The Business Case for Unconscious Bias Training (& a tip worth considering!)

Published on: Thu 12 February 2015 by Admin

Further to earlier blogs What is Unconscious Bias? and 3 Top Tips to Reducing the Impact of Unconscious Bias I have had a number of conversations with people about the impact Unconscious Bias is having on organisations and the business case for Unconscious Bias training.

According to CIPD’s Training & Talent Management Survey, the average training budget per head is £167 in the public sector and £308 in the private. Not much to play with! Wherever your budget sits in relation to industry average, allocating it to support specific business objectives and achieving ROI / ROE is essential.

The benefits of raising awareness of unconscious bias within any organisation are plenty however here are the top 5….

The Business Case for Unconscious Bias Training

Unconscious Bias

  1.  A more cohesive workforce where everyone feels valued and included = increased employee engagement, increased discretionary effort and reduced attrition.
  2. A significantly less biased recruitment process = an organisation with a diverse workforce, where the actual (not the perceived) best people are recruited for each role.
  3. A fair and consistent approach towards colleagues and staff throughout the organisation = less grievances and discrimination claims.
  4. Equal opportunities for all staff with regards to development, promotion and reward = efficient talent management and an all-round effective (and happier) workforce.
  5. An improved, consistent service for a diverse customer base = an increase in customer engagement and a decrease in customer complaints.

Something else worth considering…

When you are creating your business case for Unconscious Bias training remember this:

Unconscious Bias impacts across the whole of an organisation and as such has relevance within existing soft skills subject areas including management, leadership, customer service, performance management, recruitment and selection. This means that although a number of organisations, such as Google, BBC, University of Derby, Chubb and ASDA, (to name just a few!) are investing in Unconscious Bias training specifically, we are having lots of conversations with customers about interweaving the topic into existing development programmes. This means that with clever design, you could get a much bigger bang for your buck! The investment thrown its way is less and your ROI will be more.