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This controversy has sparked a strong corporate response, with leading companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Facebook and Google announcing various initiatives designed to showcase their commitment to hiring more diverse employees.
There are significant business advantages to diversity in the workplace. The Department of Business Innovation & Skills has reported that organisations that have a more diverse and inclusive workforce are more innovative than companies that do not. Yet, despite a multitude of these initiatives, bias continues to be a major issue in the workplace.
The reason may lie with the psychological processes that underpin much of recruitment and hiring. Specifically, Im referring to the unconscious biases that shape our view of the world, and can ultimately impact who we choose to hire.
Unconscious bias is an innate human characteristic; even the most open-minded and well-meaning individuals unwittingly allow unconscious feelings to guide their decision making. Ultimately this means that even the most well-meaning corporate commitment to inclusion and diversity may be derailed by biases that employers and hiring managers dont even realise they have.
Knowing that, how do organisations mitigate against these biases to ensure that they are not putting off the best talent, or letting them slip through their fingers Here are five ways to start.
Ask your employees to undergo bias training
There are a variety of different bias training options available today, many of which are free. Many companies find these to be an excellent way to educate employees and hiring managers about the issue of unconscious bias and to become aware of their own biases. This in turn, helps them become more effective interviewers.
Read more about the recruitment space:
- Jobvite, the recruitment platform used by Twitter and Starbucks, opens UK office to tackle Europe
- Government plans to reform recruitment legislation and stop UK firms hiring only overseas workers
- How Hiring Hub is changing the recruitment process for British SMEs
Use gender-neutral, inclusive language in job descriptions and/or questionnaires
Research has found that certain terms skewed towards male stereotypes can send unintentional messages in job listings and discourage potential candidates.
For example, Unitives research suggests that phrases such as ambitious,” dominate,” and analytical turn off would-be female candidates from applying to job listings.
The good news is that technology is making it easier than ever to spot and identify these words and phrases. Textio is a web-based tool that uses statistics and machine learning capabilities to analyse the text of a job posting and identify patterns.
It then predicts the performance of a particular ad by identifying problematic or biased phrases, which have been shown to discourage potential applicants.
Review visa sponsorship policies
Gendered language is not the only deterrent for worthy applicants; it is important to note that your companys policies around visa sponsorships may affect your ability to attract candidates from diverse backgrounds.
Many organisations view this as barrier to entry, and automatically discount candidates that they perceive could, for example, cost the organisation money or cause delays to them starting employment.
Organisations should work with both an immigration lawyer and their HR department to avoid artificially limiting the candidate pool by discriminating against candidates who might need a visa to work in a particular country.
Introduce structured interviews
At first glance, the flexible framework and conversational flow of unstructured interviews might seem attractive to many employers. However, this type of interview is often extremely subjective, which can reduce accuracy.
Structured interviews ensure that a list of specific questions is asked in exactly the same way to each candidate.
Consisting of a previously agreed upon list of questions, it guarantees each candidate interviewing will be presented with exactly the same questions in exactly the same order.
Perhaps most importantly, structured interviews have been shown to be almost twice as effective at predicting an employees performance once theyve been hired.
A study incorporating 85 years of research found that while structured interview responses could explain 26 per cent of an employees performance on the job, unstructured interviews could explain a mere 14 per cent of an employees future performance.
Create consistent interview scorecards
In addition to structured interviews, scorecards can also help mitigate the effect of bias by requiring interviewers to score candidate responses according to a previously agreed upon rubric. This serves as an objective method of evaluation in which candidates responses are measured by a well-defined five-point scale or with a letter grade.
Companies can weight the score for each answer based on company values, so that employees are hired for their strengths rather than their weaknesses.
Have a candidate submit work samples or partake in a skill test
Asking a candidate to complete an assignment similar to those theyll be responsible for in the future is essential to the interview process. Researchers have found that realistic work sample tests are the most accurate predictor of how a candidate will perform on the job predicting 29 per cent of an employees performance.
A skill test also forces employers to critique the quality of a candidates work versus unconsciously judging them based on appearance, gender, age and even personality.
There is no silver bullet to the issue of unconscious bias, but being aware of the problem is an important first step. From there, a variety of resources are available to help you as you educate your team and evolve your hiring process.
Given the tech industrys record for disruption and ability to transform quickly, we have both an opportunity and a duty to set the example for combatting this issue on our way to create a more diverse and dynamic workforce.
Sophie Adelman is head of sales for EMEA at Hired.
Following the recent “I look like an engineer” campaign, Oscar Macia, CEO of ForceManager, looks at gender imbalance in IT, why it exists and how to change dated perceptions of IT as a “male only” career choice.
