Bias in the workplace isn’t always obvious, but it’s always impactful. Bias often influences key decisions like hiring, promotions, and day-to-day interactions, sometimes without us even realizing it.
Whether it’s shaping hiring decisions, influencing promotions, or affecting daily interactions, bias can hold companies back from building truly diverse, inclusive, and high-performing teams.
From unconscious bias to affinity bias, these hidden barriers can affect everything from innovation to employee morale. The good news? Once we recognize them, we can take actionable steps to address them.
In this blog, we’ll explore 6 common types of workplace bias, how they show up, and – most importantly – how to tackle them head-on.
1. Unconscious Bias: The Invisible Barrier
Unconscious bias happens when we make snap judgments or decisions about people based on stereotypes, experiences, or preferences we don’t even know we have. This kind of bias can impact hiring decisions, team dynamics, and leadership choices – all without anyone even realizing it!
How to address unconscious bias:
- Training: Start by providing regular training to raise awareness around unconscious bias. The more we know, the better we can address it!
- Diverse decision-makers: Bring in a variety of voices when making decisions – especially when it comes to hiring or promotions.
- Use data: Analyze hiring and retention data to spot any patterns that might point to unconscious bias as a culprit of siloed decisions.
2. Gender Bias: The Long-Standing Roadblock
Even in 2025, gender bias remains a huge issue in the workplace. Whether it’s unconscious assumptions about leadership capabilities or unequal pay, gender bias affects women and men in different ways, often leaving women at a disadvantage.
How to address gender bias:
- Pay transparency: Implement clear, consistent pay structures, and conduct regular audits to ensure pay equity. (BC employers, you’re legally compelled to do this!)
- Support Flexibility: Foster a flexible environment that supports all genders in balancing work and personal life.
- Mentorship programs: Create mentorship programs to support women’s advancement in the workplace.
3. Racial and Ethnic Bias: The Barrier to True Diversity
Racial and ethnic bias can take many forms – from hiring practices that favour certain groups to the unspoken dynamics of office culture. It's not always obvious, but it's there. And it’s hurting your company.
How to address racial and ethnic bias:
- Blind recruitment: Consider removing identifying information from resumes to ensure that hiring decisions are based solely on skills and experience.
- Safe spaces: Encourage open conversations about race and ethnicity to help raise awareness and address any concerns.
- Create a DEI ethos and strategy: A strong DEI ethos and strategy ensure that DEI is embedded in your company’s culture, decision-making, and daily operations. To make DEI actionable, set clear goals, assign accountability at all levels, and integrate inclusive practices into leadership, hiring, and workplace culture.
4. Age Bias: Stereotyping Across Generations
Age bias impacts both young and older employees. Younger employees might be overlooked for leadership roles, while older employees might face assumptions that they're out of touch with new trends. These biases undermine the value each generation brings to the table. (Click here to continue reading on the negative impact of generational labels in the workplace.)
How to address age bias:
- Focus on skills, not age: Rather than emphasizing age, focus on what your team brings to the table – whether it's experience, creativity, or technical skills!
- Cross-generational teams: Create teams made up of people from different age groups. This can foster knowledge-sharing and fresh perspectives.
5. Affinity Bias: The Comfort Zone Trap
Affinity bias happens when we tend to gravitate toward people who look like us or have similar interests. This can result in homogenous teams where new ideas and diverse perspectives are lacking.
How to address affinity bias:
- Encourage cross-team collaboration: Set up opportunities for employees to work with different teams to help break down silos.
- Structured interviews: Use standardized questions in interviews to ensure consistency and fairness.
- Inclusive leadership: Leaders should actively seek out and embrace diverse perspectives, pushing their teams to step outside their comfort zones.
6. Confirmation Bias: The Risk of Reinforcing Assumptions
Confirmation bias is the tendency to only look for information that confirms what we already believe, ignoring anything that contradicts it. In the workplace, this can limit creativity and block the introduction of fresh ideas.
How to address confirmation bias:
- Encourage a culture of feedback and trust: Create a space where folks feel comfortable giving and receiving both positive and constructive feedback.
- Challenge assumptions: Make it a point to actively question the status quo, encouraging your team to rethink established ideas. Just because “it’s always been done this way,” doesn’t mean it can’t be improved!
- Seek diverse viewpoints: Make sure to include diverse perspectives in brainstorming and decision-making meetings to avoid falling into the trap of confirmation bias.
Time to Take Action
Bias in the workplace is something that directly impacts your company’s success, culture, and employee satisfaction. But it’s not impossible to address. By actively identifying and tackling the different types of bias at play in your workplace, you’re creating a positive environment for your people and setting your company up for long-term success.
Not sure where to start?
Tip: consider how you can make your hiring process more inclusive! Ready to get started?