Unconscious Bias and Equality in the Workplace

Photo Credit to Sharon McCutcheon

On 12 August 2020, FELIZ Consulting, in partnership with the EOC (Equal Opportunities Commission) and Cyberport, held a successful webinar on “Equality at Work and What Has Changed With COVID-19.” This webinar included a talk on Unconscious Bias featuring our Founder and CEO, Mônica Zionede Hall, followed by a Panel Discussion with experienced professionals who are dedicated to making the workplace fairer and more equal. Thanks to the panelists and over 120 registered participants, we had a meaningful and fruitful discussion on the impact of COVID-19 around Equality and how we can do better. In light of this, we wish to share with you the key takeaways from the event through this article!

If you are interested in the webinar, you can view it here. 

What were some of the Takeaways from the Unconscious Bias Talk?

To get a better grasp of the big heading "Equality," it is crucial to first understand the concept of Unconscious Bias, and how it affects us. First of all, what is it? Unconscious Bias is a bias that we are unaware of and operates outside of our conscious control. It refers to the associations that we have in mind, the shortcuts our brains use to organize information and occurs likely outside of our consciousness. Unconscious Bias is a normal phenomenon as it is the way our brains operate, a survival tool. According to research, we only process (consciously) 40 out of 11 million pieces of information per second. Unconscious Biases are not necessarily all bad, as they allow us to assess risks quickly, which is a survival tool. The problem is that unconscious biases and assumptions are still playing a big role in our actions, decisions, and interactions in life and the workplace. It is making us perform quick judgments of other people, leading to racism, prejudice, favoritism, and more negative behaviors, without consciously knowing and being mindful of these thoughts. Instead, we should work on becoming more aware of our biases, bringing the unconscious to the surface, having a growth mindset, learning from mistakes, and situations to help drive more fairness and equality.

How does unconscious biases affect us more than we know?

According to research, we end up:

1)  Making quick judgments and sometimes they are misaligned with our core beliefs,

2)  We make mistakes and may try justifying it rather than learning from it,

3) Our self-expectations about being a good person are usually fixed, unreasonable, and leave no room for personal learning. 

According to psychologist and author Dolly Chugh, a lot of us focus on a certain “perfection state” (e.g. I am good, I am not racist, I am this or that, having very fixed ideas) rather than seeing that even when we are well intentioned, we still make mistakes and have blind spots. We are all a work in progress.

Like in one of FELIZ Consulting's training, a participant said 'I am conscious not to give my colleague more work and a push for a promotion with our manager because she is a single mother." Even though the comment comes well-intentioned, it implies that she has a perception that the single mother may not have the time or capability, the desire, or the know-how to do the additional job. This might be good-hearted, but it is based on assumptions. What is another way to deal with it? A better way to deal with it is to ask questions about the person's aspirations, ambitions, and goals, rather than make assumptions.

Biased behavior can affect hiring, staffing, promoting, business development, day to day interactions, work relationships leading to discrimination, racism, sexism, favoritism, and so forth.

Fortunately, unconscious bias is something that can get mitigated. The first step is to identify our unconscious biases and bring the unconscious to our consciousness to the best of our abilities. This requires all of us to adopt a "growth mindset" instead of a fixed mindset, as explained in Carol Dweck's research. Practically speaking, what does it mean? We should be careful not to assume we already know best or that things are supposed to remain static. By internalizing growth, we allow ourselves to pay more attention to people's cultures, gender, and sexuality, their likes, and obstacles they might face. We can develop ourselves and help others develop too. The second step is to actively reflect on our daily behavior. Sometimes what gives people hard feelings are minor gestures or unintended words. To improve ourselves and our society, we need to start reflecting on the repercussions of our actions. 

According to the research of Carol Dweck, when we adopt a growth mindset, we can all learn and improve - and this idea allows us to look at our biased behavior with a bit more kindness knowing that we are not perfect and we can learn every day. We need humility. 

As Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioural Science at University of Chicago Booth School of Business says, “one of the more basic and fundamental findings in all of behaviour science is the result suggesting that people at times can sometimes be inconsistent and maddening. They believe in something but then go out and do something else, they report having a strong good intention but then go do something bad. Our minds seem to be a bit of a mystery to us. We don’t seem to know ourselves that well.” Can we relate?

We want to treat men and women equally and fairly, but the #metoo movement highlighted how sexism and gender inequality are still present in modern society. We want to respect people regardless of the color of their skin, but the explosion of the #blacklivesmatter movement in recent months shows us that there is still a lot of work to get done, and how systemic racism is a significant problem. In terms of LGBTQ+ rights, we have seen progress, but again there is a long way to go. And looking at recent news and research, we see these issues have only intensified during the last 6 months with COVID. 

The truth is, most of us sincerely want to be good people, and yet we sometimes act in ways that are not consistent with our ideals and beliefs, often without us being aware. 

An interesting exercise to help develop our understanding of ourselves and empathy is by considering our headwinds/tailwinds. Headwinds and tailwinds, two terms borrowed from aeronautics, refer to the obstacles and privileges that we have respectively. For example, your headwinds might be your ethnicity, gender, and schooling level, and your tailwinds might be your family background and religion. Reflecting on your headwinds and tailwinds helps us cultivate a sense of empathy, in turn allowing you to step into the shoes of others. It  is also useful to complete the Implicit Association Test to help figure out what are some of your unconscious biases. 

After all, performing these exercises and reflections are all ways of demonstrating your desire to be a better and more “unbiased” fair person. It is essential to acknowledge that we are all a work in progress. No matter how liberal and open we believe we are, there is always room for improvement. The gist is to make yourself more open-minded to different cultures, experiences, views, and opinions so that together we can build a more inclusive and diverse society. 

Takeaways from Panel Discussion:

During the Panel Discussion, we gained a really solid and stimulating understanding of how COVID-19 is affecting workplace and equality. One positive from COVID-19 is the reduction of "physical competition" that we often see in the workspace. In an office setting, we constantly feel the pressure to stay at work longer than our supervisor and contribute the longest hours to be seen as a "good employee". With WFH (work-from-home) arrangements in place, this is no longer the norm - who accomplishes the most efficiently gets visibility over who stays late in an empty office space. As Nina Atimah, Regional Head of Risk Management at HSBC Hong Kong said in the panel discussion that one of the things underrepresented groups may see after COVID-19 is a leveling of the playing field. There is more focus on output rather than face time, and being the first one in the office and the last one to leave is no longer a measure of commitment and performance. 

The panelists also offered constructive advice and motivation for our fellow female professionals. On paper, Hong Kong is a city where different genders and ethnicities are sufficiently protected by the law. However, the subtle discrimination in the workplace is still prevalent and deeply ingrained in our systems. These are situations where discrimination can sometimes get hard to identify and punished by the law. The EOC is constantly working on it to make a difference and a positive impact. Peter Reading, Senior Legal Counsel at the EOC, shared key amendments to the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, which protects women from sexual harassment in common workplaces, and will include protection from direct and indirect discrimination, as well as victimization for breastfeeding women from June 2021. This Act should go some way in reducing discrimination faced by new mothers in the workplace and also help them return to work after maternity leave.

Facing injustices, we must speak up, regardless of our role being the victim or a bystander. Only by calling out inappropriate behavior can we bring awareness and help others see this as well. On how to be a better ally, this TED Talk provides some really interesting insight.

What is next?

We hope this brief overview of the talk and discussion has been helpful to you. Beyond Unconscious Bias training, FELIZ Consulting provides a host of other topics for executive coaching and corporate training. We have extensive experience working with several notable law firms and organizations including King & Wood Mallesons, DLA Piper, Pinsent Masons, Bryan Cave, The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited, Securities and Futures Commission, the Equal Opportunities Commission, and others. We use evidence-based training materials to help you and your teams develop at work and in your life. We offer 1:1 or small group coaching sessions, as well as different types of training to suit yours and your company’s specific needs. 

For more information, see www.felizconsulting.com or drop us an email at [email protected]

Written by Alice Tsui, FELIZ Consulting

References:
Ted Talk: Carol Dweck https://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve?language=en 

“The headwinds/tailwinds asymmetry: An availability bias in assessments of barriers and blessings” https://content.apa.org/record/2016-56495-001 

“Headwinds and tailwinds: A framework to build empathy” https://patriciagestoso.com/2018/11/20/headwinds-and-tailwinds-a-framework-to-build-empathy/ 

Book: The Person you Mean to Be by Dolly Chugh 

Ted Talk: Dolly Chugh https://www.ted.com/talks/ dolly_chugh_how_to_let_go_of_being_a_good_person_and_become_a_better_person?language=en 

Book: Blindspot by Mahzarin R. Banaji, Anthony G. Greenwald Everyday Bias by Howard J. Ross