Unconscious Bias Interventions for Business: An Initial Test of WAGES‐Business (Workshop Activity for Gender Equity Simulation) and Google's “re:Work” Trainings

Abstract

Training employees about unconscious bias is gaining importance for employers, yet most trainings have not been evaluated and, to our knowledge, no theorygrounded interventions for business exist. We developed such an intervention for business, WAGES-Business. In Studies 1 and 2a, undergraduates (N = 216; N = 246) were randomly assigned to WAGES-Business, Google's "re:Work" training, or a control. Study 2a participants, contacted 7-14 days later for Study 2b (N = 126), responded to bias relevant and irrelevant vignettes. Across studies, participants in Google's training and WAGES-Business demonstrated greater acknowledgment and concern about unconscious bias relative to a control. Participants in WAGES-Business reported greater concern than participants in Google's training. WAGES-Business participants also had relatively greater knowledge of workplace gender equity issues postintervention, and demonstrated selectively greater recognition of bias and willingness to confront bias, relative to control,

Reviewing Simulation Technology: Implications for Workplace Training

“…Ten of the articles focused on dental or medical procedures [68][69][70]74,76,77,80,81,83,84]. Thirteen of the articles used students or recent graduates at least in part for their sample [68,69,[74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82]84,85]. Ten of the studies directly measured job-related skills or tasks in some way as an outcome measure [68][69][70][71][72]74,[77][78][79]81].…”