How Artificial Intelligence can help in the bridging gender gap

Research has repeatedly shown that diverse companies have more effective teams. But many organisations acknowledge there has not been enough progress when it comes to having a truly representative workforce and eliminating implicit or explicit biases.

The challenge is not necessarily rooted in the talent pipeline since there is more diversity in college graduates than ever before. While technology, and STEM (Science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at large, have traditionally been considered career paths that are best suited for a ‘particular gender’, it is encouraging to see a shift in this perception. If we look at World Bank data, 43% of STEM graduates in India are women, making it the highest in the world. What’s unfortunate that while the number of women pursuing STEM-related fields is enviable, there is still a vacuum in female representation in leadership positions.

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It’s a process problem- critical challenges lie in employee life-cycle processes that are riddled with bias, like recruitment, onboarding, development, retention, and succession. Unfortunately, the awareness of unconscious bias and training to mitigate it are not enough. Bridging the gender gap in STEM requires conscious efforts from organisations to create a more diverse talent pool through hiring, upskilling and retaining women employees. Technology – artificial intelligence (AI) in particular – can play a pivotal role in correcting bias and helping companies make better decisions throughout the entire employee life cycle.

Addressing unconscious biases in hiring

Unconscious biases or impact biases often shape how we perceive and engage with a person or a certain group of people basis pre-conceived notions and stereotypes. These unconscious biases can impact decision-making processes across the organisation and lead to a non-inclusive, unequal culture. In fact, the lack of women in senior roles and the gender-pay are both attributed largely to gender-specific stereotypes.
It is important to address these biases from the talent acquisition process itself, as inconsistent definition of job roles and use of non-inclusive language can discourage women from even applying. Ensuring the use of gender-neutral language in the job role description page and reflection of the organisation’s inclusive image is critical to attract female candidates.

A dedicated landing page that showcases an organisation’s D&I (diversity and inclusion) initiatives is a simple, yet effective, example of using technology to eliminate hiring biases. AI can help support by using equal- opportunity algorithms that do not rely on sex, age, pedigree, or other factors that can trigger bias.

Talent intelligence platform can flag or validate skills that are not explicitly stated in resumes, so recruiters can pay attention to otherwise ignored candidates and broaden the talent pool.

Preventing talent bias with AI to retain talent

Tech-enabled HR and recruitment solutions, including AI such as machine learning that leverages ‘equal-opportunity’ algorithms can address DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) issues. For example, AI-based software platforms that are not only data-driven but also trained to ignore traditional prejudices help HR practitioners to avoid past patterns of underrepresentation. These platforms can be integrated with the entire range of talent
processes, including hiring the right candidate, managing and development of talent, and offering rewards and promotions. Organisations, using these AI-backed platforms, can expect to be able to detect and mitigate bias at critical decision-making steps.

Tracking DEI progress using data-driven insights

While technologies can support diversity, managers can work on driving everyday inclusion by making sure they listen to all their team members’ voices. Similar to other organisational imperatives, the success factor of DEI initiatives depends on a defined roadmap with regular monitoring and refinement. Use of analytics help organisations to have access to relevant data that would otherwise have remained undiscovered. For example, a dashboard with data analytics feature can offer insights into the impact of certain DEI programs and help managers map their progress against diversity goals. Organisations can also create diversity scorecards to benchmark themselves against competitors and overall industry standards. Embedded analytics enable access to critical diversity data, thereby providing actionable, transparency to the top management.

Organisations can benefit immensely from the collective intelligence women bring on board to foster inclusive innovation culture which further accelerates business outcomes. In fact, industry research highlights that DEI is now a recognised business imperative that can deliver measurable results such as higher operational margins. Incorporating technology into HR processes can help and push companies to outline and reach their DEI goals, creating significant impact both at micro and macro levels. However, technology alone cannot create a truly diverse workplace – we need human efforts combined with tech-based advancements to eliminate biases around gender.

(The writer is Head – HR, SAP Labs India)