![]() Conversely, I wondered how aware I am of the physiological changes that occur inside me, when I am around people who are different from me, without even realizing they are happening. However, as my main point of focus is on affinity bias, I found myself wondering how often I notice that I am breathing easier around people who are like me. We could focus on customer service and discuss the vagaries, and rights and wrongs, of off-shoring or whether the customer feels heard and the impact of language, accent, tone of voice, and pace of speech on our ability to listen. There are many ways we could unpack this story. My breathing began to normalize, I started to feel more relaxed, and I began my story again-feeling more confident that I was “in good hands” and, this time, would reach a satisfactory resolution. How can I help you?” I asked her where she was located, and she said she was in Indiana. A few minutes later I heard an American voice: “Hello, this is Mary. Instead I asked to be put through to a supervisor. I finally asked her where she was located, and she said, “The Philippines, but I am very well trained.” I detected some, perhaps understandable, defensiveness in that answer however, I hesitated to tell her my inner thoughts at that time (being that she was indeed very well trained to read the script, but only the script). No matter what I said, I could not get her to understand what I needed. My blood pressure was rising and my patience was wearing thin. No matter what question I asked her, she repeated the same scripted response. The young woman who answered the phone had a shrill, high-pitched voice, and spoke quickly and incessantly in a monotonous tone, suggesting to me that she was reading from a script. For example:Ī few weeks ago I had occasion to call a customer service number for assistance with one of my recent purchases. Part of the human condition?Īffinity bias shows up in all kinds of subtle ways-often unnoticed-and can impact our choices of whom to trust. Affinity bias is not the exclusive right of the dominant culture, and yet there exists an interesting and paradoxical phenomenon in that it is still much more difficult for people from subcultures to hire or promote people in their own image (a subject we will return to in the next article). We all have a predisposition towards affinity bias, regardless of our race, culture, gender, or other diversity group membership(s). That may be accurate, but it is only one piece of the story. When we talk about affinity bias in the context of the workplace, the subtext of that conversation implies that we are asking the dominant culture-namely white men-to recognize that we need more diversity. If affinity bias means being biased towards “people who make me comfortable” or “people who are like me,” then, surely, somewhere tucked in the recesses of our minds are the shadows of these thoughts-“people who make me uncomfortable” and “people who are not like me.” And, let’s be honest, who in their right mind wants to surround themselves with people who make them uncomfortable? In truth, we all have a natural propensity to want to be around people we can relate to and, if we are honest, have a really hard time contemplating the contrary. So why is it that, simultaneously, hallway discussions about reverse discrimination, political correctness, and whether or not we have gone too far with the D & I agenda, continue? Some of my clients are removing names from resumes during the first round of the recruitment process to limit initial bias. To mitigate affinity bias in the hiring process, many corporations have engaged diverse recruitment panels to add different perspectives to the hiring discussion. However, as corporations seek to recruit and retain diverse candidates, they are turning the spotlight more and more on our natural human tendency towards affinity bias-towards hiring (and promoting) in our own image. These requirements cause us to look for candidates who are not only professionally skilled, but are also people we can relate to. Understandably, corporate hiring practices are set up to find people who are a “good fit” for the organization, people who will bring value to the team. It is true that affinity bias is most often defined in the context of the hiring process-when interviewers show a preference for candidates who are similar to themselves-but I would argue that it has much more wide-ranging ramifications. If I were to make a hierarchical list of unconscious biases and their impact on retention and the talent pipeline, “Affinity Bias” would surely be a top contender. Is it realistic to believe that we can keep it from happening or manage our way out of it? Or is affinity bias such an entrenched part of human behavior that we cannot hope to change it? #Affinity bias seriesPart III of the series The Illusion of Inclusion ![]()
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