Can tech tackle bias in the workplace?

Talking Talent CEO Dr Mary-Clare Race discusses the failures of some DE&I interventions and the role data and AI can play in removing bias.

It can sometimes seem like an uphill struggle to make a business more diverse and inclusive – and the way businesses try to improve things does not always work.

Concepts such as unconscious bias training have been criticised in terms of their effectiveness, with some arguing it oversimplifies issues and can actually cause a negative impact – addressing symptoms instead of the larger problem.

But new ways to improve diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are being discovered and advances in technology may also help businesses to improve. One leader focused on helping people thrive at work is Dr Mary-Clare Race, an occupational psychologist and the CEO of Talking Talent.

Talking Talent is a coaching company focused on helping businesses create a more inclusive work culture. Race has been with the company for two years but has nearly 20 years of experience coaching individuals and businesses, with various leadership positions under her belt.

Race said that across her entire career, her passion has been taking insights from psychology and science so they can be brought “into the laps of the everyday person who’s out there”. She believes her passion stems from a belief that “far too many people” view work as simply something to be endured.

“I really believe it doesn’t need to be that way because we understand so much now about the human brain and about how people behave that we should be able to make it easier for people to get energy and to really thrive at work,” Race said.

Issues in the industry

Race has worked in multiple organisations and started her career in consulting. She is proud of having been able to live and work in many different countries throughout her career and says she has always “kept one foot in the world of academia”.

“I think that’s been one of my criticisms of the industry is we’ve got a lot of people out there who are peddling snake oil so to speak, and not always robust science,” she said. “So I’ve always tried to keep an eye on the academic side as well.”

Growing up during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, Race said her parents instilled a strong work ethic in her and that they were working multiple jobs to give their children a good upbringing. Her journey into studying psychology stemmed from a fascination with people and how their outcomes can be shaped by certain aspects of their life. She focused on work due to how it is “such a big part of our lives”.

“That felt to me like an area where I could hopefully leave some kind of a lasting impact on the world and that my career would have made a positive difference in some way,” Race said.

In that area, Race spoke critically about the solutions that have been put in place in the past to address DE&I concerns – she said the interventions of the past such as unconscious bias training contributed to “the more recent backlash that we’ve seen against DE&I efforts”.

“I actually think the industry’s got a lot to answer for there, because some of the interventions that were being put in place, they either weren’t working and they weren’t making any impact, or they were actually leading to greater polarisation or leading groups to be alienated,” she said.

Race also believes some interventions to improve DE&I can be “one dimensional”, viewing individuals based on a certain trait such as being a woman or a person of colour. She believes resistance from business leaders to DE&I changes can be overcome by showing it as a way to “create opportunity for everyone to thrive”.

“DE&I should be something that’s about helping everyone to thrive equally and create that equity,” Race said. “Why wouldn’t you want to be building skills that help create an environment where any single person can come into your team and achieve great things?

“We still need to address bias in business, because if you look at some of the barriers that women or other underrepresented groups face, it is a result of bias, but that’s where technology and data can come into play.”

Beating bias with technology

In leading Talking Talent, Race said working to improve DE&I in an organisation can be limited by “the depth of insight our client has into what the challenges might be”. Companies may not know where to start, where the issues lie and they may be biased themselves.

But this is where technology can come in such as AI. Race said having access to more data can make it possible for an organisation to see what is actually happening, how their staff interact and what barriers may exist.

“It’s very data driven and it’s very technology led,” Race said. “It gives you a more robust picture and it’s more accurate diagnosis.”

Race believes AI can play an important role in this area and that the technology could be trained to ignore some of the “traditional prejudice or biases that might exist”.

“You can build that into certain algorithms where that pattern of bias against underrepresented talent is eliminated,” Race said. “That’s a much smarter way of doing it than putting a bunch of leaders in the room and telling them that they’re biased.”

Removing bias in AI is not simple however, as reports in recent years have warned that AI models can take on the bias that exists in their training data – such as AI models in the medical sector.

Race also thinks AI can be used to boost the effectiveness of coaching and that it is “exciting to see how technology has democratised and enabled organisations to scale coaching interventions”.

“It’s not always possible in an organisation to have every one of your people coached, but you might still be able to help influence their behaviour in a positive way or put content in their laps that’s helpful to them through digital technology,” she said.

One example she gave of how technology could improve coaching is if a staff member being coached has identified challenges around their confidence and speaking up in meetings. This individual could be given a “digital nudge” through an app at their next meeting to remind them of the steps they should take to address these challenges – similar to an AI assistant.

“That’s a really big area of investment for us, looking at how do we supplement the journey that some of our coachees go on with a real human coach, with some digital interventions that helps them in the moment,” Race said.

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