TEXTIO is an enhanced writing platform that has completed a review of written job performance feedback from more than 25000 employees in 250 organizations.
The Seattle company found that biased comments were consistent with employees’ gender, race, race and age. Research Report:
For every 100 words white women received, black men received 68 words of written feedback.
Asian men are seven times more likely to be called “talented” or “talented” than Latin women.
On average, female, black and Latino employees received more personality related feedback, both good and bad, than their colleagues.
Female, black and Latino employees received significantly less “actionable” feedback than male, white and Asian employees. Actionable feedback can provide important guidance for improving performance.
TEXTIO also surveyed employees online. The survey asked 500 respondents to recall the feedback they received at work and ask whether they used specific terms to describe it, including:
Erosive: women are 11 times more likely to accept this description than men.
Overfulfilled: black women are four times more likely to be called overfulfilled than white men.
Confidence: men are three times more likely to be called confident than women.
In 2014, Kieran Snyder, who holds a doctorate in Linguistics and cognitive science, founded TEXTIO. The company uses machine learning and naturallanguageprocessing to analyze corporate communications and help remove biased language from its operations.
So what if women are more likely than men to be called “abrasive”? Who cares that white people are called “geniuses” 2.5 times as often as black people, Snyder wrote in forwarding the research report.
She continued: “this is important because people who can get actionable feedback grow faster, earn more, and have more leadership opportunities.”. “We still have a lot of work to do. Let’s get started.”
