After receiving a call from Kwame Nyong about overhearing David’s remark to Angelee at the end of the interview, Pat asks Angelee to come talk to her about the interview. Angelee met with Pat and provided a summary of how she perceived the interview went. After listening to Angelee recite the events of the interviews, Pat thought through Angelee’s description of the interviews to determine if David may have violated any policies or laws in conducting Kwame’s and Judy’s interviews. Pat had worked with David for 15 years and had never thought of David as someone who could have been racist, ageist, or anti-Semitic. During that entire time, there were no complaints made against David, so Pat was very surprised to hear Angelee’s version of the events – but they rang true based on what Kwame had told Pat on the phone.
The next day, Angelee received a call from Pat thanking her for bringing her complaint to Pat’s attention. Pat explained that the company could investigate to determine if David could benefit from some additional training and whether David’s interview questions violated any company policies. Angelee got slightly uncomfortable, saying “Oh, it’s not a big deal, I was just venting. I like David and I don’t want him to get in trouble. But I do think this can be a good learning opportunity for him.”
Pat said, “Your description of the interviews raises some serious issues about David’s behavior in those interviews. I have made note of them and the company takes all complaints seriously as well, including the one from Kwame that led me to talk to you in the first place. I understand you don’t want David to get into trouble and you aren’t comfortable confronting David , but our company does not tolerate any form of discrimination. And if David used anyone’s membership in a protected class as a basis for a hiring decision, we need to know and prevent this from ever happening again.”
“I understand,” said Angelee. “I do think David is a nice guy and a good manager and I don’t think he would intentionally discriminate against anyone, but I do think he jumped to conclusions about Kwame and Judy because of traits like their race, age, and personal life. I just wanted them to have a fair chance at interviewing for the job.”
Pat conducted a workplace investigation into Kwame’s complaint. In addition to interviewing Angelee and Kwame, Pat reached out to Judy and also interviewed David’s direct reports and other colleagues who sat in on interviews with David for different positions. Pat discovered many employees shared concerns like Angelee’s. Pat discovered that the concerns went beyond interviews and reflected on David’s management style as well.
One of David’s direct reports opened up about the performance reviews he received from David. “It’s like David only considers your performance from the month or so before he prepares your performance review and he forgets about the work you did the rest of the year.” Recency Bias💡
Another employee complained that David plays favorites. “If he likes you, he thinks everything you do is great. And if he doesn’t like you, he only sees the flaws in you.” Halo and Horn Effects.💡After completing her interviews, Pat interviewed David. Pat addressed the various complaints and allowed David to respond. David listened to Pat, but Pat could see David was hurt and surprised to hear the negative comments his team made about him. These complaints were unexpected and caught him by surprise. Pat saw David processing the complaints and gave him time to respond. After a few minutes, Pat asked, “So, what is your response to these allegations?”
David quietly responded, “I had no idea my employees felt this way about me. I don’t know how to respond. I’ve always prided myself as an open-minded and non-prejudicial man, but I had no idea people saw me as biased. I’m honestly feeling a little embarrassed, and a little hurt that if they felt this way why they didn’t talk to me or raise these issues before now. I wonder what I might’ve done to discourage or prevent them from talking to me directly. I’m not sure what else to feel right now. I’ve never had anyone complain about me before, let alone accuse me of bias.”
Seeing David’s introspection and genuine surprise, Pat realized this was a learning moment for David. Pat determined that providing David with an understanding of unconscious bias was a better solution for him and the company in the long run than disciplining David.
Pat asked, “David, are you open to attending a class on unconscious bias and learning to recognize when bias affects your decisions and develop skills to avoid unconscious bias?”
Pat could see David’s mood brighten. “I may need a little time to process all this, but I would really appreciate the opportunity to learn and improve my managerial skills,” David said in a genuine tone. “Pat, I don’t feel very grateful right now, but I think that in a few days I’ll be back in your office to thank you for taking the time to look into these issues and allow me to improve as a manager and person.”
Key considerations:
DEI training is a great way of helping employees grow.
Unconscious biases have to be consciously managed Consider whether you have a handle on your own unconscious biases and what steps you’ve taken to minimize the affect such biases have on your workplace decision-making.
Would you like additional resources to learn more about the importance of leadership buy-in and topics discussed in this path?
⚙ Are you a TriNet customer? Learn about DEI Training, click here
⚙ If you are a small to medium-size business interested in learning more about how TriNet can help with talent recruitment, please reach out.
📖 Read about bias in performance reviews. https://hbr.org/2019/01/why-most-performance-evaluations-are-biased-and-how-to-fix-them
⚙ Learn how to eliminate bias in performance reviews. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/eliminate-bias-error-performance-appraisals-11187.html
⚙ Listen to a XPertHR podcast on avoiding unconscious bias. https://www.xperthr.com/hr-podcasts-and-webinars/podcast-dont-let-unconscious-bias-derail-your-workplace/44213/?keywords=reduce%20unconscious%20bias%20recruiting%20hiring&searchrank=5
📖 University of Chicago Booth School of Business article on name bias. https://review.chicagobooth.edu/behavioral-science/2016/article/problem-has-name-discrimination
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