3 Ways in Which you can use Technology to avoid Gender Bias while Building Teams

Let’s get one thing straight first up. When we talk about gender bias, and the need for a gender-balanced teams at work, we do not for once mean giving women jobs just for their genders.

It’s about trying our best to not deprive a talented woman of a position she deserves just because we don’t understand how our decisions are being influenced by subconscious inclinations and biases.

Research has repeatedly shown that even individuals consciously committed to gender equality harbor unconscious biases that influence decisions in the workplace. The biases are known to have a profound effect on everyday work life – especially in recruitment and selection.

Technology levels the playing field everywhere, and in this case also, it gives us the easiest and effective ways to avoid the gender bias.

Here are 3 steps that you could take:

Ensure healthy balance in the talent pool

Believe it or not, even the kinds of words most of us use in everyday communication are a specific gender skewed. We could easily avoid them by using tools that neutralize our text. For e.g. Textio. These tools help you optimize your tone and word usage, and help you post an unbiased job description.

You could also keep a special eye in promoting your listings in platforms that the underrepresented frequent. For eg. Social media groups that emphasize on women empowerment, websites devoted to gender equality etc.

Or you could learn from the best in the game. For instance, Slack is financing groups/organizations/programs that enable the underrepresented.

Build a structured and transparent hiring process

Bias can manifest in any or many ways. You cannot really keep an eye on every little detail that influences big decisions unless you have a transparent and structured hiring process.

The process should be built such, that each party responsible should have a copy of interview notes, share concerns and also have a clear idea of timeline goals and current status.

Design Robust Criteria

The criteria for a specific position have to be very specific. The moment you dwell in ambiguity, you risk the chance of giving in to some bias or others. To avoid being vague, make sure that every test you take should be meticulously mapped to the job KRAs and overall goals.

Also, please avoid illegal/personal questions like “Are you married” “What are your plans about having children?”

Criteria for disqualification are as important as criteria for qualification. Ambiguous responses like, “she just doesn’t look fit for the job” should not really have place in your hiring process.

At Capital Numbers, we make sure that our clients have the best people to deliver their jobs. To ensure that, we realize that we have to create an environment where no person is left-back due to any reasons other than not having the necessary set of skills.