Recognizing and Overcoming Unconscious Bias for Employees and Supervisors

Course Description:

We all have unconscious biases (also known as implicit biases) that affect our interactions with others and how we view the world. These unconscious biases can have a negative effect in the workplace when they go unchecked. This course will benefit everyone who interacts with coworkers, customers, or anyone else as part of their job. After completing this course, learners will be able to identify and address their own unconscious biases and take steps to “interrupt” them when communicating and interacting with others in the workplace.

Why “Recognizing and Overcoming Unconscious Bias for Employees and Supervisors” Matters:

Helping employees learn how to address their unconscious biases may improve their communications during interactions with coworkers and others. This can result in improved morale in the workplace, and a work environment where people feel valued.

Key Points:

• We all have unconscious biases.
• Unconscious biases are involuntary thoughts or feelings we have towards others that influence our judgement of and the way we interact with them.
• Civil, respectful behavior in the workplace is a basic expectation of all employees. Unaddressed unconscious biases undermine this expectation.
• Being able to identify your own unconscious biases will help you recognize situations where they’re likely to come into play or interfere, enabling you to use strategies to interrupt the involuntary thoughts, resulting in a more fair and open communication or interaction.