Are You Biased?
Do your job ads insist on “native English speakers”, “attractive females”, and what you have? Is it about the job and qualifications, or are you biased? How is that bad for business? And since being responsible starts at home, how responsible are you towards your employees, and what message do your HR policies send out to the community, asks Hanan Nagi – coach, speaker, founder and CEO of HNI Training & Coaching.
Looking for a (insert nationality), good-looking female, age below 25 years, for the post of sales executive.
Ever seen such an ad like that before? How do you feel about it? Maybe you have published something similar when you had a vacancy and believed you knew exactly what type of person would fit the job profile. But the question is: Is this really good for your business? While such an ad would be illegal in most western countries, it is acceptable in the Middle East as well as many other regions.
Please allow me to wear my “HR hat” for a minute and tell you a little more about this. There is a long-standing debate about whether advertising such specific criteria (where you are legally able to) is a good idea or not. Those, in favor, usually justify it through their perception of business requirements – the receptionist needs to be an attractive woman, the IT post needs to be filled by an Indian, the senior manager needs to be a westerner, and so on. Sounds familiar?
It is all about assumptions and stereotyping. Have you ever caught yourself generalizing that “all men are like that”, “all women are bad drivers”, and other such blanket statements? If yes, you are not alone. Most people stereotype based on direct and indirect learning.
Direct learning is the outcome of one of your own experiences. For example if someone visits a new country and gets robbed right at the airport, they might generalize and call everyone in that country “a thief”. Is that true? Of course not, but because of the strong emotional reaction (anger and frustration) that this visitor had, their generalized reaction was formed.
Indirect learning is more powerful and dangerous because it is deeply rooted within us. It is what we learn from observing others – especially when we are children and more impressionable – or from friends, family, colleagues, the media, and so on.
Why is it bad for Business?
You might be stereotyping a certain criteria such as age,race or colour, gender. Firstly, age; “After a certain age, people are not productive.” Really? Look back or even around you today and see how many great leaders, entrepreneurs and scientists have been productive until they were very old. Secondly, race and colour; do I need to remind you who the current President of the United States is? Thirdly, gender, Her Excellency Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, UAE Minister of Foreign Trade, who is considered one of the most influential Arab leaders today.
So what is the problem? The problem is that you are advertising for a person, not a job, and that person – that person who is perfect for the job (in your view anyway) – is shaped and specified by these unconscious biases.
Why should you overcome that? Because your business needs diversity in a diverse marketplace, and you might lose out on much-needed skills simply because you look for them in a certain package. It is also because this is the day and age of blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and consumers who are exerting their choices and opinions. Word will get out to your customers and stakeholders and the resulting bad PR could affect your sales, or even land you in a legal mess if you operate in countries with strict laws against discrimination.
Getting it right
So how can you overcome your prejudices? How can you stop being unconsciously biased and get rid of what we call the “halo effect” (hiring people who we believe will do the job perfectly, according to our own assumptions)?
- Bring it to the conscious mind:
Be aware of your unconscious bias and where it comes from. Remember that we did not choose our own race, gender, religion or nationality – and that the opinions you hold are not always yours; they could easily be someone else’s that you have observed, internalized, and now you consider them as your own. - Pause and correct
When you become aware of these biases in your conscious mind and catch yourself stereotyping, stop! Remind yourself that by doing that you are giving your personal power away to old beliefs, which are most probably not really yours. - Question assumptions by taking the opposite point of view
When you or someone else makes an assumption, immediately think of the opposite point of view and ask yourself whether that would be an acceptable, or perhaps an even better choice. So when you catch yourself saying “native speakers are preferred”, ask “do I really think that in this day and age of changing global economic power-centers, non-native speakers are disadvantaged or less qualified?”
Now that you can catch and stop these biases and be more objective, there are a few things you need to do to improve the quality and caliber of the people you hire:
- Advertise for a job, not a person
After you have carefully analyzed the job you are hiring for, create a job specification. List the essential qualifications, skills, competencies, expertise, knowledge and experience that the person doing this job needs to have and invite applications from anyone who meets these criteria.
Remember; keep the essential criteria to the absolute minimum, otherwise, you might disqualify good people because your essential criteria were too high. For example, if you are hiring an office manager, and in the essential educational qualification required you list: “college graduate”, then you might be missing out on great candidates with great experience, who hold a diploma in management instead of a BA.
- Be open-minded about the applicants
If the applicant meets the essential job specification then you should look at your desired criteria which is: what additional skills or talents would I like to have within my team?
Again, you are looking for the best fit to the job vacancy you have, based on skills and experience, not based on that person’s passport details. Interview with an open mind and see how those potential candidates will fit into the culture of the company, interact with their new colleagues, and how can they add value and promote diversity in your workplace.
- Create a genuinely open work culture
Deal with prejudices amongst employees and nip them in the bud. This is more effective through measures like culture appreciation sessions, education and awareness. Develop talent – across the board. Hire managers who share your vision and spread the message down the line. Provide career advancement opportunities that take into account different needs, while reinforcing that what matters is accountability despite the flexibility.
Happy hiring!
About:
Hanan Nagi is an International Trainer, Executive Coach, Personal Development Expert, Writer and inspirational Speaker. She is the producer and presenter of the first coaching and human development TV show, ‘Develop your life’, on DMTV. With more than 16 years of corporate experience in the corporate world in various industries, she has been helping organisations achieve their goals through their people, using training and coaching programmes. She has been recognised for her contribution to excellence and achievement in the people’s field by H.H Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, and has won the Dubai Government Excellence Award.
About HNI Training & Coaching
HNI Training and Coaching as a Dubai training center, is an innovator and leader in human capital development, providing world-class experiential corporate training solutions and services in English and Arabic to organisations in the MENA region. HNI Training and Coaching is amongst the leading training institutes in Dubai that currently offers training courses in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha in 16 different categories.
A wide array of soft-skills development training courses cater to professionals from all organizational levels. We are the only training institute that does not provide, nor support, the typical mundane class-room training delivery. Our training courses help participants to gain hands-on skills during the sessions, ensuring that knowledge is truly gained and retained. Our experiential and practical corporate training solutions have impacted more than 100 top companies so far, and the number is increasing by the day. Whether you are looking for a training center in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Oman, Saudi Arabia or anywhere else in the MENA region, we can bring our training center to you. Our qualified and experienced team of Master Trainers travels across the region to bring training courses to your doorstep. All you have to do is go through our corporate training courses and contact us on info@hni.ae for further information.
By: Hanan Nagi
Founder & CEO
HNI Training & Coaching
Edited by: Hadeer Salah Aldeen