Understandably, corporate hiring practices are set up to find people who are a “good fit” for the organization, people who will bring value to the team. It is true that affinity bias is most often defined in the context of the hiring process-when interviewers show a preference for candidates who are similar to themselves-but I would argue that it has much more wide-ranging ramifications. If I were to make a hierarchical list of unconscious biases and their impact on retention and the talent pipeline, “Affinity Bias” would surely be a top contender. Is it realistic to believe that we can keep it from happening or manage our way out of it? Or is affinity bias such an entrenched part of human behavior that we cannot hope to change it?
Part III of the series The Illusion of Inclusion
