5 Ways to Remove Bias in Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are a hallmark of corporate culture, spoofed on shows like The Office and gaining a reputation for either being a formality to a raise at best or a demonstration of incredible bias at worst. Studies show that women and people of color get more negative feedback in these reviews, which means that they fail to get raises and promotions at the rate of others.

This is a challenge Human Resources must face head on to create a more equitable and just workplace. It should be a vital part of any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) strategy. 

"You might ask why this matters. So what if women are more likely to be called 'abrasive' than men? Who cares if white people are called 'geniuses' 2.5 times more often than Black people? It matters because people with access to actionable feedback grow faster, earn more, and have the opportunity for leadership," according to the Textio report Language Bias In Performance Feedback: 2022 Data Analysis and Survey Results. 

Meetings held for performance reviews are notoriously awkward and, by their nature, hierarchal. As companies move away from traditional structures, transform their ideas about relationships at work, and consider unfair and bias practices, performance reviews look more antiquated than ever. In fact, Human Resources is struggling with coming up with ways to correct course when it comes to reviewing employees' work. 

The subject of this kind of feedback came up at the recent HR Exchange Talks: Women at Work 2023: 

Stephanie Murphy, People Analytics Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, shares her firsthand experience with performance reviews and how frustrating the lack of actionable feedback can be. 

Ways to Avoid Bias in Performance Reviews

HR leaders have an obligation to rethink performance reviews. Some organizations have scrapped them all together, but they still need a way to assess people's work to make decisions on raises, promotions, and access to opportunities. Businesses must have a way to help people improve, but it should be fair. 

Textio approached this study in two ways. First, it surveyed 500 people about their experience with performance reviews. Second, it conducted data analysis of written performance reviews for more than 25,000 people. Consistent patterns of inequity by gender, race, and age became evident. Once people are aware of the bias, they can do something about it. The next step is realizing how they are demonstrating this bias. Here are ways to make change: 

Stop with the Personality Feedback

Personality feedback does not refer to someone's work, yet 100% of women, Black people, and Latinx people responding to the Textio survey said they were given personality feedback. This refers to either praise or criticism about who they are as a person.

As a result, personality feedback ends up being useless or, worse, offensive. As Murphy explained at the Women at Work event, focusing on personality traits can make people feel like they are not a good fit with the organization. It is the exact opposite of inclusion, in fact. 

Changing one's core personality is a lot harder than improving a skill. Therefore, those who receive more personality feedback are at a disadvantage. It also can make them feel terrible about themselves, which does not fit in with the new workplace's premium on empathetic leadership. Furthermore, it does not help people gain confidence to succeed.

READ: The HR Guide to DEI

Recognize the Stereotype Threat

The stereotype threat was coined by Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson in 1995, and it refers to the concern people from underrepresented groups have about confirming stereotypes along racial, ethnic, gender, or cultural lines. As a result, they can lose focus and underperform. Because of the stereotype threat, personality feedback becomes even more problematic. It feeds into the idea that someone from a traditionally marginalized group is confirming a stereotype. 

Choose Your Words Carefully

Words clearly matter. In performance reviews, they take on particular significance. Nearly 70% of women said they had been called collaborative, whereas 31% of men received that label. That might seem like a positive. However, 22% of women reported being called abrasive, whereas only 2% of men heard that in a performance review, according to Textio. More than 50% of men and only 18% of women heard that they were confident. And a whopping 63% of men were "ambitious," whereas only 17% of women received that feedback. 

Textio also warns about the danger of non-white employees getting labeled as "professional." It refers to linguistic code switching, which is how people downplay their race or ethnicity to make themselves seem like better job candidates, which obviously should not be necessary and can have psychological and emotional impact. 

In addition to these concerns about gender and race, many performance reviews discriminate by age, too. Older workers are expected to be responsible, stable, mature, while younger workers get lauded as go-getters. This is particularly interesting in the time of quiet quitting and bare minimum Mondays, both of which are inventions of Gen Z, the youngest generation in the workplace today. 

READ: What Is Mental Health and Wellness in HR? 

Provide Actionable Feedback

As Murphy and Textio suggest, employees need to hear about what steps they can take to improve and arrive at the next level. Instead of telling someone she is too shy, a manager can suggest she speak up more at meetings to share ideas and contribute to conversations, for example. The point is to provide concrete actions that people can take to get better at their job and achieve greater results. 

Reconsider Performance Reviews

Now is the time for Human Resources to think creatively about how people work. Just because performance reviews have been conducted in this way for many years does not mean they have to continue in this same format with these disturbing patterns. Certainly, organizations need a way to determine raises and promotions, but the process can improve and look different than it has in the past. 

Frank V. Cespedes, senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, recently wrote about how to provide better feedback in an article for Harvard Business Review. 

"The venerable maxim still applies 'People join companies, but they leave managers,' because feedback and coaching are crucial for professional growth and development," he writes. "It's striking how many successful people, when asked about their careers, point to a manager who provided them with useful (even if initially unwanted) feedback. In turn, they come to realize that, as managers, they must demonstrate that they care about their people and are worthy of trust in assessing performance." 

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