Everyone has unconscious bias. It is part of being human. In the workplace, our biases can influence decisions and we want to ensure AvalonBay associates are aware of their unconscious biases and how to disrupt them.

In 2019, AvalonBay launched “Disrupting Everyday Bias Training”, a half-day workshop for associates to learn the skills, model/approach to disrupt the impact of bias in their interactions, behaviors, and decision-making. 

Objectives of this training are:

• Exploring how bias functions in the brain and its impact on decision-making.
• Examining how experiences and identities shape our biases.
• Commiting to implement strategies for disrupting bias in key work situations.

Within the first year of introducing “Disrupting Everyday Bias Training”, we had nearly 500 associates attend 20 sessions, which included senior leadership. We plan to expand the training to reach more associates in 2020.

Christine McElhinney