Unconscious Bias Awareness Study
Unconscious bias, binding the business success
The extent to which unconscious bias has an impact on our society and the professional services industry is hard to capture in full since the very nature of the problem is evasive and unintentionally cultivated for years. Our unconscious bias awareness study aims to shed light on this issue. What can be attested with certainty is that a consequence of biased behaviours is an industry lacking diversity, particularly at higher organisational levels. Furthermore, unconscious biases constrain the career progression for certain groups of professionals and become a bottleneck to diverse hiring. All of these practices gradually, but inevitably, erode a firm's success.
At HLB we believe that it is our duty as professionals to analyse the as-is state of any matter and advise on the best steps towards the desired to-be state. In this report, we look objectively into the current practices and identify where and why bias overtakes objectivity and what can be done to address and resolve unconscious bias within the professional services industry.
Key findings from our unconscious bias awareness study
Career progression
Despite the growing number of female public accountants, female leadership in the industry remains significantly low. We discovered that several unconscious biases as the cause of this. One example is that the traditional career curve for women in accounting is rarely accommodating motherhood. In addition, the pressure to deliver measurable results and clock in the billable hours is another core factor that eschews the career progression curve for female CPAs.
The diversity debate
In addition, the career progression curve for non-white candidates of both genders differs significantly to that of white professionals. Despite the increased number of graduates coming in from different backgrounds, CPA firms are still slow to embrace diverse hiring practices. Our own findings suggest that even in richly diverse areas, there are no shortage of diversity at entry-level, but few non-white CPAs progress up the ranks, with less than 10% promoted above the mid-level positions. In addition, structural reasons such as systemic barriers to education and access to opportunities can explain the lower rate of diverse candidates entering the industry.
Demographic split
While the supply of candidates from diverse backgrounds to the industry has steadily increased since the start of the 21st century, the demographic split within CPA firms is still strongly focused on white males as both our internal and external research suggests. Our profession has been slow to acknowledge the importance of diversity and inclusion, as recognized by 55% of HLB Managing Partners. Yet it’s widely agreed that moving the needle towards more equal power distribution isn’t just a social priority; it’s a key driver for the future viability of the industry.
Non-diverse leadership
The lack of diversity in leadership positions comes as a direct result of practices and unconscious bias which exists on the grassroots level within the industry. Due to a compromised career curve, fewer female and non-white candidates reach leadership positions, leading many to give up on their professional growth or leave the industry. This has a direct impact on the attractiveness of the profession, with 67% of HLB managing partners agreeing that prospective employees look at the demographic make-up of the firm and leadership team when assessing an employer brand. Ultimately, homogeneous leadership structures are holding firms back from realising their full potential and driving outcomes for their clients.
Resolving bias
Unconscious biases are building blocks that underpin our mental processes and form the foundation of many organisational practices. Removing all of them at once is neither feasible nor sustainable. Our unconscious bias awareness study suggests that gradual minor adjustments made both on the grassroots and leadership levels can yield a substantial impact for the professional services industry. Addressing biased behaviours at the leadership level is a priority as such targeted action can facilitate with further dissemination of the practices to the lower levels. The Maintaining the ‘status quo’ on the matters of diversity isn’t an option either as inaction will further heighten the issues of inequality and drive new talent to other industries.
