Introduction
Research Questions
- How can racial bias occur throughout recruitment and screening, job assignment, and performance assessment, training, and retention?
- What steps can leadership take to reduce racial bias affecting hourly or frontline employees?
This brief is intended to help corporate-level managers identify and reduce racial bias in frontline hourly jobs. In addition to considerations around equity, there is a strong business case for reducing racial bias in frontline hourly positions where workers of color are overrepresented, turnover is high, and talent goes untapped.
Corporate leadership, responsible for several core business functions, may not be aware of how decisions made at the corporate level affect the work environment for frontline workers who perform crucial tasks including customer service, order fulfillment, maintenance, and production. Drawing on a comprehensive review of research on sources of racial bias in today’s workplaces, this brief identifies how bias occurs and is experienced by hourly-paid workers in frontline jobs. It also describes practices that corporate leadership might adopt at the corporate level as part of attempts to reduce racial bias in their organization.
Purpose
This brief aims to inform individuals in leadership roles about how standard employment procedures including hiring, placing, and promoting can be vulnerable to racial bias. It also suggests ways that leadership can adjust their company’s strategies in order to reduce racial bias experienced by hourly or frontline employees.
Key Findings and Highlights
Recruiting and Screening Job Applicants: Where and how job openings are publicized can affect whether job seekers of color learn about the job and apply for it. Once applications are submitted, screening may occur in ways that inadvertently disadvantage qualified job seekers of color
Initial Job Assignment: Long term differences in compensation by race and gender can be traced to the types of jobs in which workers are placed at the point of hiring. In many cases, women and workers of color are overrepresented in lower paying or part-time roles.
Performance Assessment, Training, and Retention: There are several mechanisms through which racial bias shows up in promotional practices, including who receives training and how performance is assessed, especially among hourly workers.
There are several practices that corporate leadership can implement, advocate for, and allocate resources to that can help improve racial equity for hourly workers.
Methods
This brief draws on a comprehensive literature review on racial bias in hourly-paid jobs and on existing research to outline a set of practices that can help corporate leadership in reducing racial bias at their companies.
Recommendations
Geared towards corporate leadership, this brief recommends several strategies that can help reduce racial bias throughout hiring, placement, and promotional processes.