The race to remove unconscious bias from the workplace

In May last year Starbucks shut down more than 8,000 of its US outlets to deliver a workshop on discrimination and unconscious bias to more than 175,000 employees, following the wrongful arrest of two black men who had sat in a Starbucks shop in Philadelphia without ordering coffee.

The arrest, and Starbucks’ subsequent response, highlighted the need for companies to be aware of the impact that biases have in the workplace, and the workshops took place within a larger trend of companies developing more robust policies concerning diversity and inclusivity. Coupled with the growth of AI, many organisations are investigating and implementing new technologies to address the issue of bias.

"I'm almost 20 years here and over that time there has been a lot of change," says David Lawson, director of IT at Matheson. Matheson was recently recognised at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers Awards Europe 2019 for innovation in diversity and inclusion, and received the ranking of Ireland's most innovative law firm. Earlier this year, they became the first Irish law firm to be awarded the Investors in Diversity silver standard from the Irish Centre of Diversity.

“We’ve moved from what I’d describe as a fairly traditional law firm 20 years ago to now a more diverse and mobile workforce,” says Lawson. “That has really shaped things for us, to help fit a more diverse world. Our focus is on driving a diverse and inclusive workplace where all of our colleagues and their contributions and perspectives are valued and respected.”

Many of the emerging technologies designed to counter biases in the workplace are products aimed to be used by employers at the talent acquisition stage.

It is not just relying on what that AI delivers, it's more about combining the data with the human assessment as well

“There is a big focus on AI at the moment,” says Lawson. “AI can use predictive analysis based on the data that is in somebody’s CV rather than basing it on a face-to-face interaction with that person, that can allow employers to come up with a more abstract assessment of that person’s skills. New technologies allow potential employers to anonymise applications by removing elements such as the applicant’s name, date of birth or gender.”

Fairer approach

Effectively blinding details that are potential areas of bias in recruitment may facilitate a fairer approach for applicants; however, the key role that technology can play in promoting diversity and inclusivity within organisations is through flexibility, suggests Lawson.

“It is not just relying on what that AI delivers, it’s more about combining the data with the human assessment as well. Whilst we continue to invest and deploy technology leveraging and programmes that drive data anonymity, the technology also supports programmes such as our Agile Working programme which we launched earlier this year to enable greater flexibility and work-life blend. We recognise that not everybody works in the same way and to the same schedule, and that agile working arrangements are fundamental to achieving real workplace diversity.”

It is not just in recruitment that diversity and inclusion (D&I) technology may be useful, suggests Helen McCarthy, senior consultant at Mercer Ireland. Earlier this year, Mercer and RedThread Research published a comprehensive overview of how technology can be applied to D&I. The report credits the #MeToo movement as a social flashpoint that has brought into light the effect that unhealthy cultures within companies and organisation can have.

D&I technology can assist employee experience polling, allowing workers to feed back their individual observations and perceptions within the company, with tools that allow anonymous reporting of experience, as well as to anonymously provide or respond to ideas. Services like these can safeguard against biases within an organisation.

Mercer's report indicates that the next 18 months will see a period of continued growth for D&I technologies

“An example of this would be software that analyses communication between different groups and identifies disparities, such as a manager who consistently interacts with men more than women or consistently rates women lower than men,” says McCarthy. “Technology can also help people connect with the right mentors and sponsors, surface innovative ideas, and objectively gauge skills through work sample tests,” she says.

Growing field

D&I technology is a growing field, with software developers providing tools that can introduce a new level of metrics within an organisation, helping companies to reduce unconscious biases in decision-making and to promote diversity and inclusivity. However, there are risks involved as well, according to the Mercer report. These include implementing technology that may itself have a bias, based on the data sets on which the algorithm has been trained, or the biases of developers. The report also points to the danger of D&I software enabling an employee perception of “big-brother monitoring”.

Mercer’s report indicates that the next 18 months will see a period of continued growth for D&I technologies, as more leaders become aware of the need to address and implement effective D&I strategies within their organisations, and larger organisations allocate bigger budgets to the areas.

While a primary focus of current D&I technologies is the recruitment stage, they have potential throughout all levels of an organisation. “D&I technology can help remove bias from people decisions across the talent continuum including talent acquisition, development and advancement, engagement and retention, and analytics,” says McCarthy. Mercer’s report suggests that in the near future, as the market for technology based in the talent acquisition stage becomes crowded, developers will focus on software designed for other levels of the organisation.

“Applied correctly, technology can enable scalable, consistent decision-making while also alerting users to previously hidden patterns of bias,” says McCarthy. “D&I technology has the potential to be a disruptor to the structural biases – whether intentional or not – that hide in our processes and behaviours.”