Six Types of Workplace Bias to Watch Out For Every Day

If you think you don’t have any biases, think about an airline pilot. Now think about a nurse, a doctor, and a builder. See what I mean? I grew up in the sixties & seventies in working-class Britain, so I have many unconscious biases hardwired into my brain, even if I don’t think I have. A steady diet of Carry-On films, sexist sit-coms like On The Buses and Man About the House peppered liberally with Benny Hill, and you get what you get. <blockquote> “So, we assess people and situations based on our upbringing, culture or what we’ve seen on the TV. Not on facts.” </blockquote> In one of my last roles, I managed the Diversity Committee, so I had more exposure to D&I material than most of my colleagues. It didn’t stop my unconscious bias, though. At a conference I attended, all the tech went haywire. I was in the audience, so I waited with everyone else while the skinny young Asian guy with glasses tried to fix it. We all chatted, got more coffee, or checked our emails while the tech guy tried to make everything work. Then he disappeared, and a young, plump Pacific Island girl walked in and had a go. To my shame, my first thought was, “What’s that waitress up to?” Then I tried to excuse myself by telling myself that she wore a waitress’s outfit, so it was no wonder I got confused. But no, she wore black pants and a black T-shirt, the same as the Asian guy. <a href="https://medium.com/illumination/six-types-of-workplace-bias-to-watch-out-for-every-day-e9a8dcff5f72">Visit Now</a>