08/02/2022
Recognising unconscious bias
The first step to take when trying to prevent unconscious bias from affecting the workplace is by accepting that unconscious bias is real and that it can negatively impact anyone. There are many online resources that you can use to educate yourself on whether an implicit bias might be affecting your own judgement. From this you be will able to identify and highlight areas within your company that may be affected by unconscious bias which you can change.
By not addressing unconscious bias in the tech industry, it can cause severe problems to arise. It’s simple, your company cannot employ a diverse workforce if unconscious bias hasn’t been addressed in your organisation. It is detrimental to a company to hire candidates who fit a one size fits all mould as it can cause a lack of innovation. Additionally, a lack of diverse employees can also prevent an organisation from empathising with others from around the world. Building relationships with clients and customers from around the world can enable an organisation to stay within the market and will allow you to create solutions which are tailored to all.
Unconscious bias can also impact algorithms which are built in the tech industry. If the industry isn’t diverse, then the algorithms which are built will not adapt to diverse ways of thinking. Facial recognition algorithms that have already been designed, have already shown a 35% higher error rate when detecting the gender of darker skinned women as opposed to lighter skinned men. By removing unconscious bias, organisations can provide algorithms with the information needed to be inclusive for everyone.
Read the complete article here.
The first step to take when trying to prevent unconscious bias from affecting the workplace is by accepting that it is real and can impact anyone.