A recent study, from the University of Exeter, has found that the probability of displaying unconscious bias against disabled individuals in the workplace is not diminished by employment in a large corporation or a human resources role.
This outcome is deemed unexpected, given the substantial financial resources invested by major organizations in equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) initiatives, which amounted to as much as $8 billion in the US alone in 2017. Additionally, the fact that HR personnel frequently undergo specialized EDI training adds to the perplexity of the results.
Unconscious bias
The research, which was sponsored through The Inclusivity Project and undertaken in partnership with the University of Exeter’s Business and Medical Schools, has highlighted a link between health status and unconscious bias while also discovering that lower levels of bias against disabled people exist among individuals with lower health status.
The study is also the first to establish a correlation between health status and unconscious bias. Moreover, the research found that women display less bias against disabled individuals compared to men.
The research comprised 108 participants from various businesses in the South West, with 50% reporting working for small to medium-sized enterprises. Roughly half of the participants were involved in recruitment decision-making or HR roles.
Participants underwent tasks, including completing a survey on their past experiences with disabled people, answering questions on their disability status, taking the Implicit Association Test, and the Health-Related Quality of Life survey.
Implicit bias
The researchers found that approximately three-quarters of participants displayed some level of implicit bias against disabled individuals, similar to existing studies’ findings.
The study also found that working in HR or large corporations did not have a significant impact on implicit bias levels against disabled individuals. The researchers suggest that greater disability representation in the workplace is necessary to reduce implicit bias against disabled individuals.
“It is clear that there is a need for greater disability representation – especially within HR and at senior levels where people make hiring decisions – and that bridging this gap in representation may improve both attitudes towards disabled people and the disability employment gap,” the researchers explain.
“Addressing negative attitudes towards disabled people in the workplace should be a high priority for policymakers interested in the disability employment gap.”
Rethinking EDI
In light of the study’s results, researchers recommend that major corporations may need to revise their equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) strategies. The findings indicate that neither employment in a large company nor a role in HR significantly influences implicit attitudes toward disabled individuals.
The researchers argue that addressing this requires a more profound and structural overhaul of paradigms and modes of thinking concerning disability.
“It is surprising that neither working for a large company nor being involved in HR have a significant effect on implicit attitudes towards disabled people, which require deeper and more structural reimagining of paradigms and modes of thinking with respect to disability to meaningfully change,” they conclude.
“This may suggest that the current efforts of large companies compared to SMEs are not effective at reducing implicit bias and that current strategies require rethinking.”
