{"id":11849,"date":"2026-01-23T16:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/?p=11849"},"modified":"2026-01-23T16:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T15:34:25","slug":"managers-biases-that-undermine-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rivistaeco.com\/en\/2026\/01\/23\/managers-biases-that-undermine-inclusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Managers\u2019 Biases That Undermine Inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years of major investments in diversity and inclusion initiatives have produced limited progress. Moreover, the climate has now changed, and many large companies have dismantled programs aimed at combating discrimination. Yet the need to avoid wasting talent remains\u2014indeed, the talent pool must be expanded. This can be achieved through simple, targeted interventions that address specific problems at the right moment. For example, a small reminder or a short video can encourage managers to adopt more open attitudes toward hiring women or members of minority groups. To introduce fairness into everyday workplace decisions and practices, a scientific approach is needed\u2014one that dismantles the myths that still hinder its spread.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In the United States, inclusion and integration policies appear to be heading toward decline. Their dismantling was among the first actions of the second Trump administration. Federal hostility toward programs supporting inclusion, equality, and cultural diversity was soon echoed by several public organizations, while many large companies began revising their approaches.<\/p>\n

Yet dismantling active anti-discrimination policies does not eliminate a fundamental need of the productive system and society as a whole: access to the broadest possible talent pool. For this reason, it is important to understand which pathways can lead to fair merit-based decisions without relying on practices that are now legally contested.<\/p>\n

Gentle Nudges Toward Fairness<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Traditionally, initiatives supporting inclusion and cultural diversity have been based on general training courses, networking events, and lecture series. These projects are driven by good intentions, raise awareness, and encourage more inclusive behavior, but they rarely produce concrete changes in everyday workplace decisions.<\/p>\n

The main reason is simple: people are very busy. Managers, in particular, operate under strong pressure, with little time and overlapping priorities. Even when they consider inclusion and diversity crucial, it is unlikely that these issues are top of mind during routine activities such as one-on-one interviews, performance evaluations, or candidate selection. Many initiatives, in short, remain disconnected from daily responsibilities and end up having limited impact on real decisions.<\/p>\n

Yet businesses continue to need the broadest possible talent pool to ensure that every role is filled by the \u201cright\u201d person.<\/p>\n

The key question, therefore, is how to adapt actions that promote fair decision-making and genuine talent recognition to everyday work. Research indicates that the most promising interventions are targeted and delivered precisely when critical decisions are made. Behavioral science shows that small \u201cnudges\u201d can steer managers toward greater diversity without requiring extra time or lengthy training programs: they work precisely because they arrive when they matter most.<\/p>\n

Three field experiments conducted at the Inclusion Lab of MoreThanNow, a London-based behavioral science company, help illustrate this. Across different contexts and firms, our studies show that simple, well-timed inclusion interventions can help managers recognize and value talent that might otherwise go unnoticed.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a Reminder Is Enough<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In our first study, conducted at a large global consulting firm, we examined whether a timely reminder could influence promotion decisions. At that company, promotions are decided twice a year by senior managers, who review candidates and justify their choices by completing a short form.<\/p>\n

We randomly divided more than one hundred senior managers into two groups and sent each a message. The first group was simply asked to consider employees who had delivered excellent, above-expectation performance. The second group received the same instruction, along with an additional prompt: to reflect on candidate diversity and ask whether their choices would help make the organization more representative. In practice, just before submitting promotion names, managers were reminded of diversity and their role in supporting it.<\/p>\n

Across more than five hundred cases analyzed, this reminder increased the likelihood of promoting employees from underrepresented ethnic groups. The effect appeared stronger among male managers, who were probably less accustomed to including diversity among their evaluation criteria. Female managers tended to favor other women more, but without a significant impact on overall promotion rates. Managers in the second group also wrote more detailed justifications and more frequently referred to concepts such as \u201cbenchmarking,\u201d \u201ccorrection,\u201d and \u201cequality.\u201d<\/p>\n

In short, there is no need to ask already overburdened executives to attend generic diversity training. Sometimes brief, targeted, and timely reminders are enough to influence crucial decisions.<\/p>\n

More Diverse Hiring Through a Video<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2022, we collaborated with a multinational telecommunications and engineering company facing a severe gender imbalance: about 75% of its workforce was male. The goal was to test whether a short, targeted, behaviorally informed intervention delivered at the right moment could promote more diverse hiring.<\/p>\n

More than three thousand managers involved in recruiting for over ten thousand positions across dozens of countries took part in the experiment and were divided into two groups. One group was asked to watch a short video about the selection process. In the video, produced by the company together with our research team, two senior executives emphasized that diversity of thought is a strength, encouraged managers to reflect on which skills and perspectives were missing from their teams, and urged them to include candidates with underrepresented backgrounds. The message also reinforced company values and reminded viewers that every hiring decision helps build a more representative workforce.<\/p>\n

The intervention differed from traditional training in several ways. First, it was brief\u2014just seven minutes. Second, it focused on a specific behavior\u2014hiring\u2014and was delivered exactly when managers were making decisions, before reviewing r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. Third, instead of emphasizing bias or blame, it highlighted managers\u2019 constructive role in shaping the workforce and the organization\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The results, published in Science<\/em> earlier this year, show significant effects. Female candidates were 12% more likely to be shortlisted. For non-national candidates (those with a nationality different from that of the country where the job was located), the probability increased by 13%, while hiring chances rose by 20%. Non-national women\u2014the group with the weakest initial prospects\u2014recorded the largest gains: +28% in shortlisting and +41% in hiring. By intervening in the right way at the right time, the company expanded its interview pool, diversified hiring, and ultimately improved overall gender representation.<\/p>\n

What an Even Shorter Video Can Achieve<\/strong><\/h3>\n

A similar experiment was conducted in 2024 within a multinational pharmaceutical company, this time with a more balanced workforce: just under half of employees were women. More than two thousand managers recruiting for over 3,700 positions worldwide participated and were divided into two groups. One continued with traditional hiring practices; the other watched a three-minute video before reviewing applications.<\/p>\n

The video encouraged managers to improve selection processes by avoiding non-essential criteria that unnecessarily restricted the talent pool, promoting roles more broadly, and involving colleagues with diverse backgrounds in candidate evaluation. It also stressed the importance of equal opportunity and reminded viewers that every hiring decision contributes to the long-term success of teams and the company.<\/p>\n

Once again, behavioral changes were evident. Candidates from other countries were 7% more likely to be shortlisted and 13% more likely to be hired. Given the initial gender balance, no significant effects emerged on women\u2019s hiring overall. However, deeper analysis showed that in male-dominated business units, female hiring increased, while in units with higher female representation, the propensity to hire men rose. This suggests that the intervention helped reduce gender gaps regardless of which group was initially underrepresented.<\/p>\n

The Path Forward<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Our studies offer companies a practical tool for genuinely expanding their talent pool and achieving measurable improvements: short, targeted behavioral interventions delivered at the right moment. More broadly, research shows how crucial it is to focus on decision-making processes and adapt initiatives to each organization\u2019s specific context, rather than relying on generic practices. Rigorous experimentation makes it possible to determine whether an intervention works, under which conditions it is most effective, and how to apply it to generate concrete change.<\/p>\n

It should be noted, however, that the companies involved in our studies were already willing to rethink their hiring and promotion systems, moving toward more data-driven and less biased decisions. Firms with different cultures or constraints may therefore obtain different results, even when adopting similar interventions.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, the core lesson remains valid: in a context where diversity and inclusion practices are increasingly viewed with suspicion and regulatory obstacles are growing, a scientific, evidence-based approach is more indispensable than ever for valuing talent effectively.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cans\u0131n Arslan is a Research Fellow at the University of Exeter and the London School of Economics. Working in collaboration with large organizations, he studies the factors that drive workplace inequalities and tests behavioral interventions that effectively promote diversity and inclusion.<\/em><\/p>\n

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