關(guān)于管理者應(yīng)該如何避免無意識的偏見研究已經(jīng)很多。但直接受到偏見沖擊的員工受到的影響究竟如何？

非營利智庫Center for Talent Innovation新近一項研究對白領(lǐng)員工感受到的偏見進行了量化，以及公司因偏見產(chǎn)生的損失。

“我們衡量了當員工認為公司制度不公、不合法時導(dǎo)致的損害。” 上周三晚在紐約市出席活動公布研究發(fā)現(xiàn)時，CTI的創(chuàng)始人兼首席執(zhí)行官西爾維亞·惠利特介紹說。

該研究主要評估能力和抱負、承諾和人際關(guān)系、情商和執(zhí)行力衡量人們的發(fā)展?jié)摿?。其實潛力是一種主觀的無形特質(zhì)，會受到無意識的偏見影響，卻往往在公司的人事決定中起到重要作用。人們往往更容易看到別人人身上類似自己的潛力。

比如美國平等就業(yè)執(zhí)法機構(gòu)Equal Employment Opportunity Commission數(shù)據(jù)顯示，在私營企業(yè)的經(jīng)理和高管之中，白人和男性的比例分別高達86%和70%。

“數(shù)據(jù)顯示，無論何時只要主觀影響存在，局外人的身份會阻礙順利發(fā)展?！睆V告?zhèn)髅骄揞^埃培智的首席戰(zhàn)略與人才官兼執(zhí)行副總菲利佩·科拉克斯基說。

為了衡量美國企業(yè)員工的感受，研究人員請員工根據(jù)以上潛力的指標自我評估，然后問上級會怎樣評價。對自我評估得分比估計上級評分高的員工，研究認為他們感到自己遭受了偏見。

研究顯示，當員工感到有偏見時，企業(yè)的人才外流頻繁，員工倦怠頻發(fā)，同時企業(yè)的創(chuàng)造力和生產(chǎn)力都會下滑。

“我們有意把重點放在感覺上，也就是員工的自我感覺。為什么？因為這是他們生活的現(xiàn)實?！盋TI的首席財務(wù)官兼研究主管勞拉·舍賓這樣解釋。

在遭遇偏見的員工之中，34%的員工過去六個月里不愿提供創(chuàng)意或解決方案，48%的人表示，工作期間在騎驢找馬尋找跳槽機會。

但研究還顯示，解決問題有三大要素。如果領(lǐng)導(dǎo)接受多元化，員工感到偏見的可能性會降低64%，如果是包容的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)，這種可能性會下降87%，如果員工有人支持，感到偏見的可能性會大幅減少90%。

喬治城大學(xué)教授蘇卡里·平諾克執(zhí)教該校的戰(zhàn)略多元化與包容管理課程。在某些方面，上述研究采用的方法讓她喜憂參半。平諾克說，查閱研究過程后，她認為用自我評估和估計上級評價之間的差別判斷是否存在無意識偏見準確性存疑。

“我指導(dǎo)過100多位客戶，合計管理360份評估。我可以說，客戶和上級的評估很少能一致，這是常見情況，”平諾克稱，“偏見是一種復(fù)雜的情況，無論是客戶本人還是上級都一樣?！?

盡管平諾克質(zhì)疑報告中的部分假設(shè)，但仍對報告表示贊賞。

她還說：“我的確認為這份報告做得很棒。對于女性和其他邊緣群體在職場晉升受阻的原因，報告提供了新的認識思路。”

根據(jù)研究結(jié)果的一項建議——提供支持，CTI上述研究的17家合作伙伴之一奧美廣告公司已經(jīng)采取行動。奧美的首席多元化和融合推廣官多娜·佩德羅說，公司設(shè)立了一個支持項目，旨在幫助表現(xiàn)突出的女員工獲得更多成績。

支持者和導(dǎo)師的角色類似，但支持者處事往往更深思熟慮，是更強大的職場盟友。導(dǎo)師制提供了提升的條件，而支持幫扶可確保員工真正獲得提升。

“一些支持者最初只帶一名員工，現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)帶四五個人。因為他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這種方法確實有助于培養(yǎng)人才，”佩德羅說，“人才是一切的根本?！?

奧美廣告公司希望拓展支持模式，將其他少數(shù)員工也納入其中。

佩德羅表示：“我們對別人做的一些推測很多時候可能有偏差。假如我們主動接近同事，愿意相信他們，深入了解為人處事方式而不是想當然，工作環(huán)境會變得更好。”

在活動的結(jié)尾，CTI的首席執(zhí)行官惠利特回顧了我們當前的政治環(huán)境。她說：“大家都很清楚，當代公司文化以及晉升道路上常常充滿羞辱和傷害?！彼硎尽５a充說，全國各企業(yè)都有能力做出積極的改變。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

譯者：Pessy

審稿：夏林

There's plenty of research documenting how managers should combat their own unconscious bias, but what about the toll bias takes on workers who experience it firsthand?

A new study from the Center for Talent Innovation quantifies the bias perceived by employees in white collar jobs and how that bias costs their companies.

“We measure the damage done when individuals see systems as unfair, as illegitimate,” Sylvia Hewlett, founder and CEO of CTI, said of the report at a New York City event to present the findings last?Wednesday night.

The research used assessments on ability and ambition, commitment and connections, and emotional intelligence and executive presence to measure potential — an intangible and subjective characteristic that is shaped by unconscious bias, but often plays a significant role in personnel decisions. We’re likely to see potential in people who remind us of ourselves.

For example, manager and senior executive roles in the private sector are still 86% white and 70% male, according to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

“The data confirms that being an outsider is going to put you at a disadvantage whenever subjectivity is involved,” said Philippe Krakowsky, executive vice president, chief strategy and talent officer at Interpublic Group.

To measure the perception of workers in corporate America, employees were asked to assess themselves on the indicators of potential and then asked how their superiors would assess them. The study recognized workers with better self-assessments than manager score predictions as perceiving bias in the workplace.

The research showed companies would experience less innovation and productivity as well as high costs associated with frequent turnover and burnout when employees perceived bias.

“We purposely focused on perception — the employee’s perception of themselves. Why? Because it is their lived reality,” said Laura Sherbin, CFO and head of research at CTI. And the costs of these perceptions are a reality for companies.

Of employees who experienced bias, 34% reported withholding ideas or solutions in the last six months and 48% said they looked for a new job while at their current job during the same time period.

But there are three key factors that shed light on solutions. Employees were 64% less likely to perceive bias at companies with diverse leaders, 87% less likely when they had inclusive leaders, and 90% less likely when they had sponsors.

Georgetown University professor Sukari Pinnock, who runs the school's Strategic Diversity and Inclusion Management program, had mixed feelings on some aspects of the study's methodology. After reviewing it, Pinnock said she's skeptical about using differing self-assessments and guesses at manager assessments as a marker for the presence of unconscious bias.

"As someone who has worked with over 100 coaching clients who have had 360 assessments administered, I can say that it is usually the case that client and the supervisor assessments are rarely aligned," she said. "Bias is always in the mix — on both sides of the equation."

While she questioned some of the assumptions in the report, she did offer praise for it.

"I do believe that this report was quite well done and brought forth new awareness of what keeps women and other marginalized groups from advancing to those higher rungs on the ladder," Pinnock added.

Ogilvy and Mather, one of the 17 partners for the CTI study, had already implemented one recommendation in the results: sponsorship. The company has a sponsorship program designed to help women excel that has seen success, said Donna Pedro, chief diversity and inclusion officer at the advertising firm.

While sponsors are similar to mentors, they tend to be more deliberate and powerful workplace allies. Mentors prepare people to move up, while sponsors make it happen.

“I have sponsors who started out with one sponsee and now have four or five because they they have really seen the positive of being able to develop talent," Pedro said. "I think that’s the bottom line in all of this.”

The advertising company hopes to expand the sponsorship model to include other underrepresented employees.

“We make assumptions about people and we can be wrong so many times,” she said “If we approach our colleagues and our coworkers and give them the benefit of the doubt and are curious about who they are and don’t make assumptions about them, I think we will be better off as a workplace.”

Hewlett, the CTI CEO, concluded the event by reflecting on our current political climate. “We know that our culture, our corridors of power are newly filled with humiliation and hurt,” she said, adding that companies have power to make positive change at a national level.