Have You Ever Experienced Workplace Favoritism: A.K.A Affinity Bias?
Henry, a software developer at a tech startup, starts feeling incredibly frustrated because he always goes above and beyond to hit the project deadlines early and exceed his manager’s expectations. Yet, his colleague, Robert, who often struggles with meeting deadlines and monthly targets, seems to get all the praise and recognition from the manager.
Does this behavior somehow ring a bell to you? We all might have come across a manager or a colleague who has this tendency to extend some extra trust, cooperation, and empathy toward a certain set of people. This is called affinity bias or unconscious bias.
Affinity Bias, also known as similarity bias, is the unconscious tendency to favor those people with similar characteristics, backgrounds, interests, race, sex, gender, or beliefs. It is one’s natural tendency to feel comfortable with a particular person or group, thus favoring them in every situation.
Imagine a workplace where everyone feels valued and respected, where their ideas are heard, and where they can truly be themselves. That's the magic of inclusion. But here's the catch: sometimes we favor people who seem similar to us, even if we don't realize it. This is called affinity bias, and it can get in the way of building a truly inclusive team.
So the key here is to be aware of your natural tendencies and develop the necessary strategies to mitigate their impact in the workplace.
Signs of affinity bias brimming into the picture
Well, the list goes on and on. Workplace favoritism, also known as affinity bias in the workplace, is a serious concern that often goes unnoticed. If your boss or colleague isn’t setting aside their personal preferences in the workplace, it can cause a feeling of neglect, making the other employees feel undervalued or unappreciated. And let’s be honest, none of us want our workplace to turn into a hostile environment where employees always feel demotivated to give their best.
Our aim is to create a safe work environment by identifying situations where we are unintentionally biased toward particular employees or coworkers and implementing the best practices to avoid affinity bias in the workplace.
Here are some best practices to overcome affinity bias in the workplace:
1. Recognize The Pattern
You might always notice that the manager or a coworker favors a particular employee at work. It takes very little time to analyze the pattern. So you must keenly observe and confront that coworker right over there. This helps you and your team understand how favoritism and poor judgment affect the workplace in the long run.
Encourage your coworkers to reflect on their behavior and remind them of the importance of listening to the ideas and suggestions of each coworker without being judgmental. When you proactively avoid the natural bias, you train your team to rely less on stereotypical behavior and make rational decisions based on the numbers.
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2. Develop an anonymous hiring process
If you look closely at your team, you should see a diverse team. How often do you find a team that comes from varied backgrounds? Do you find them showcasing different values and beliefs? Randomization is one of the best ways to create an anonymous hiring process that indulges in no biased behavior. For example, you could make use of third-party software or applicant tracking software to completely rely on skills and experience rather than focusing on demographic data.
This prevents HR managers from developing a personal attachment towards a particular employee that could lead to biased behavior.
3. Streamline the performance review process
Performance reviews are one of the best ways for HR managers to recognize their biased behavior from time to time and avoid it in the future. Being mindful of your assumptions and stereotypes will help you avoid affinity bias in the workplace.
Focusing on your performance metrics and enhancing the performance reviewing process not only reduces affinity bias but also helps you become less subjective and provides more fact-based constructive feedback to your coworkers.
4. Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity
DEI in the workplace is something that shouldn’t be overlooked. It is always best to educate yourself on how to be sensitive in the workplace and conduct sensitivity training for your employees. Taking the right DEI initiatives in the workplace helps you foster a culture of belonging for your employees. It promotes diverse leadership and unbiased hiring practices and provides equal opportunities to all employees, regardless of their background or beliefs.
5. Gather collective feedback
Well, there won’t be much productivity or progress in the workplace unless you receive feedback and improvise the techniques. So it is important to regularly collect feedback from your coworkers to observe the improvement in the practices you have implemented. This creates room for improvisation and helps your employees share their opinions without any fear of retaliation.
Regular feedback helps you uncover the blind spots and address them as and where you see them. Over here, it is also important to value their feedback and ensure that they don’t feel unheard.
In conclusion
The best way to reduce affinity bias in the workplace is by creating a culture of trust, thus promoting a healthy environment for your employees. Moreover, it is best recommended to always acknowledge every tiny accomplishment of your coworkers and cheer them up now and then. This helps you create a work culture where everyone feels valued, heard, and experiences equality and fairness throughout their journey at the company.
To learn more in-depth about the types of biases in the workplace and how to overcome them mindfully, read our recent blog, Navigating Affinity Bias in the Workplace on Calibr.ai, today!
The saddest part; is when the Leader knows or does this knowingly