Question

Identify common forms of hiring and performance bias. What can be done to avoid this?

Answer 1

• Hiring bias-
• Overconfidence effect-This effect describes when someone’s subjective confidence in their judgments is greater than their objective accuracy. For example, when a person is overly confident that trusting their gut instincts leads to good hiring decisions.
• Halo effect-This type of bias occurs when we assume that because people are good at doing A they’ll also be good at doing B, C and D.The halo effect often occurs when a recruiter likes a candidate and uses that as a basis for assuming he or she will be good at the job rather than conduct an objective analysis of their job-related skills and abilities.
• Similarity attraction effect-This is the tendency for people to seek out others who are similar to them.Research on hiring found that employers prefer candidates who are similar to themselves in terms of hobbies like the sports they play even when those things aren’t correlated with on-the-job performance.
• Confirmation bias-This bias occurs when people favor information that confirms their beliefs and ignores or discounts disconfirming information.Confirmation bias is one of the reasons why hiring managers are inconsistent in the interview questions they ask across candidates. By asking questions that confirms their pre-existing beliefs about each candidate, this often results in a process of comparing apples to oranges.
• Illusory correlation-This is the tendency to perceive a relationship between people, events, or behaviors even when no such relationship exists.Illusory correlation is the reason why hiring managers ask interview questions such as, “What kitchen utensil would you be?” These types of questions are believed to provide insight into a candidate’s personality even though there is no evidence that they actually predict job performance.
• Avoiding hiring bias-
• Artificial intelligence can be programmed to ignore demographic information about candidates such as gender, race, and age that can contribute to bias during the sourcing and screening stages.AI for recruiting software can be tested for hiring bias by using it to screen, rank, and grade candidates, and then assessing the demographic breakdown of those candidates.
• A structured interview process begins with a kick-off meeting between interviewee and the hiring manager. Together, they define the purpose and business needs of the role, outline which skills and qualifications the ideal candidate should possess, and decide how they’ll evaluate candidates on this criteria.The idea is to standardize the interview process to make it more fair, objective, and accurate.
• Performance bias-
• Central tendency bias.-This is one of the most common forms of bias that can impact an employee's performance reviews. Whenever they have a five or three point scale, raters have a tendency to lump the majority of their employees in the middle. This happens most often when managers have a low performer and just can’t bring themselves to give them a low score, fearing they’ll damage their employee’s confidence. This is actually worse for low performers, as it doesn’t clue them in to the fact that they need to improve, or give them any valuable information about what they need to focus on.
• Recency and spillover bias-Recency bias occurs when managers rate an employee based on their most recent performance - forgetting about the entire picture. Alternatively, spillover bias occurs when managers continue to rate an employee based on past performance, failing to take into account recent improvements.
• Negativity bias.-With more frequent reviews, you also want to make sure that your employees are getting the most out of the information they receive. When employees are used to getting feedback, they’re more likely to know how to analyze and use it effectively - although some people have to learn this skill. People have a natural bias towards negative situations. This is a natural defense mechanism that helps us remember and avoid dangerous situations.Negativity bias can also get in the way of our professional development. Instead of learning from constructive feedback, it can instead induce fear or anger.
• Avoiding performance bias:-
• 360-degree reviews allow each employee's performance to be assessed from multiple sources, including managers, colleagues and reports. Reviews based on multiple perspectives can help to factor bias out of the equation.
• Managers should employees develop an open mindset to feedback by giving it continuously throughout the year and coaching them on how they can analyze the information they receive. They should create a development plan, and stay on top of goals.
• Instead of conducting an annual review,managers can conduct,quarterly or bi-annual reviews withing a course of three months instead of a year.
  
• To overcome central tendency bias, base performance appraisals on specific competencies.The most valuable information an employee can get from the review process is insights into their strengths and weaknesses. Encourage managers to really highlight both in each employee’s review so that afterwards they can create an effective development plan.