Going blind to see more clearly: unconscious bias in Australian Public Service shortlisting processes

Hiscox, Michael J.

Going blind to see more clearly: unconscious bias in Australian Public Service shortlisting processes

Women are under-represented in management and executive level positions across the private and public sectors in Australia. In 2016, women comprised 59.0 per cent of the Australian Public Service (APS), but accounted for 48.9 per cent of its executive level officers and only 42.9 per cent of its Senior Executive Service (SES) officers. These statistics may reflect gender discrimination in hiring and promotion processes as a result of unconscious cognitive biases that affect decision-making. Addressing the gender imbalance across the APS is the key priority of the Australian Public Service Gend ... Show more

Women are under-represented in management and executive level positions across the private and public sectors in Australia. In 2016, women comprised 59.0 per cent of the Australian Public Service (APS), but accounted for 48.9 per cent of its executive level officers and only 42.9 per cent of its Senior Executive Service (SES) officers. These statistics may reflect gender discrimination in hiring and promotion processes as a result of unconscious cognitive biases that affect decision-making. Addressing the gender imbalance across the APS is the key priority of the Australian Public Service Gender Equality Strategy 2016-19. Aimed at driving high performance and boosting productivity the strategy calls for the APS to reflect contemporary reality and states that the APS must embrace diversity and that it should benefit from people of all backgrounds. This report documents the results of a randomised controlled trial conducted by the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government (BETA) in partnership with the Australian Public Service Commission.

The study aimed to test the magnitude of gender and ethnic minority bias in APS shortlisting processes, and the impact of introducing a gender/ethnicity-blind approach to reviewing job applications for shortlisting purposes. The study was conducted in partnership with 15 APS agencies. Participants were drawn from senior and executive level officers in these agencies. To identify any effects participants were asked to complete a fictitious shortlisting exercise with 16 fictitious [curriculum vitae] CVs. The aim was to see whether de-identifying a CV (by removing a candidate's name and personal information) changed the way it was assessed. The results showed that overall, de-identifying applications at the shortlisting stage does not appear to assist in promoting diversity within the APS in hiring. Overall, APS officers discriminated in favour of female and minority candidates.

Edited abstract from publisher's website. Show less