individuals, often without awareness or intention. These biases can have a significant impact on decision-making, behavior, and interactions with others. In this post, we're going back to the foundational understanding of unconscious bias, the causes that contribute to its development, the effects it has on individuals and society, and strategies for overcoming it.
Unconscious bias is a natural phenomenon that affects everyone, but it can create negative consequences in various areas of life, such as the workplace, relationships, and social interactions. By understanding its definition, causes, and effects, individuals and organizations can take steps to reduce its impact and create more inclusive environments.
#BreakTheBias: Women’s History Month Recap
As Women’s History Month and the celebration of International Women’s Day comes to a close, we want to take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate the organizations we had the privilege of working with during such a pivotal month for so many companies to drive gender equity action forward.
With this year’s International Women’s Day theme of #BreakTheBias, individuals were called to take action for collective progress. At Gild Collective, we worked with our clients to approach this theme in different ways—providing tools for interrupting bias in big ways within workplaces and small ways within our own interactions.
Case Study: Inclusive Hiring with Prysmian Group
Supporting Women in the Return to In-Person Work
Along with many of our clients, Gild Collective is beginning the transition back to in-person work. With several in-person workshops scheduled this June, the trend for companies returning to some amount of in-person work is clear.
As the transition to in-person work begins, how can each of us—regardless of role—push back against the negative impacts on women caused by the pandemic, and avoid new ones?
Case Study: InfoSec Unconscious Bias Series
Infosec helps IT and security professionals advance their careers with skills development and certifications. The organization recently initiated a Women at InfoSec employee resource group and one of the group’s first recommendations was a company-wide bias training. We worked with the team to develop a 3-part series to provide a foundational bias understanding and tailored tools for interrupting bias for both individual contributors and managers.
Women in the Workplace 2020: Spotlight on COVID-19
In years past, when the Women in the Workplace study by LeanIn and McKinsey and Company was released, I had been excited. Excited to see progress being made (even slowly) and new insights uncovered on how women can be better supported by their organizations.
The 2020 Women in the Workplace report was released last week, and like many other 2020 headlines, it did not bring with it this sense of excitement or hope. Despite my awareness that women are being disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, I did not anticipate some of these jarring data points.
Case Study: Unconscious Bias Training with FEG Investment Advisors
In the winter of 2019/2020 we worked with FEG Investment Advisors to deliver a firm-wide unconscious bias training with a focus on gender and race / ethnicity. As a first step for the full firm, there was a desire to create awareness of equity and inclusion and create a positive dialog where everyone feels supported—no victims or villains.
In order to be comprehensive in our approach, and in order to better understand the employees of FEG, we created a firm-wide survey to gain insight into employee perception of diversity and inclusion efforts so far, and to learn what employees are looking for going forward. We used the data collected from these surveys to design four unconscious bias training sessions: two for individual contributors, and two for managers.
Our approach to these trainings, while slightly different for both groups, was to meet the following objectives:
Understanding the impact of inherent bias in the workplace and beyond
Creating distinction between equity and equality, and the steps to achieve each one
Recognizing the value of creating a diverse workforce and drivers of recruitment, retention and engagement of diverse employees
Assessing our own personal unconscious biases—where they are rooted and how we can overcome them
Identifying situational factors that make us more prone to the influence of our unconscious biases, and creating understanding of how to overcome bias in those situations
Developing concrete steps and actionable tools to interrupt bias and become an ally to others—creating a culture of advocacy company-wide
It is always incredibly rewarding to work with organizations who are kicking off their educational efforts for diversity and inclusion for the first time. It proposes unique challenges, but gives us the opportunity as facilitators to offer our perspective from the beginning. We are grateful for the partnership with FEG and look forward to working with them in the future.
Case Study: UC Emergency Medicine Applied Learning Session
In our third session with the Emergency Medicine Department at the University of Cincinnati, we returned to the topic of unconscious bias. Exactly a year after our first meeting, we revisited key topics on unconscious bias and spent the rest of our session together doing applied learning using the 50 Ways to Fight Bias cards from LeanIn.org.
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.
Case Study: Healthcare Businesswomen's Association Signature Event
Unconscious Bias and Its Effect on Business Decisions: Spotlight on Starbucks
When Starbucks began their run to success in the early 1990s, it was clear the brand wasn’t simply about coffee and over the last year, we have seen many headlines highlighting their hits and misses in an effort to shift their culture. Such indications include their announcement of equal pay as well as their all-staff diversity and inclusion training. If Starbucks has taught us anything in the past year, it is that bringing awareness to unconscious bias and how it affects businesses is imperative.