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

Description

BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS TEAM OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT BEHAVIOURAL ECONOMICS TEAM OF THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT WHO WE ARE We are the Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government, or BETA. We are the Australian Government’s first central unit applying behavioural economics to improve public policy, programs and processes. Rather than expecting people to redesign their lives around government, our work encourages people-centred design, w... We use behavioural economics, science and psychology to improve policy outcomes. Our mission is to build behavioural economics capability across the public service and drive its use in policy design by testing what works, where and in what context. CONTENTS FOREWORD Summary WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO CONDUCT THIS TRIAL? Policy context BOX 1: COMMON BIASES AFFECTING RECRUITMENT BOX 2: CASE STUDY – THE IMPACT OF ‘BLIND’ AUDITIONS ON FEMALE MUSICIANS WHAT INTERVENTIONS WERE TESTED? BOX 3: WHAT IS A HEURISTIC? HOW WAS THE TRIAL DESIGNED? BOX 4: WHAT IS A RANDOMISED CONTROLLED TRIAL (RCT)? RESULTS OF THE TRIAL Figure 2: geNDer BiAS - WHAT iS THe eFFeCT OF iDeNTiFiCATiON ON THe SHOrTLiST Figure 3: MiNOriTY BiAS - WHAT iS THe eFFeCT OF iDeNTiFiCATiON ON THe SHOrTLiST LIMITATIONS OF THE TRIAL POLICY LESSONS ENDNOTES