Episode 60 | Exploring the Human Side of Unconscious Bias at Work

Episode Notes:

Dr. Laura welcomes Tina Varughese, keynote speaker and one of Ignite magazine’s top ten notable speakers in Canada, to the show to talk about unconscious bias at work and the human side of this hot button topic. Tina has been speaking on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for many years, and unconscious bias was a natural addition to her keynotes as she recognized the critical importance of understanding it.

Tina Varughese defines unconscious bias as “learned behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that sit in our unconscious state”. They are not things we are both with, but things we absorb over time. She identifies seven key areas in which we hold unconscious bias: gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, age, weight, and disability (physical and emotional). Tina and Dr. Laura discuss how biases in each of these areas affect our work and workplaces, how we are largely unaware of our unconscious biases, and why leaders need to act on unconscious bias. Tina’s candor and insight shed light on things we may not have considered, things that unconsciously affect our interactions with colleagues and our experiences at work.

“I think the most common, or the ones that probably come into play in the workplace the most, would be racial bias, gender bias, parental or maternal bias, and affinity bias. Affinity bias being the one that’s the most difficult to recognize in the workplace because we’ll say things like, ‘Oh, she’ll make a great culture fit’, or ‘he won’t make a great culture fit’, when in essence, that might actually be our affinity bias at play. And that’s why we really need to interrupt that, because at the end of the day we might be screening someone out when we could have screened them in, and they might have been a great organizational fit…”  Tina Varughese

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