Code-Switching and Bias in Personality Feedback

I have personally experienced and observed bias in performance feedback throughout my career. However, I’ve often paid more attention to the bias of how I give it rather than how I receive it. In France, male-female bias was so prevalent in the language and societal norms. For example, family names are often imposed on women even if they do not change their names. Some may say it is to make bureaucracy easier, but this example is the most innocuous form of it. The 2010s felt like living in the 90s again but with iPhones. Restaurants just banned smoking, and the family unit was fastly changing.

Not to say this was not present in the United States. Having observed this bias even when proposing more focused hiring programs and getting responses like— “I’m all for diversity in our talent pool as long as it doesn’t decrease our standards." Creating the false implication that they are related, as we see with affirmative action backlash. When I first had to hire a team I thought I was fairly reviewing our applicants, yet in a year I had a team mostly made of white French dudes ( who were great btw). I realized my problem was the action part of affirmative action. Realizing there might be systematic issues that led to less resumes from the under represented groups. I couldn't be a passive agent just hoping I get the chance to be fair. You need to go and take action, fail, iterate, and learn.

In our workplaces also, it is crucial to understand and acknowledge the impact of implicit bias on performance feedback and the associated mental pressure associated with code-switching that some individuals from underrepresented groups feel compelled to employ. As per a recent article by Textio, “Language Bias in Performance Feedback 2022," ”¹ it demonstrates that specific feedback patterns disproportionately affect various ethnic and racial groups. For example, White individuals are frequently characterized as "ambitious," while Black and Latinx individuals are more often labeled as "passionate," which in corporate jargon it is usually used to subtly imply a confrontational nature.

Moreover, even the term "professional" surfaces in performance feedback for these underrepresented groups more frequently. The size of the effect is anything easy to ignore; this observation carries concerning implications when taken together with code-switching.

Code-switching refers to adapting speech, behavior, and expression to conform to the majority's comfort and expectations. It's frequently observed among Black individuals and other racial minorities, who may downplay their cultural traits to enhance perceptions of professionalism and increase their likelihood of being hired or promoted. I have seen myself code-switch many times in my life; part of it is just adapting to the local flora.

Moving to a new culture often alienates one while enhancing sensitivity to human behavior and what to do to ‘fit’ in. Furthermore left me with an accent in every language I speak. But Code-switch is more than accents; it is the language we use, which words we choose, and the behaviors we tolerate. It is the decisions we make and values we choose to uphold or ignore so we can pass by as a member of a group.

These practices reflect the pervasive stereotype threat in our workplaces, a phenomenon described by Claude Steele and Joshua Aronson. The stereotype threat refers to the psychological burden experienced by individuals from underrepresented groups due to the fear of confirming negative stereotypes associated with their racial, ethnic, or cultural group. The persistent exposure to personality feedback amplifies this threat, impacting these individuals' performance and growth opportunities. This burden is found even as early-on in high school²

Personal: I suspect the burden of code-switch is particularly high in neurodivergent individuals, something that I would love to see added to diverity reports.

Those with depression or familiar with it know that stress and depression tend to have a bi-directional effect. While it is easy to see how depression can lead to stress by disrupting your life, you are more isolated and thus increasing your perceived stress levels. However, it is well-studied that chronic stress raises the incidence level of depression. Chronic stress can be a major life event or a chronic psychological burden associated with persistent exposure to say, biased personality feedback.

To genuinely promote inclusion and address social inequality, it's incumbent upon leaders to understand why employees from underrepresented groups may feel they cannot authentically be themselves at work, and asking them to when the environment is potentially unconsciously biased can exacerbate stress levels along with deteriorating the mental health of those individuals.

So what can you do? I don't know what resources, and laws are available to you, depending where you live. Most literature suggest to ask for specifics, and make note of it, especially if the feedback is unrelated to performance. But at some point, you’ve been patient. You’ve tried every approach you can think of, but management doesn’t get it. There is nothing more important than your mental health. And while depending on your situation it may be difficult, you can always vote with your feet. I am sure there more nobler ways to ensure it doesn't happen to others, but it's also ok to move on.

1. https://explore.textio.com/feedback-bias

2. https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10252455