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Six behavioural shifts that can help reduce bias in hiring and promotions in your business
As an academic, I’ve long studied the problem of increasing employee diversity in companies, and as a consultant, I’ve applied what I’ve learned to help companies hire and promote more fairly. Through this work, I’ve identified six behavioural nudges that together form an effective, well-rounded approach — one that can help executives make better, less-biased decisions in hiring and promotion.
Behavioural nudges to reduce bias in hiring and promotions
Generate ranked criteria for candidates
Recruitment can be overwhelming for both interviewers and candidates. When overwhelmed, people tend to favor the familiar. But a strategic approach can help bring order to the process. According to decision research, having a list of predetermined, prioritized qualifications for a position is key to choosing wisely. The hiring committee should agree on five to 10 qualifications and rank them by importance.
During interviews, the goal is for each qualification and candidate to stand on its own, to shield any assessment from prior influences. After the interview, the interviewer can assign a high, medium or low rating. For example, in hiring for a communications manager, writing and collaboration might be ranked as the two top skills, while web design might be ranked fifth or sixth. Then, when assessing the group of candidates, those who scored high on more important factors would end up ranked higher than those who scored high on less important qualifications. This practice forces assessors to focus separately on each area and score it individually, as opposed to, say, judging the interview to be a total success based on one or two positive elements that may not be essential to the job.
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