Unconscious Bias
in recruitment
practices in australia

It is perhaps a troubling recognition to acknowledge that something we are implicitly unaware of could be stopping us from reaching our highest potential.
However, it is only in recognizing what is hindering us, that we may find a solution to overcome it.

Unconscious bias in the Australian workplace is a relatively newly documented issue. However, business is coming to realise that it has the capability to encumber a company’s potential drastically. Especially when it takes effect within recruitment practice, limiting the diversity of employees in the workplace.

What is Unconscious Bias?

Unconscious bias, sometimes referred to as ‘implicit bias’, is the social stereotyping of certain groups of people that individuals form outside their own conscious awareness. Research suggests that people can act on the basis of prejudice and preconception without meaning to do so.

unconscious bias in australian recruitment practives

There is building evidence that Australia has a consistently growing problem with unconscious bias in recruitment practices. In 2019, The Journal of Education and Work published an exposing report of the widespread unconscious bias in recruitment practices of the engineering, accounting and health care sectors. The report concludes, resoundingly, that:

“Despite employers (specifically, recruitment officers) agreeing with management discourses extolling the benefits of workforce diversity concerning gender, cultural and linguistic capitals, recruitment practices saw unconscious bias exercised against international graduates, thus reproducing monocultural rather than inclusive organisations.”

Despite employers (specifically, recruitment officers) agreeing with management discourses extolling the benefits of workforce diversity concerning gender, cultural and linguistic capitals, recruitment practices saw unconscious bias exercised against international graduates, thus reproducing monocultural rather than inclusive organisations.

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the business benefits of diversity

By reducing the effects of unconscious bias, a workplace can increase their level of diversity. The research regarding the business benefits, manifesting not only in more harmonious workplace culture but also in profitability, is well documented. Multiple studies have identified that “… a company is more likely to be innovative, progressive and sustainable if it is made up of people from a range of backgrounds.”

One of the most influential studies on this topic, that businesses have continuously turned back to, is that of Harnessing Workforce Diversity to Raise the Bottom Line. This publication concluded the benefits of having diversity in the workplace includes:

Higher staff retention
Reduced recruitment costs
More satisfied customers
Access to a wider customer base
Access to new ideas on process and product improvements
Finding it easier to recruit as there will be a far greater market to choose from
Better supply chain management
Higher staff retention
Reduced recruitment costs
More satisfied customers
Access to a wider customer base
Better supply chain management
Access to new ideas on process and product improvements
Finding it easier to recruit as there will be a far greater market to choose from

Instead of thinking about diversity as about equality, in terms of the law or compliance, Australian businesses should now see it as an issue of merit and merit alone. Ultimately, customers want to be served by a company they can identify with, and Australia is an extraordinarily multi-cultural country. Therefore, a sales force limited in diversity, is ultimately limiting the potentiality of the business.

Also, in terms of innovation, and being thought-leaders within your industry, teams made up of mixed ethnicities, backgrounds and genders are more likely to be genuinely more creative than teams made up of the same type of people.

How to overcome unconscious bias in recruitment

Overcoming Unconscious Bias in Recruitment

So, what is the solution? How do we begin to overcome unconscious bias in recruitment practices, to reap the benefits of diversity in the workplace?

Some workplaces are attempting to implement “Unconscious Bias Training”. However, the issue with this method is the paradox that it creates. Even with the training to supposedly identify the issue of unconscious bias, by its very nature, it cannot be recognised in oneself.

Therefore, businesses are turning to recruitment software that utilises data science. The salutary factor of data science is that it does not possess the same inert biases that inevitably come from human experience. The data science gathers quantitative data, collected through psychometric testing of personality, and skill level.

To combat the negative effects of unconscious bias in recruitment practices, Recruiters and TA teams are ardently adopting this technology, leveraging the potential of data science and psychometric research. The processes utilised by the recruitment software is in no way influenced by the race or ethnicity, religious preferences, gender or age of the applicant. Therefore, a business can trust that unconscious bias is completely removed from the procedure of figuring out who is the ‘best fit’ for the role.

How Matchd can Help?

How matchd can help?

In engaging with these ethical and efficient technological innovations, businesses can enjoy the cultural and profit-based benefits of diversity in the workplace. Australian businesses need to seize the opportunity that developments in data science have created, and harness their power to effectively solve the issue of unconscious bias, and the hindrances that it places on business potential.

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Unconscious Bias in recruitment practices in australia

Unconscious Bias
in recruitment
practices in australia