In this article, you’ll learn:
- What bias is and how it influences decisions at work
- Why addressing bias is essential for Diversity, Inclusion, Equality, and Purpose (DIEP)
- The impact of bias on employees, leadership, and business performance
- A real-world example of how reducing bias improved hiring diversity
Bias shapes everyday decisions, from who gets hired or promoted to who is heard in a meeting. While bias is a natural part of how the brain processes information, it can also lead to unfair outcomes, missed opportunities, and underrepresentation across teams and leadership.
When companies understand how bias works and build systems to reduce its influence, they create workplaces where fairness isn’t just an ideal, it’s a practice.
What is bias?
Bias is a mental shortcut—a tendency to favor or avoid certain people or ideas based on assumptions rather than evidence. Bias can be explicit (conscious) or implicit (unconscious), often operating without awareness.
In the workplace, bias shows up in hiring, team collaboration, performance reviews, leadership development, and more.
Common types of workplace bias:
- Affinity bias: Favoring people who share similar backgrounds or interests
- Gender bias: Associating roles or abilities with specific genders
- Confirmation bias: Looking for information that supports pre-existing views while ignoring other evidence
Even when unintentional, bias can limit inclusion, innovation, and equity across the company.
The impact of bias
On employees:
- Limited advancement: Underrepresented employees may be overlooked for promotions or leadership roles
- Reduced engagement: When employees don’t feel valued, they disengage
- Lower psychological safety: Employees may hesitate to speak up or take risks if they fear being judged unfairly
- Increased turnover: Talent walks away when they don’t see pathways to grow
On companies:
- Homogenous leadership: A narrow decision-making lens can lead to blind spots
- Weaker innovation: Teams lacking diverse perspectives are less effective in solving complex problems
- Legal and reputational risks: Bias can lead to discrimination claims and damage public trust
- Missed talent: Biased processes overlook highly qualified candidates who don’t “fit the mold”
When bias is left unchecked, companies lose out on the full potential of their people.
Case study: reducing bias in hiring
A leading tech company discovered that qualified women and underrepresented candidates were advancing less often in its recruitment pipeline.
To address this, the company introduced two simple but powerful changes:
- Anonymous CV screening: Personal details like name, age, gender, and university were removed to focus solely on qualifications and skills
- Structured interviews: All candidates were asked the same questions and scored using a consistent rubric
The result?
- More diverse hires—especially in technical and leadership roles
- Increased trust in the hiring process
- A stronger, more inclusive company culture grounded in fairness
This case shows that tackling bias is not just about awareness , it’s about designing better systems.
Moving from awareness to action
Addressing bias requires more than good intentions. It takes clear, consistent action at every level of the company.
What companies can do:
- Audit decision-making processes to identify where bias may show up
- Standardize hiring and performance evaluations with clear criteria
- Invest in inclusive leadership training to build awareness and accountability
- Embed DIEP principles across the talent journey—from recruitment to retention
Bias is not just an individual issue, it’s a structural one. And it requires structural solutions.
Bias shapes decisions, often without us knowing it. But when companies actively reduce bias, they open up access, strengthen diversity, and create cultures where people succeed based on talent, not assumptions.
