Last week I discussed why some employees -whites and nonwhites- sometimes point to race as the sole reason why someone was or was not promoted. In other words, on the one hand there’s a view held by some minorities that they’re missing out on jobs and promotions because they’re being discriminated against. While on the other hand there’s a view among some white people that they miss out on jobs and promotions because minorities get preferential treatment.

This makes everyone feel somehow cheated. Like someone else is getting a better deal.

But analytically, these are completely opposing views of reality: “I can’t get ahead because I’m a minority” versus “I can’t get ahead because I’m white and minorities get preferential treatment”. They can’t both be true. So the truth must be somewhere in the gray middle.   And it is.

Although these sentiments are not openly discussed, I saw this a lot as an HR professional.

The truth is that employment decisions are affected more by our unintentional biases, than by any overt racism. For example studies show that factors in a candidate’s favor can include many unrelated things. Do you look or sound like the interviewer? That’s a plus. Are you tall? The hiring gods favor you. Are you the same gender, or similar age as your interviewer? You get bonus points. Same alma mater? Extra bonus points.

Notice that these bias factors are all unrelated to your qualifications, yet they can affect decisions.

In companies with well-trained managers and a decent HR department, managers are aware of their own biases so they can prevent them playing an unintended role in their hiring and promotion decisions.   In the decades I spent in corporate HR, I can say that I never witnessed outright discrimination of a minority candidate nor did I witness the opposite: a minority candidate who wasn’t fully qualified hired over a white candidate who was.

So in a sense, my experience/reality did not support either one of those opposing and distorted views held by many employees.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that there is no discrimination in the workplace. I’m not naïve, of course there’s discrimination in some workplaces -especially small-medium companies where the owner has final say so on all matters.

It also doesn’t mean that minority candidates are never given preferential treatment.   They sometimes are.

So there is some grain of truth in both of these views.

But in my opinion, the extent and pervasiveness of racism and “reverse discrimination”, is exaggerated. And I’ll explain why next week.

©Copyright Eva Del Rio

Eva Del Rio is creator of HR Box™ – tools for small businesses and startups. Send questions to Eva@evadelrio.com