Five minutes with Kevin Fairbairn, Head of HR at Diageo

Kevin Fairbairn, Head of HR at Diageo, chats about how to build resilience at work. 

How can HR tackle bias within the workplace?

There is clear evidence that a diverse and inclusive culture drives business performance. But bias can get in the way of that. In particular, our ‘unconscious bias’, where our brains make incredibly quick judgments and assessments of people and situations without us realising. Our biases are influenced by our background, cultural environment and personal experiences. Everyone does it. Companies that fail to recognise it and act on it risk cultures where everyone thinks and behaves in a similar way, missing out on the benefits of inclusivity.

To build that inclusive culture, successful companies need to bring in a range of people from different backgrounds. That isn’t enough on its own. Once they’ve found the right people, there is a need to create the right environment to help foster inclusivity and avoid exclusion. That might be helping educate employees in how to understand and be aware of their biases and their potential impact. Or it could be ensuring resourcing decisions are based on objective criteria, with more than one person included in the decision to avoid a line manager thinking: ‘I like them, they’re like me, they’ll fit in here’.