Four comparable resumes with similar experiences and education are sent to help-wanted ads in Boston and Chicago newspapers. The most notable difference among the resumes is the four names: Lakisha Washington, Jamal Jones, Emily Walsh, and Greg Baker. Which names on a resume will receive more callbacks? According to a 2004 study conducted by Bertrand, M. and Mullainathan which was published in the The American Economic Review, Greg and Emily (the white names) received 50% more callbacks than Lakisha and Jamal (the black names). This field experiment confirmed an uncomfortable reality: that as much as recruiters and companies profess their commitment to equal opportunity, racial bias continues to beget discrimination in the job market for people of color.
Giving Notice encourages employers to pay greater attention to hidden bias and how it translates to hidden barriers in the workplace, especially for underrepresented groups such as people of color, women, and gays and lesbians. Too often we are quick to deny that we harbor racial and other biases, or else we assume they do not play out in today’s work environments. But field studies like these prove bias plays a very real role in our decisions and actions despite our best intentions. How biased and what biases do you harbor against specific groups of people? Take the Implicit Association Test (IAT) http://www.implicit.harvard.edu/ and find out!
And if your companies believes they truly “walk the walk” when it comes to equal opportunity, they should test themselves and the level of institutional bias when handling resumes, hiring interviews, promotions, wages, and job assignments.
