Unconscious biases are simply part of the corporate culture for a great many companies these days, because we humans unconsciously propagate them.

Without even realizing it, we gather millions of bits of information which are processed by our brains and formatted into patterns. We take it for granted that people should be slotted into categories based on sexuality, ethnicity, gender, profession, and body size, and we then tend to ignore the more important aspects of a person’s humanity and personality.

The prevalence of bias

The prevalence of bias in the corporate culture is so pronounced that we have even managed to pass it along to machines. Specialized equipment capable of artificial intelligence routinely acquires the same biases as humans, after learning from humans. An experiment conducted to prove this called for AI devices to scan through resumes and work histories to find candidates suitable for a professorship opening. After consulting a template with qualifications that were deemed to be desirable, the devices selected 90% candidates who were white males.

In another experiement, the AI machines were tasked with finding suitable candidates to perform kitchen work and food preparation. After ‘learning’ about the skills necessary to accomplish these tasks, the AI devices again chose 90% females as the ideal candidates to do the work.

Ridding the workplace of bias

This is actually an extremely difficult task, primarily because most of our biases are unconscious, i.e. we don’t even realize we have them. However, with a concerted effort and proper backing from management, it is at least possible to avoid the kind of prejudices and biases which are hidden in all of us, and which are manifested in our actions and our words.

Is your work environment up to snuff? 

If your work environment leaves much to be desired, you could be losing employees who wish to seek better working conditions. Contact us at Growth CC if you are interested in obtaining financing for the purpose of improving or enhancing your current work environment.