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TikTok, Starbucks, and Tesla were among the swathe of companies that faced accusations of systemic bias in 2023.
Some were upheld in court, some weren’t. The accusations came from employees of White, Black, Hispanic, and other ethnicities. All pointed to the fact that systemic bias, in all forms, is widespread across corporate America.
From May 2020 to August 2021, when calls for addressing racial bias were strongest, America’s 50 largest public companies committed around $50 billion to causes that advance racial equity.
Fast forward to 2024. Many companies have rowed back on investment in DE&I, and several cases of ‘anti-discrimination’ have made the headlines, notably in U.S. colleges including Harvard’s first and only Black president, Claudine Gay.
Amongst the backdrop of political skirmish and countless lawsuits, our view of systemic bias has become skewed. Rather than focusing on addressing systemic bias in all its forms, and therefore the progress that corporate America badly needs, HR finds itself bogged down in a culture war.
It’s tough to avoid the distraction, particularly when it comes from within the organization. But HR has to ditch the debate and rise above to engage fellow business leaders in dismantling systemic bias within organizations, whatever form it takes.
Systemic bias: A very important definition
Firstly, let’s get clear on what systemic bias is.
Systemic bias is when the processes and procedures of an organization or institution tend to support particular outcomes for a certain individual or social group.
Organizations must seek to root these processes, practices, and systems out. This may be to ensure equity of promotion opportunities for employees of all backgrounds; it could be to prevent employee A from earning a higher salary than employee B for doing the same role ceteris parabus; it could be to stop meetings where only the loudest voices are heard.
Virnitia Dixon, EVP, Chief Diversity and Culture Officer at Santander USA, states that at Santander, identifying and eliminating systemic bias is key to maintaining a culture that embodies its values of being simple, personal, and fair.
“Thoroughly evaluating your organization’s end-to-end processes and implementing improvements is important because while most processes were not created with the intention of including bias, it is often written into practice,” she explains.
“Being willing to challenge traditional ways of thinking and putting inclusion at the forefront of culture is one of the most critical ways to mitigate systemic bias.”
Various forms of systemic bias, such as systemic racism, have been proven to carry economic cost. According to Textio, for example, language bias in performance reviews is a driver of poor retention, with those who receive bad feedback 68% more likely to leave the organization than their counterpart.
It may even impact employee decision-making and output. Research on AI bias, for example, found of 14 large language models (LLMs), OpenAI’s ChatGPT was the most left-wing libertarian, and Meta’s LLaMA was the most right-wing authoritarian. This could already be impacting decision-making and output across your organization depending on your LLM of choice.
Addressing systemic bias is therefore an imperative for leaders across divisions and departments. It is vital to improving business decision-making, regardless of the type of bias it is rooting out.
“Formal structures like reporting, analytics, and governance processes can be effective in mitigating systemic bias but helping leaders “unlearn” traditional philosophies and behaviors can have a much greater impact,” says Dixon.
"For example, we recently implemented training for senior leaders on “inclusive interviewing” to help fortify our culture of inclusion and share best practices for effective interviewing.”
Creating a coalition of leadership
HR Grapevine has previously written on steps to consider when tackling bias. But as this topic becomes more controversial and deep-rooted in processes across the organization, perhaps the most important aspect of dismantling systemic bias is buy-in from peer leaders.
“Broad engagement and shared accountability at all levels of the organization builds a culture of inclusion and amplifies diversity, equity, and inclusion as a business imperative,” argues Dixon. “HR may often be at the forefront of addressing systemic bias but without the support and engagement of the entire organization, these efforts often fail.”
Santander US recently launched a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Council with representatives from every business unit and corporate function across the organization, as one of the forums designed to mitigate systemic bias.
“Engaging leaders and creating working groups with both HR and non-HR colleagues can demonstrate a culture of inclusion and bring in perspectives and solutions that may otherwise go untapped,” says Dixon.
Yes, attacking bias in any form will inherently bring on political debate. But bringing together business leadership with the goal of eliminating it in all forms will not only lead to happier, more engaged workforces; it will also deliver better business decision-making.
What steps have you taken to eliminate bias in your organization?
