Is Unconscious Bias Training Enough to Eliminate Workplace Bias?

Last Updated: December 16, 2021

Recent racial profiling incidents (like those at Sephora and Starbucks) highlight a pressing problem: bias. To overcome this, both these organizations rushed to adopt diversity and bias training (and others are joining in) – but is this truly effective? In a detailed discussion with Dr. Aaron Barth, Founder, and President of Dialectic, we look at:

  • Why diversity training isn’t always successful
  • Five steps to meaningful unconscious bias training
  • How technology can mitigate the impact of bias in the workplace

 

In the wake of recent racial profiling incidents, organizations are eager to address the diversity problem in the workplace. In June 2019, popular music artist SZA reported being racially profiled by a Sephora employeeOpens a new window , after which the multinational cosmetic chain closed down its U.S. stores to hold diversity training sessions. A similar incident occurred at Starbucks in April 2018, where two African-American men were arrested just for sitting in its Philadelphia caféOpens a new window . The CEO then announced the shut down of its 8,000 stores across the U.S. for half a day to conduct unconscious bias training. While these efforts are definitely commendable, the impact of one-time, event-triggered diversity training sessions is questionable.

We spoke to  Dr. Aaron Barth, founder, and president of DialecticOpens a new window , a company that creates immersive e-learning experiences to help organizations reach their training goals. He shared surprising insights on unconscious bias training, and why there is still a long way to go before bias can be eliminated.

Learn More: 4 Workplace Diversity Trends for 2019Opens a new window

The Problem With Typical Unconscious Bias Training Models

Barth notes, “Employers have been implementing unconscious bias training as part of their diversity initiatives, hoping their employees will develop the tools they need to become more self-aware and reflect on their biases. But in reality, there is limited scientific evidence that one-size-fits-all, debiasing training works.”

In 2019, researchers at Harvard University conducted a field experimentOpens a new window with a global organization and a diverse employee pool to assess the impact of one-off diversity training. The experiment revealed that short training sessions were useful for raising awareness, but they fell short when it came to changing behavior.

In fact, Barth believes that unconscious bias training only adds to the problem, because employees are often unable to “self-course-correct” based on the insights gathered.

“Various scientific studies show that debiasing training can make our individual biases worse.  The principal reason for this is that the mind is not capable of true objectivity. We are effectively blind to our own biases and are unable to sufficiently correct them. It’s sort of like asking the accused to be their own judge,” Barth explains.

Hiring for Diversity Is Not Enough

In a bid to be more inclusive and diversity-focused, organizations are actively trying to hire more women and minority groups in roles/fields where they are underrepresented. The belief is that a more diverse workforce will mitigate the impact of any unconscious bias, translating it into more racially/gender-sensitive customer interactions and business decisions. However, the reality is very different – the challenges inherent in the work culture remain, new hires face hostility (implicit or explicit), engagement/productivity falls, and unconscious biases are perpetuated.

“The idea that companies start with a diversity hiring program and then try to build a culture that embraces inclusion and diversity has always seemed backwards to me,” says Barth. “Time and again, we see companies start these D&I [diversity and inclusion] hiring initiatives only to have significant D&I problems. The issue remains – the value of these practices has yet to be integrated into the company culture.”

Organizations need effective unconscious bias training programs that “invert” this process. Instead of hiring minority talent and hoping behaviors will change naturally, unconscious bias training proactively highlights the importance of diversity in the workplace, making it part of the company culture.

Learn More: Why Diversity and Inclusion in the Workplace is Good for BusinessOpens a new window

Five Steps to Making Unconscious Bias Training Work

For any training program to be truly effective, outlining clear action points must be part of the agenda. The same goes for unconscious bias training – employees should not only be made aware of the problem but also coached on why and how to work on it. Unconscious bias training that brings about behavioral change will include the following steps:

1. Test for bias

An unconscious bias test measures how quickly an employee attaches a positive or negative sentiment to societal labels. This ranges from perceived gender, race, ethnicity, differently abled individuals, countries/areas of origin, and the like. The most common example of unconscious bias test is probably the Implicit Association Test, which looks at how individual memory shapes prejudice and behavior.

2. Explain the results

In this step of the unconscious bias training process, the results of individual tests are explained to each employee. It should be noted that there is no one-size-fits-all model and organizations must make room for a variety of outcomes.

3. Educate the workforce

The training program should be long-term and ongoing, incorporating scientific literature that objectively considers bias patterns. Unconscious bias theory may not be widely known among the workforce, necessitating training from specialized coaches who can simplify the concept to its basics.

4. Define the value addition from diversity

This is among the major gaps in traditional unconscious bias training frameworks. In addition to explaining the idea behind the problem, it is important to highlight how bias negatively impacts an employee, their peers, and their immediate surroundings.

5. Demonstrate techniques for bias mitigation

Once an employee is clear on the negative impact of bias and the value of diversity, they will be motivated to change behaviors. At this stage, organizations can introduce techniques that mitigate the impact of bias – even if the implicit prejudice is not changed. For example, illustrating how female coders can be better than male coders risks reversing the bias and perpetuating it. However, a technique such as blind code reviews ensures everyone is judged fairly, mitigating bias.

Learn More: 4 Ways to Reduce Bias in Performance ReviewsOpens a new window

An Essential Follow-up to Unconscious Bias Training: Empower to Mitigate, Not Reduce

Unconscious bias training is only the starting line. As mentioned in step five, organizations need to provide frameworks where employees can operate and make decisions without being impacted by bias.

On the role of scientific thinking to eliminate unconscious bias, Dr. Barth says, “Paradoxically, science tells us thinking about and challenging our biases may have little benefit.”

So what can we really do to help address the unconscious biases we all harbor? “Instead, incorporating tools into employees’ work environment that can be used to facilitate unbiased thinking provides more value,” Dr. Barth recommends.

The truth is, bias is a culmination of many years of behavioral training, environmental stimuli, and socio-economic motivations. As such, removing/rewiring biased beliefs is a prolonged and complex process – instead, organizations should be focused on positive behavioral change. Barth suggests using technology for diversity trainingOpens a new window to level the playing field.

“One helpful use of technology is the development and integration of mobile-enabled job-aids and resources that employees can pull up on their smartphones when needed,” tells us, Dr. Barth.

In addition, he recommends incorporating useful decision-making tools to help employees take unbiased decisions. This, he says can offer a greater return on investment than merely conducting unconscious bias training.

“When a team needs to make an important decision, they can access a tool – for example, the A3 Problem Solving Tool developed by Toyota and deployed in manufacturing contexts – that provides a scaffolding for fair and balanced group decisions.

“This works because the resource becomes a shared attention object that is outside of the biased minds of the individuals making the decision. It provides an independent and shared set of guidelines for decision-making that can include directions for combating and nudging people away from bias.”

In other words, organizations need to create an environment that fosters unbiased thinking. While it may be difficult to completely eliminate personal bias through unconscious bias training, it is possible to reduce its impact and prevent bias from hindering productivity, engagement, and growth. This implies that a truly inclusive company will build operational models and decision-making engines that rely on objective assessments rather than personal opinions.

How are you addressing unconscious bias in the workplace? Share your insights with us on FacebookOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or TwitterOpens a new window . We are always listening!

Chiradeep BasuMallick
Chiradeep is a content marketing professional, a startup incubator, and a tech journalism specialist. He has over 11 years of experience in mainline advertising, marketing communications, corporate communications, and content marketing. He has worked with a number of global majors and Indian MNCs, and currently manages his content marketing startup based out of Kolkata, India. He writes extensively on areas such as IT, BFSI, healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, and financial analysis & stock markets. He studied literature, has a degree in public relations and is an independent contributor for several leading publications.
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