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Unconscious Bias at Hyletic

Introduction​

At Hyletic, we believe in fostering a culture of inclusion and diversity. We recognize that unconscious biases can have a significant impact on decision-making and interpersonal interactions within the company. Therefore, we are committed to raising awareness about unconscious bias and implementing strategies to mitigate its effects. In this document, we will explore the concept of unconscious bias, its potential impact, and the measures we have taken to address it at Hyletic.

Understanding Unconscious Bias​

Unconscious biases are social stereotypes and prejudices that individuals hold unconsciously, often influenced by societal norms, personal experiences, and cultural background. These biases can shape our perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors towards others, leading to unintentional discrimination or favoritism. It is important to note that unconscious biases are not intentional or malicious, but rather deeply ingrained and automatic.

Unconscious Biases to look out for (in ourselves and in others)​

  • Affinity Bias: Biased towards people "who make me comfortable"; Biased against people "who make me uncomfortable".
  • Affective Heuristic Bias: Immediate emotional judgement influenced by superficial traits such as race, gender, age, or names.
  • Ageism Bias: The tendency to have adverse feelings/perception about another person based on age.
  • Authority Bias: The tendency to attribute greater knowledge to persons in positions of authority than they may actually possess.
  • Confirmation Bias: People look for ideas or findings that confirm their existing belief.
  • Conformity Bias: Tendency to take cues for proper behavior based on the actions of others. Example: studies show that people are more likely to donate to charity if they know/see others donating.
  • Contrast Effect: A cognitive bias that distorts our perception of something when we compare it to something else, by enhancing the differences between them. For example, your performance evaluation of a team member is affected by the evaluation that you wrote for a different team member just before.
  • Gender: The tendency to prefer one gender over another gender.
  • Height: Tendency to judge a person who is significantly shorter or taller than what is “deemed as socially accepted” human height.
  • Halo Effect: Form of bias which favors one aspect that makes a person seem more attractive or desirable. Example: If we think someone is good looking we might also think that they are intelligible and charismatic.
  • Horn Effect: Opposite of Halo Effect. Form of bias that causes one's perception of another to be overly influenced by one or more negative traits. Example: Someone who has failed the project is always like that and incapable of improving.
  • Name Bias: Form of bias which favors a person based on their name and the perceived origin of their name.

For further reading: Wikipedia has a comprehensive list of cognitive biases that influence us.

Impact of Unconscious Bias​

Unconscious bias can have a pervasive impact on various aspects of the workplace, including recruitment, performance evaluations, decision-making, and team dynamics. Some common types of unconscious bias that may occur at Hyletic include:

  1. Affinity Bias: Preferring individuals who share similar backgrounds, experiences, or interests.
  2. Halo Effect: Forming a positive overall impression of a person based on one positive trait or characteristic.
  3. Confirmation Bias: Seeking out information that confirms pre-existing beliefs or stereotypes and disregarding conflicting evidence.
  4. Gender Bias: Making assumptions or treating individuals differently based on their gender.
  5. Stereotyping: Assigning certain characteristics or abilities to individuals based on their perceived group membership.

These biases can hinder diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, limit opportunities for underrepresented individuals, and create an environment where everyone does not feel valued and supported.

Addressing Unconscious Bias at Hyletic​

We are committed to creating a workplace that is free from bias and where all employees have equal opportunities to thrive. Here are some of the measures we have implemented to address unconscious bias:

  1. Education and Awareness: We provide regular training sessions and workshops to raise awareness about unconscious bias among employees. These sessions aim to help individuals recognize their own biases and understand the impact they can have on decision-making and interactions.

  2. Structured Hiring Process: We have implemented a structured and standardized hiring process to minimize the impact of unconscious bias during recruitment. This includes using diverse hiring panels, blind resume screening, and structured interview questions to evaluate candidates based on their skills and qualifications.

  3. Diverse Interview Panels: To ensure fairness and minimize bias, we strive to include diverse interview panels in the hiring process. This helps to provide different perspectives and reduces the likelihood of biases influencing hiring decisions.

  4. Performance Evaluation Guidelines: We have established clear and objective performance evaluation guidelines to ensure fairness and minimize bias. These guidelines focus on measurable outcomes and job-related criteria, rather than subjective assessments influenced by unconscious biases.

  5. Inclusive Leadership: Our leadership team is committed to fostering an inclusive environment where diverse voices are heard and valued. They actively promote diversity and inclusion initiatives, encourage open dialogue, and lead by example.

  6. Ongoing Evaluation and Improvement: We regularly evaluate our policies, procedures, and practices to identify and address any potential biases. We welcome feedback from employees and encourage them to report any instances of bias or discrimination.### Unconscious Biases to look out for (in ourselves and in others)

Can I test it?​

Unconscious bias is far more prevalent than conscious prejudice and often incompatible with one’s conscious values. Therefore it would be good to have an instrument to detect and fight it. The tool that achieved most popularity both in scientific circles and public is the implicit-association test (IAT), which is a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and University of Washington. It is meant to reveal the strength of one's mental association between certain groups of people and certain traits. It is used to investigate biases in racial groups, gender, sexuality, age, and religion, as well as assessing self-esteem.

Though it has some criticisms, IAT can jumpstart our thinking about hidden biases:

  • Where do they come from?
  • How do they influence our actions?
  • What can we do about them?

Tips on Recognizing and Avoiding Bias​

  1. Understand we all have biases
  2. Determine what your biases are
  3. When you see it block it
  4. Be ok with having an opinion different from the group
  5. Be wary of first impressions
  6. Do research on stereotypes
  7. When working globally understand that your perceptions of bias may simply be the result of a lack of understanding of cultural differences
  8. When making critical business decisions, invite others who can broaden your perspective to help ensure there are no hidden biases in the decision

Strategies for Managing Unconscious Bias in Practice​

The SPACE2 Model of Inclusion - Six evidence based techniques for managing bias in oneself and others:

  • Slowing Down
  • Perspective Taking
  • Asking Yourself
  • Cultural Intelligence
  • Exemplars
  • Expand

Resources​