Spotting Affinity Bias in Your Hiring and Your Workplace
By Krista Pouncy-Dyson
Founder of DiversityEmployed.com
Published September 12, 2022 at 12:34 p.m.
Affinity bias is our tendency to gravitate towards — and connect with — individuals who resemble ourselves. Whether it is hailing from the same hometown, sharing the same political views, or being a part of the same race, affinity bias perpetuates homogeneity.
Below are examples of the kinds of thoughts that signal affinity bias:
- "I'm more comfortable with people who look like me."
- "I want to hire people who are just like me."
- "I prefer to be around people like me. I get along with them better than other people."
Affinity bias prompts us to favor people like ourselves.
Inside and outside of the workforce, affinity bias bars us from all of the benefits embedded in diversity.
Here are four tips for avoiding affinity bias in the workplace:
- Be Aware: Recognize that people in your workplace will tend to drift towards others like themselves in the absence of concrete guidance that promotes diversity. This includes you.
- Ask Questions, Question Others: If you notice your organization signaling affinity bias, be ready to ask others about what you are seeing or hearing. Ask leaders how the organization can avoid bias and seek more diversity.
- Get Educated: Seek and share information about affinity bias and how it can prevent your organization from benefitting from more diversity.
- Take Action!
If you’re comfortable doing so, you can tell on yourself when you catch yourself saying or doing something that reflects affinity bias. Others will be more likely to appreciate the higher ideals that you are striving for.
Help your organization gain a competitive edge by hiring, embracing, supporting, and empowering a diverse workforce. Be a force for positive change.
Krista Pouncy-Dyson is the founder of DiversityEmployed.com and managing principal for Performance First Digital, a marketing agency in New Orleans. You can connect with the author on LinkedIn.
Culture vs. Conformity
Help Employees Show Up Authentically
A company culture is problematic when minority employees must communicate inauthentically within teams. Learn more about the difference between promoting company culture and promoting conformity.
Combat Beauty Bias
Avoidng Superficiality
Beauty bias bars us from all of the benefits embedded in diversity while simultaneously letting superficial aspects of an individual, like appearance, detrimentally factor into our decisions.
