This post is co-authored by Professor Joan C. Williams (Equality Action Center) and Jonathan Njus (W.K. Kellogg Foundation). Drawing on extensive research and deep collaboration with the Equality Action Center (EAC) and leaders across the Expanding Equity network, we’re launching a three-part blog series – How Leaders Can Build the Best Teams. This series is designed to equip HR and other business leaders, middle managers and frontline supervisors with practical tools to level the playing field for all workers and build high-performing, inclusive and productive teams. Join EAC’s Bias Interrupters to get access to more evidence-based metrics-driven tools for creating a consistent employee experience in HR systems and in workplace interactions.
Hiring is a powerful tool leaders have to shape their team’s diversity, strength and success. However, even with the best intentions, bias in the hiring processes can still unintentionally screen out top talent. When that happens, leaders weaken their teams’ ability and potential to innovate, collaborate and thrive. This post shows how hidden bias shows up in hiring, why it matters and the research-backed strategies that help leaders build the fairest processes and the strongest teams.
This post shows how hidden bias shows up in hiring, why it matters and the research-backed strategies that help leaders build the fairest processes and the strongest teams.
What Does Bias in Hiring Look Like?
When bias creeps into the hiring process, organizations restrict who they hire and limit how they perform. Research from numerous studies using matched resumes, where candidates have identical qualifications but differ on one characteristic, consistently shows that applicants from some groups face higher barriers to being hired (Bertrand & Mullainathan, 2004; Moss-Racusin, et. al 2012; Mishel 2016; Correll, Bernard, & Paik, 2007; Rivera & Tilcsik, 2016).
The Evidence of Bias in Hiring is Striking:
- For example, candidates who listed elite hobbies like “polo, sailing, and classical music” were 12 times more likely to get a callback than candidates who listed “pickup soccer, country music, and mentoring other first-gen students” (Rivera & Tilcsik, 2016).
- And candidates who listed membership in the PTA experienced a 79% drop in callbacks and $11,000 reduction in offers, despite identical resumes (Correll, Benard & Paik, 2007).
4 Evidence-Based Strategies for Fair and Consistent Hiring
Building the best teams starts with having the best hiring practices. These four evidence-based practices can expand who’s in the mix and who has a fair shot:
1. Recruiting: Cast a Wide Net: Insist on a diverse candidate pool by:
- Tap the full talent pool: Build relationships with networks that offer access to a broad range of talent, attend conferences where diverse talent shows up and consider an internship program to upskill high-potential talent that might otherwise be overlooked, including first-generation professionals.
- Don’t hire from a narrow group of exclusive schools: Hire for the skills you need instead of requiring specific degrees from select universities. Affluent students typically are very heavily overrepresented in top universities. Since first-generation students tend to attend colleges closer to home, managers should hire from multiple tiers of schools.
- Sharpen your job announcements: Including unnecessary requirements on job postings can unintentionally deter applicants. Masculine-coded words like “leader” and “competitive” reduce women applicants, and physical requirements can deter otherwise-qualified applicants with disabilities. Including words like “responsible” and including salary ranges and paid leave policies boosts overall applicants.
2. Referring: Double Check Employee Referrals: While employee referrals can bring in quality candidates, they can overlook much of the talent pool because people’s networks typically consist of people like them: “like likes like.” Moreover, referred candidates typically receive more lenient evaluation and faster processing. To address this bias:
- Keep track of who’s coming in through referrals and other means; if one group is overrepresented in referrals, make targeted efforts to generate referrals from a broad range of groups.
- Make sure you have a standardized review process for referrals and they meet the same job-related criteria as all other applicants.
3. Screening/Interviewing: Apply the Same Standards for All Groups: Establish evaluation criteria and rubrics before reviewing any candidates, and rate each candidate on each criterion, with ratings supported by two or three pieces of evidence. Research shows that bias often emerges through inconsistent evaluation, such as rating men on future potential while judging women on past performance. At the same time, because men are more often viewed as “leaders,” they are described as competent, self-reliant, ambitious, decisive and assertive, while women are described as nice, warm, patient and polite. This means the company is choosing between good team players versus leaders, instead of evaluating the leadership skills of all candidates.
4. Reviewing: Structure Your Interview Process for Consistency: Unstructured resume reviews and interviews are especially vulnerable to bias because subjective impressions can override objective evaluations. Instead, utilize:
- Scoring rubrics: Identify specific requirements before hiring and grade all candidates on the same requirements, and have reviewers write down their ratings before the debrief conversation.
- Behavioral questions: Don’t ask if they have desired behaviors – ask them to describe times they exhibited that behavior.
- Skills assessments: Allow candidates to show job-relevant skills beyond answering interview questions, which should be made available asynchronously or onsite.
Use Metrics to Uncover Bias
Tracking hiring data can uncover patterns, allowing leaders to identify where bias may be influencing decisions. Consider tracking:
- Who is getting rated high on potential versus performance;
- When criteria are waived and for whom; and
- Where personality is being discussed instead of qualifications.
Building Teams That Thrive
Hiring should be a fair process, but it’s often skewed in favor of the dominant group in a workplace, because a lack of structure makes the process too informal and too subjective. If organizations want to give every candidate a fair chance, they need to be intentional about ensuring a structured and objective process. This results in confidence that you hired the best candidate and pulled from a more diverse and qualified applicant pool. The strategies outlined here represent proven methods to ensure consistency and fairness in the hiring processes.
This is part of our series on How Leaders Can Build the Best Teams. The previous blog provided an overview on how bias can show up in the workplace and what steps you can take to ensure consistency and fairness.
Next up: Part Two explores fair and effective management practices that help teams thrive once they’re assembled.
Ready to build the best teams?
The Expanding Equity Core Program is a free, online resource and cohort of professionals designed to help leaders create and implement the policies and practices that create fair and inclusive workplaces.
Join an upcoming info session to learn more.
Also consider joining Equality Action Center’s (EAC) Bias Interrupters Workshop being held this fall and next winter.
- Bias Interrupters are evidence-based metrics-driven tools for creating a consistent employee experience in HR systems and in informal workplace interactions. EAC will be working with companies in improving one or both of the following business systems:
- Performance Evaluations: Companies will learn effective strategies to change their evaluation process and forms to ensure all employees receive fair, evidence-based, and action-oriented feedback; and
- Access to Opportunities: Companies will learn strategies for managers to ensure everyone on their teams has access to career-enhancing work – and nobody is saddled with a disproportionate burden of office housework.
- The series will consist of three working sessions each and EAC will hold office hours for companies who seek individualized help.
- If you are interested in learning more about this opportunity, please contact Rachel Korn at EAC ([email protected]).