Six Types of Workplace Bias to Watch Out For Every Day

Yes, you do have workplace bias. We all do.

The Monday Morning Manager Series #48

If you think you don’t have any biases, think about an airline pilot.

Now think about a nurse, a doctor, and a builder.

See what I mean?

I grew up in the sixties & seventies in working-class Britain, so I have many unconscious biases hardwired into my brain, even if I don’t think I have.

A steady diet of Carry-On films, sexist sit-coms like On The Buses and Man About the House peppered liberally with Benny Hill, and you get what you get.

“So, we assess people and situations based on our upbringing, culture or what we’ve seen on the TV. Not on facts.”

In one of my last roles, I managed the Diversity Committee, so I had more exposure to D&I material than most of my colleagues.

It didn’t stop my unconscious bias, though.

At a conference I attended, all the tech went haywire. I was in the audience, so I waited with everyone else while the skinny young Asian guy with glasses tried to fix it.

We all chatted, got more coffee, or checked our emails while the tech guy tried to make everything work.

Then he disappeared, and a young, plump Pacific Island girl walked in and had a go. To my shame, my first thought was, “What’s that waitress up to?”

Then I tried to excuse myself by telling myself that she wore a waitress’s outfit, so it was no wonder I got confused. But no, she wore black pants and a black T-shirt, the same as the Asian guy.

He looked like the stereotypical tech guy. She didn’t. Or not to me…

And the thought just popped into my head, unwelcome and unbidden.

I’d fallen foul of workplace bias.

Why do we have workplace bias?

Imagine your brain is a computer recording everything you’ve ever seen, done, or experienced.

This computer analyses new situations by comparing them to what it already knows because this saves time.

Is that long green wiggly thing dangerous? Yep, your brain knows it’s a snake, and you’ve learned to avoid them.

Why do you think Sarah from Accounts is lying about emailing you that information? Because other people who have lied to you have had that shifty look on their faces.

So, we assess people and situations based on our upbringing, culture, past experiences, or what we’ve seen on TV, not on facts.

Workplace Biases

All sorts of biases make the workplace an uneven playing field, not just the gender bias I described above.

Here are a few of them:

Affinity Bias

Affinity bias means we like people who are more like us. So, if I meet a woman in her early sixties from the south of England who works in HR, I’ll be inclined to like her.

Affinity bias is triggered by anything which makes the other person seem ‘like us’. You might not think much of Sunil from Marketing until you find out he’s a keen fisherman, just like you.

So, background, culture, shared history, hobbies, or other preferences can trigger affinity bias.

At work: Watch out for affinity bias clouding your judgment, or anyone else’s, about who should get that raise, promotion, training, or other opportunity.

Anchor Bias

Anchoring bias gives more credence to the first piece of information we receive, which is why first impressions are so important.

A real estate salesperson would use anchor bias to set a high initial price for a home. All other negotiations relate to this first price; the lower the final price, the lower the perceived discount and the greater the perceived bargain.

“Anchor bias can occur when businesses hire new positions. For example, when reviewing potential candidates, the first resume a hiring manager sees might show the candidate has a master’s degree from a well-known university. Even if the job doesn’t require a master’s degree, the hiring manager might use the first candidate’s resume as an anchor for reviewing the others.” — What is Anchoring Bias and How Does It Affect Decisions, Indeed Editorial Team, www.indeed.com

Anchoring bias is used in salary negotiations too. If you’ve got through the interview stage and are starting to talk money, an organization may have the upper hand if they speak about a number first.

That first number will anchor all negotiations around the salary.

At work: Look at the facts, identify the first anchor, and evaluate whether it makes sense.

Actor-observer Bias

This bias is a form of attribution bias. It means we judge our behavior differently from the behavior of others.

We attribute our behavior to external causes (I hit the other car because the weather was wet, the road slippery, and it couldn’t be helped), but other’s behavior to internal causes (the other car hit me because of bad driving).

If you’ve ever challenged someone by saying, “But didn’t you do the exact same thing last week?”, you’ll usually get the answer, “But that was different.”

At work: You attribute your lateness to the terrible traffic, whereas others would say you are disorganized or didn’t leave on time.

Authority Bias

Authority bias places more importance on the opinions of more senior employees or someone of high status, such as a doctor.

In the workplace, this could play out in recruitment, where a team member and manager conduct the interviews. The manager’s opinion is considered more accurate if it differs from the team members.

I’ve also seen the manager’s opinion of staff members affect how the organization perceives them. A team member favored by their manager could have an excellent reputation despite their poor work ethic and substandard work.

At work: If you are the leader, listen to your team’s views. They may defer to your opinion, even if it’s not accurate.

Confirmation Bias

This bias means if we believe something, we notice information that backs up our opinion and ignore facts that don’t.

If you think your friend & colleague is a hard worker, you will notice when she does extra work or stays late. You won’t see that she has to do these extras because she is always talking or doing personal admin at work.

You are unlikely to look for information that may change your opinion. You will also interpret information differently. You believe Susan is doing personal admin in work time because she has done all the extra hours rather than the other way around.

“Confirmation bias can change the way individuals store and interpret information, thus creating a memory that is altered by their biases.” — Indeed Editorial Team, uk.indeed.com

Confirmation bias will also influence how you remember information. Not surprisingly, you remember facts that back up your opinion and forget the rest.

At work: Consider your impressions of situations and people and examine the facts to see if confirmation bias is present.

Beauty Bias

However much we say they don’t, looks affect how we respond to people in the workplace.

Beauty bias means we attach other positive attributes to people we deem attractive. If someone is attractive, well-groomed and dressed expensively and appropriately, we assume they are intelligent and good at their job.

And no wonder. If you look at children’s cartoons, the princess and the prince are attractive, and the villain is old and ugly. From a young age, we are conditioned by the media to believe that pretty equals good and ugly equals bad.

We are also bombarded by unrealistic expectations of beauty every day via media. I can’t count the number of times I’ve muttered, “In real life that woman couldn’t wear those heels all day”, or “How come she wakes up in the forest with a full face of make up?”.

“Evidence suggests that more attractive people are more likely to be hired and promoted, while less attractive people are more likely to be fired. In some workplaces, employers discriminate against obese, tattooed, or strangely-dressed employees, thereby supporting a trend in which individuals who do not fit into society’s dominant beauty standards are at a disadvantage compared to their more attractive and more aesthetically acceptable peers.” — Contributor: Kosana Wier, What is Beauty Bias?, www.fairhire.org

At work: Be careful about assumptions based on looks. Just because someone isn’t attractive, it doesn’t mean they aren’t great at their job. People are paid to achieve outcomes in their field, not to be fashion models.

Summary

We all have biases; if we want to be fair and inclusive at work, we must monitor them.

To minimize workplace bias:

• Be aware of the types of bias that may influence you
• When making decisions, run through possible biases that may affect your thinking process
• Look at facts, not feelings, hunches, or assumptions
• Focus on whether people are achieving outcomes, not their perceived reputation

Plenty more biases are in play at work, including gender bias, the halo effect, the contrast effect, in-group bias, height bias, and information bias — I’ll write about those in Part Two of this series so watch this space…

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