Understanding Implicit Bias in the Workplace

We all have implicit biases that affect the way we live and work in the world. Identifying how these biases may negatively affect workers — and the bottom line — is pivotal in the development of workplace equality. SHRM has gathered the following list of resources to highlight work being done in this area. 

The concept of implicit bias, also known as unconscious bias, grew out of Project Implicit at Harvard University, which designed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure attitudes and beliefs that people may be unwilling or unable to report. The IAT may be especially interesting if it shows that you have an implicit attitude that you did not know about. 

Since the launch of Project Implicit, many experts—including SHRM—have applied Harvard’s findings to the world of work. Read on for more on this topic.  

In Season 2, Episode 16 of Honest HR, Sarah Bettman, founder and principal of Bettman Consulting Group, discusses the cognition behind our biases and how to counteract them, as well as when it’s appropriate to solicit leadership buy-in and address them within your organization. 

Recognizing Implicit Bias

Eye on affinity bias: ​Knowing their own implicit biases can help HR professionals and managers avoid making mistakes in hiring and promotion decisions, SHRM wrote in June 2023. One type of implicit bias is affinity bias, or the tendency to prefer people who are similar to us. In hiring and promotions, having a diverse group of decision-makers can counter the downside of affinity bias. And confirmation bias—the tendency to seek out and interpret new information as confirmation of your existing beliefs—happens often on social media and in the workplace.  

Brain science behind bias: Unconscious bias impacts the workplace at all levels because it is a universal issue, something that resides deep in the brains of all human beings, SHRM wrote in April 2024. It directly affects not only who gets hired, developed, and promoted but also the ability of a team to be high-performing, the effectiveness of leadership decision-making, the organization’s culture, and, ultimately, the success of an organization as a whole. It is imperative to assess the extent to which an organization’s culture and business results are being impacted by unconscious bias and then take appropriate measures to mitigate the associated risk.

Member Resource: Hiring Bias and Workplace Bias One-Pager

Mitigating the Effects of Unconscious Bias

Address each type of bias: Deploy different strategies to combat different types of affinity bias, Forbes recommended in 2023. Implicit bias can influence retention, engagement, productivity, brand reputation, and, ultimately, the bottom line. 

Consider manager training: A Harvard Business Review and University of Chicago surveyed more than 1,900 employees of large companies to determine if they perceived bias at work. Those who did were twice as likely not to feel proud of working for their company, three times as likely to plan on leaving within a year, and more than four times as likely to feel alienated at work.

Remote work can lead to bias: A 2023 survey by Monster.com showed a vast majority of workers have experienced some form of discrimination at work. Remote work environments can aggravate these problems, Legal Management pointed out in April 2024. Remote workers sometimes suffer a “proximity bias” from their leaders — meaning their contributions aren’t valued as highly as those of in-office employees — which leads to fewer promotions. Proximity bias can also disproportionately affect women, who are more likely to be attracted to remote work. So, tackling bias in remote work means addressing layers of discrimination. The good news is that creating an inclusive workplace can address them all simultaneously, Legal Management points out.

Tips for Addressing Hiring Bias

Hit the whole hiring life cycle: From writing job descriptions to sourcing candidates and interviewing, the hiring process is fraught with opportunities for unconscious bias to come into play, SHRM wrote in November 2024. Those making employment decisions should especially be aware of their unconscious biases because they play such a critical role in who gets hired at an organization.

Dial in your interview strategy: Candidates’ home computer setups may not be ideal for Zoom interviews, especially if they share living space and have limited privacy. But this doesn’t predict how well a candidate could do the job, Harvard Business Review wrote in June 2023. Actively working to remove any unconscious biases resulting from video interview issues can help mitigate the effects of bias. So can offering phone interviews and standardizing questions for all candidates.