5 Types of Bias at Workplace HR Leaders Can’t Afford to Ignore

Bias in the workplace regularly manifests in daily interactions and decision-making. If allowed to fester, it can impact team dynamics, affect retention, and erode trust in a company. According to a Gallup survey, bias at work affects how employees perceive their colleagues, workplace culture, and opportunities for professional growth within an organization.

Bias can be conscious, deliberate prejudices or behaviors, or unconscious, resulting from stereotypical beliefs or presumptions we often unconsciously hold. The latter is typically more challenging to pin down and reform. 

So, how do you deal with unconscious bias in the workplace? What actions are needed to ensure every employee receives equal and impartial opportunities?

As HR leaders, you should take intentional steps to promote a fair and inclusive environment to avoid bias in the workplace. This requires identifying and confronting biases head-on by asking difficult questions, ensuring open channels for communication, and doubling inclusion and diversity (I & D) efforts.

This blog discusses a few common workplace bias examples and how you can effectively address them.

5 Types of Bias in the Workplace and How to Address Them

Here's looking at different types of bias in HRM (Human Resources Management) and how they manifest across organizational practices:

    1. Gender Bias

In simple terms, gender bias occurs when people give preferential treatment to one gender over the other. 

Gender bias can manifest in pay disparities, promotions, recruitment, and, more commonly, assigning roles based on what different genders are stereotypically “better suited for" rather than their skills or potential. For instance, women may be asked to perform administrative or support tasks, like scheduling meetings or planning events, and men may be assigned high-impact projects that drive career advancement.

As per the Global Gender Gap Report 2024, although women account for 42% of the global workforce, they occupy roughly 31.7% of senior leadership roles globally. The figures are even more glaring in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) sectors, where women account for less than 30% of the workforce. Bias or discrimination in gender results from social beliefs and preconceived notions about gender roles and gender identity, which can lead to limiting beliefs on the kinds of roles different genders are expected to fulfill.

One key issue arising from gender bias in the workplace is performance support bias. When leadership and employers are not mindful of equal distribution of opportunities or resources and instead offer support based on gender, this can lead to several issues, such as pay parity, unequal career growth, and workplace fairness. It is important to address such biases and work towards creating an inclusive and equitable workplace.

While company policies are being designed to prevent such instances, and gradual progress has been made over the years, gender bias continues to plague workplace dynamics, career trajectories, and gender representation. 

Organizations can create a non-discriminatory workplace by proactively questioning presumptions, encouraging candid discussions, and ensuring gender-neutral performance evaluations.

    2. Confirmation Bias

Confirmation bias in HRM happens when people form an initial impression about someone and then subconsciously look for proof to back that opinion while discounting possible "red flags.”

For instance, a poor first impression might plague a recruiter's ability to view a candidate positively, or a manager might overlook an employee's recent failures because of their previous accomplishments.

Confirmation bias damages fairness and inclusivity. It limits diverse perspectives, which have been proven to improve decision-making.

So, how do you deal with unconscious bias in the workplace? Employers should ask themselves: Are we making decisions based on objective facts, or are we out to confirm our beliefs? In team discussions, managers should seek input from diverse sources to avoid bias-driven groupthink and be willing to change their stance in light of new evidence.

    3. Attribution Bias 

Attribution bias involves attributing outcomes (positive or negative) to a person's character/disposition while ignoring situational influences that may be at play. 

Attribution bias can subtly appear during performance reviews, recruitment, and promotions. For instance, if an employee constantly misses deadlines, managers may conclude that they lack motivation without factoring in external influences like technical/personal difficulties or a lack of resources that could impact their performance.

In another example, if an individual of color is routinely passed over for promotion to senior positions at a firm, coworkers may attribute it solely to incompetence while ignoring any structural barriers or unconscious bias in the system. This eventually creates a culture of mistrust and hostility, which ultimately reduces productivity and results in employees getting disengaged.

Like gender bias, attribution bias also disproportionately affects women; their failures may be judged more harshly and their successes downplayed. 

To avoid bias in the workplace, performance evaluations should be conducted impartially and objectively. This means refraining from making judgments when you don't have the complete picture and prioritizing 360-degree feedback systems to ensure open communication. That can help ensure skewed judgments don't creep into evaluations.

    4. Appearance Bias

Appearance bias includes subtle judgments that one might make based on how a person appears: tall, short, overweight, beautiful, and so on. There are three broad types of appearance bias to watch for: beauty bias, height bias, and weight bias. 

1. Beauty bias in the workplace, also known as the “halo effect,” occurs when you associate a person's physical attractiveness with their intelligence or capacity for leadership. If an individual has the “beauty advantage," they may be favored during interviews, leading to unfair hiring practices. Studies show that beauty bias also affects an individual’s earning potential. A Harvard study concluded that individuals deemed more attractive made 10% to 15% more during their careers. 

2. Height bias is another prejudice that has a quantifiable effect on an individual's ability to land leadership or authoritative roles. A research study showed that Indian workers who are taller than average make between 9 and 17% more than their shorter colleagues.

3. Weight bias may arguably be the most stigmatized of appearance biases. It impacts people across genders and roles, regardless of their actual abilities. As per studies, overweight employees are 12 times more likely to face workplace discrimination; obese employees are 37 times more likely, and severely obese employees are over 100 times more likely to report bias in the workplace. These evaluations are often based on false assumptions about productivity, work ethic, or health rather than actual performance.

To avoid bias in the workplace, you should concentrate on what truly matters, i.e., an individual’s skills and potential contribution to the team. One way to do that is by omitting photographs or any appearance-related information from resumes. Beyond that, hiring processes can have initial phone screenings before video interviews to vet candidates based on merit and without the influence of appearance bias.

    5. Affinity Bias

Often referred to as similarity bias, affinity bias occurs when we favor those with whom we share traits, backgrounds, or experiences.  A hiring manager might pick someone with whom they share cultural affiliations while ignoring another more skilled candidate with a different background. In another scenario, a deserving employee may be passed over for promotion in favor of someone with a shared caste, religion, or gender. 

Over time, affinity bias in the workplace creates homogeneity and stifles unique and innovative ideas. It also promotes a discriminatory environment and affects employee morale.

Companies need to make intentional efforts to mitigate affinity prejudice. Hiring committees should include diverse interview panels to prevent individual preferences from affecting judgment. Managers should consciously seek to discard impressions of candidates based on their demographics, educational backgrounds, etc.—factors that don't necessarily speak to their skills or team fit.

Building an inclusive workforce

HR leaders aim to constantly challenge assumptions, build awareness through training, and implement systems that prioritize equality and inclusion. Eliminating bias in the workplace also helps organizations attract and retain top talent, which is a huge advantage for organizations in the current unstable economic climate.