Addressing Unconscious Bias in the Workplace The impact of unconscious bias on individual and organisational outcomes In 2015, the IPA published its report on diversity and inclusion and employee engagement calledDiverse Voices. Our research found that there are gaps in engagement across various groups of theworkforce and that one possible explanation for this could be the impact of unconscious bias onindividual and organisational outcomes. An extensive literature review, in-depth interviews at six case study organisations and interviewswith experts in the field of diversity and inclusion suggested that the effect of unconscious bias canbe quite detrimental to organisations and at an employee level - could lead to low levels ofengagement and productivity and have a negative impact on staff morale. Unconscious bias alsoinfluences how an organisation recruits and promotes staff and how learning and developmentresources are shared between various groups. Unconscious bias training programmes To tackle this issue, organisations are spending millions of dollars commissioning unconscious biastraining programmes. It is estimated that in the US alone, organisations have spent over $8 billion ontheir annual diversity and inclusion training (including unconscious bias awareness). However, therehas been little research to assess the impact of such programmes. Some studies have shown thatunconscious bias training programmes at tech companies like Google haven’t delivered the desiredoutcomes. There is also research which suggests that poorly conducted training programmes thatmake it mandatory for employees to attend can actually increase bias amongst trainees.Nevertheless, organisations continue to invest considerable time, money and effort incommissioning these sessions. In this report, we first define what unconscious bias is and explore the various types of biases thatare known to have great impact on organisational culture and processes. Implicit Association Test (IAT) We briefly discuss the Implicit Association Test (IAT) which is the most widely used tool to measureimplicit bias and elaborate on the various ways in which unconscious bias training programmes canbe tailored to better meet the needs of organisations and their staff. Our view is that before an organisation commissions a training programme on unconscious bias, itshould ensure that it has in place the structures, policies and procedures to recognise, address andmitigate the impact of unconscious behaviours. It is extremely important that organisations firstcreate an inclusive culture and take a holistic approach to tackling issues of equality, diversity andinclusion and not expect training session(s) on unconscious bias or diversity and inclusion to solve allissues related to equality and diversity. We also discuss the important role of the leadership team incultivating and sustaining such a culture. The full report, Addressing Unconscious Bias in the Workplace, can be downloaded here Contact Us for more information Manage Cookie Preferences