Addressing Biases at the Workplace: A Conversation with Industry Experts

Ungender organised a conversation around addressing biases in workplaces. The speakers in the panel included, Tina Vinod (Global Head, DE&I, ThoughtWorks), Richa Singh (AVP HR – Diversity and Inclusion, Max Life Insurance), Lakshmi Sreenivasan (Psychotherapist) and Ritushree Panigrahi (Lead, Project 100, Ungender). The panel discussed what biases are, how biases affect diversity and inclusion mandates within workplaces, how leaders can address workplace biases and how professional environments are affected by biases.

The conversation started with an understanding of what biases mean to industry experts and how it impacts workplaces. The speakers spoke of how unconscious bias is something that affects all industries and how awareness is the first step towards to overcome these biases. Richa Singh said,

“How do leaders become inclusive despite their biases? The very first step that leaders need to take, is to be aware, introspect, reflect, look within yourselves and understand what these biases are. And how do these biases come into the way of making business decisions. Why hiring somebody, is a bias like gender bias coming into my mind? Why appraising someone for the next promotion, affinity bias coming into my mind…As mature leaders we are able to reflect on our own behaviour, we are soon able to understand what unconscious biases are.”

There were also discussions on how a lot of time unconscious biases are also biases that tend to exist due to where an individual comes from. Moreover, environmental factors like what influences a person’s thinking also plays an important role in addressing unconscious biases. Tina Vinod said,

“In the context of the workplace…when we develop content for a [bias training] workshop…we encourage internal storytelling. The stories are not from outside…And I cannot tell you how many stories and how it has impacted people.”

Lakshmi Sreenivasan brought up the very important issue of heteronormativity that continues to plague unconscious biases for corporate structures. These biases were discussed to be something that is not outrightly noticed by many. This lack of awareness impacts managerial positions. Consequently, they also create hindrances while reimagining a diverse and inclusive workforce. Lakshmi says:

“If you are looking at the inclusivity and diversity workshops, you are looking through the heteronormative lens. And if that heteronormative lens does not get challenged we will still be having the same conversation – ‘Oh yes, you should be thinking about women…feminism…women’s day.’ Our diversity and inclusion also becomes stereotyped in many, many ways…I think the reimagination is really not happening.”

Ritushree also spoke of Ungender’s initiative of #Ungenderforms on Trans* Visibility Day. The conversation then moved on to how organisations are still obstructed by binaried questions and why they are not changing. How then can bias training programs or awareness workshops work towards removing these gendered biases?

The panellists spoke about how unconscious biases exist in a way where individuals do not understand how they may be excluding a section like the PWD community or the LGTBQ+ community. It is only when D&I leaders take important initiatives within organisations and ask questions does introspection within leaders takes place.

The panellists also spoke of how the journey of employee starts from point of hiring and biases also start from hiring. Moreover, the concepts of equality and equity were discussed which then paved the way to raising questions about how resistance and biases affect diversity and inclusion within workplaces. The panellists discussed equity-based hiring as well as biases in job mapping and matching.

The panellists spoke about the importance of gender-neutral language and how certain roles are defined. Consequently, only through constant sensitization and bias training programs are interviewers able to control these unconscious biases that stem up during the interview process. Consequently, accelerating change then comes from numerous conversations. Richa said:

“It comes from a lot of sensitizations, lot of awareness and even sensitizing leaders.”

The panel closed with a few questions from the audience. These questions ranged from the audience asking what positive biases are and how positive biases can be inculcated. The panellists closed with their notes on how technology also intersects with biases. The panel closed with Ritushree mentioning how diversity and inclusion is progressing within corporate sectors and from a thank you note from Rutuja (Head of Growth, Ungender).

Ungender Insights is the product of our learning from advisory work at Ungender. Our team specializes in advising workplaces on workplace diversity and inclusion. Write to us at contact@ungender.in to understand how we can partner with your organization to build a more inclusive workplace.