Affinity bias is the unconscious tendency to prefer people who share similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences.
Building an inclusive workplace starts with understanding how we make decisions, including the ones we don’t realize we’re making. Unconscious biases shape how we see others, influencing everything from first impressions to big decisions. One common example is affinity bias—the tendency to prefer people who remind us of ourselves.
Affinity bias might seem harmless at first, but in practice, it can quietly exclude others and limit collaboration. Data from the United Kingdom’s 2023 National Health Service highlights the impact: at 76 percent of trusts, white applicants were significantly more likely than Black and minority ethnic (BME) applicants to be appointed from shortlisting—a rise from 71 percent the previous year. Meanwhile, just 39.3 percent of professionals from a Black background believed their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.
Affinity bias might seem harmless at first. But in practice, it can quietly exclude others and limit collaboration. In the workplace, it can influence hiring, promotions, and mentorship, making it harder to build diverse, well-balanced teams. Left unchecked, it can stall progress on diversity and inclusion.
The good news is that awareness of cognitive biases is the first step toward more inclusive, balanced decision-making. Let’s explore how to identify affinity bias and practical steps to address it.
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Key insights
- Affinity bias is an unconscious preference for people with similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences
- It’s driven by mental shortcuts, the need for validation, the halo effect, and a desire to avoid conflict
- In the workplace, it can lead to biased hiring, promotions, and decisions, reducing diversity and inclusivity
- Teams can reduce the impact of affinity bias through structured hiring, DEI&B training, diverse leadership pipelines, and ongoing awareness
What causes affinity bias?
There are several reasons we might gravitate toward people like us. Our brains are wired to take shortcuts, and affinity bias is one way to simplify how we connect with others. Several specific kinds of bias and behaviors may cause affinity bias, including:
- A sense of validation: Being around others like ourselves is affirming, because we’re more likely to hear our opinions and thoughts echoed and upheld.
- The halo effect: The halo effect is a cognitive bias where one positive impression influences our overall perception of someone. Instead of assessing their skills and qualifications objectively, we might unconsciously assume they’re a better colleague or a stronger fit simply because they share a trait we admire or relate to.
- Conflict avoidance: Affinity bias allows us to avoid confrontation with other, different points of view that we may find challenging to accept.
- Mental shortcuts: Affinity bias leads us to rely on quick judgments (heuristics) that conserve mental energy. Rather than evaluating someone objectively, we equate “like me” with “good” and move forward without deeper reflection.
Effects of affinity bias
Sometimes mental shortcuts take us in the wrong direction, and affinity bias is no exception. When we unconsciously gravitate toward people who feel familiar, we miss out on meaningful connections and fresh perspectives. Over time, this can narrow our worldview, limit empathy, and reduce openness to difference.
Here’s how affinity bias can quietly affect your workplace:
- Limits diversity and inclusion: Favoring people who feel familiar can lead to homogenous teams. This reduces representation across backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences—making it harder to create an inclusive, people-first culture.
- Stifles innovation and creativity: Diverse teams challenge assumptions and introduce new ideas. When everyone shares similar viewpoints, innovation slows, and problem-solving becomes less effective.
- Weakens company culture: A culture shaped by similarity can feel exclusive or stagnant. Encouraging cross-cultural collaboration and openness builds a more dynamic, welcoming environment where people feel valued.
- Increases legal and reputational risk: Bias in hiring, promotion, or decision-making can lead to compliance issues and damage your reputation as an inclusive employer, affecting your ability to attract and retain top talent.
When leaders and recruiters consistently choose people who reflect their own background, teams become less diverse and less dynamic. Affinity bias remains a key barrier to inclusion and balanced representation across all levels of the organization.
Affinity bias examples
Affinity bias can show up at every stage of the employee journey. Here’s how:
Hiring candidates who aren’t the most qualified for a role
Hiring teams and HR leaders may believe they’re evaluating candidates objectively, but unconscious bias can lead to favoring people who seem familiar—those who share similar backgrounds, went to the same schools, or worked at the same companies. This can create teams that lack diversity in experience and perspective, hindering inclusion and innovation.
Passing over people for promotions
Promotions offer a great opportunity to recognize and reward top talent, but unconscious biases like affinity bias can sometimes influence these decisions, even when leaders don’t intend it. Managers often feel more at ease with people they connect with personally. That comfort can influence promotion decisions, even when others have equal or stronger performance. For example, a manager might advance someone they often chat with informally, overlooking a high performer who’s less socially connected.
Using structured criteria—like evaluation rubrics and 360-degree reviews—helps shift focus back to performance and impact, creating a fairer path to growth.
Dismissing new and different ideas
Affinity bias can also show up when leaders evaluate team members’ ideas. They may unintentionally favor suggestions from people they relate to while brushing off input from others, simply because those individuals’ ideas feel more aligned with their own way of thinking. This makes it easy to miss out on valuable input from professionals who think differently.
Say a team member offers an unconventional approach. If it doesn’t align with a leader’s default thinking, it might be dismissed—not on merit, but due to lack of affinity. Over time, this stifles innovation and discourages diverse perspectives.
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Overlooking people for praise and rewards
Employee recognition plays a key role in building a positive company culture, but affinity bias can lead to uneven application. Leaders may unintentionally focus praise on team members they relate to more easily, even when others contribute just as much.
Leaders may highlight the contributions of those they connect with socially, while missing the efforts of quieter or less familiar professionals.
Recognition programs, peer shoutouts, and regular feedback loops can help surface contributions from across the team—ensuring praise is inclusive and meaningful.
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Other types of bias in the workplace
Affinity bias often works alongside other unconscious biases that shape how people interact, make decisions, and build teams. Recognizing these patterns helps leaders create a more inclusive culture and make fairer, more consistent choices.
Here are some common examples:
- Ageism bias: People may assume older team members can’t adapt or keep up with change, which leads to unfair treatment and missed growth opportunities
- Attribution bias: Managers may credit external factors when someone succeeds but blame individuals for mistakes, which skews performance feedback and career progression
- Gender bias: Leaders may unconsciously give men more visibility or advancement opportunities, contributing to pay gaps and uneven representation
- Name bias: Hiring teams may make assumptions based on a candidate’s name, which reinforces stereotypes and affects who gets through the door
- Racial bias: Bias based on race can influence who gets hired, promoted, or supported, limiting access to opportunities and weakening inclusion
- Cultural bias: Teams may favor certain communication styles or norms, which can marginalize professionals from different cultural backgrounds and reduce collaboration
Importance of limiting affinity bias
Affinity bias may seem harmless on the surface, but it can cause concerning ripple effects throughout an organization. In the 2023 UK Workforce Race Equality Standard report, they found that the percentage of staff experiencing harassment from other staff in the past 12 months was higher for black and minority staff (27.7 percent) than for white staff (22 percent). Organizations that address unconscious biases can build safer, more equitable environments and unlock significant benefits that improve both individual and collective success.
Increased diversity, inclusion, and belonging
Addressing affinity bias is a key step toward building diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEI&B) within organizations. A diverse workforce brings broader perspectives and richer ideas, helping teams solve problems more creatively and make better decisions.
Organizations that prioritize DEI&B don’t just create fairer environments—they also gain a competitive edge. Diverse teams are better equipped to serve a wide range of customers, adapt to change, and outperform less inclusive peers on innovation, agility, and results.
Positive and supportive company culture
Reducing affinity bias also strengthens the everyday experience of working on a team. When people feel valued for their individual strengths—not just for fitting in—they’re more engaged, motivated, and empowered to contribute.
This sense of fairness helps build trust across teams. Professionals speak up, share ideas, and support one another when they trust that recognition, feedback, and opportunities reflect merit—not personal similarities with leadership.
Effective judgment and use of team member capabilities
When leaders base decisions on skills, qualifications, and performance rather than personal preferences, they create stronger, more capable teams. Focusing on objective criteria helps organizations put the right people in the right roles, maximizing productivity, innovation, and overall team success.
Beyond strengthening teams, fair decision-making supports individual growth. When professionals gain opportunities that align with their abilities, interests, and career goals, they’re more likely to stay engaged, develop new skills, and advance. This benefits your people and helps you build a more skilled and agile organization.
Improved legal compliance
Affinity bias can unintentionally influence hiring, promotions, and other employment decisions, potentially leading to practices that violate anti-discrimination laws like the United States’ Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Act of 1972. Addressing affinity bias helps organizations create fairer, more transparent processes that align with legal requirements and reduce the risk of discrimination or unfair treatment claims.
Creating an unbiased workplace also demonstrates a company’s commitment to ethical leadership and inclusivity. Ensuring equal access to opportunities reinforces trust among team members, enhances the organization’s reputation, and supports a culture of accountability.
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Strategies to address affinity bias
Because affinity bias can be so harmful, many HR leaders actively work to prevent and reverse it. There are several effective ways to do this:
1. Practice awareness
Instead of general reflection, encourage team members to run short, structured self-checks during key moments—like hiring decisions, meeting invites, or feedback sessions. Questions like “Am I defaulting to someone I’m comfortable with?” or “Who haven’t I considered yet?” can surface bias in real time.
Consider implementing “bias flags” in digital tools (like applicant tracking systems or performance platforms) that encourage reviewers to pause and reflect when making quick decisions.
2. Meet new people and learn different perspectives
Move beyond networking—build rotational programs or “shadow weeks” that pair team members with colleagues in other departments or global regions. This helps professionals interact with people they wouldn’t naturally connect with, expanding their understanding of different roles, work styles, and cultural experiences.
You can also host “perspective panels,” where professionals share stories about challenges they’ve faced, helping teams hear voices they might otherwise overlook.
3. Seek common values with others
Help leaders and team members uncover shared values by using short exercises in team meetings or onboarding. For example, ask: “What motivates you most at work?” or “What professional value guides your decisions?” Document and display these shared values on team boards or digital profiles to prompt connection based on principles.
This approach helps teams build trust grounded in purpose rather than personal likeness.
4. Review and update recruitment and hiring processes
Start by establishing clear, measurable criteria to assess candidates based on skills, experience, and job-related competencies. Standardize candidate performance review processes to ensure decisions are based on merit rather than an unconscious preference. Consider implementing practices like blind hiring—removing personal details such as names, photos, and demographic information from resumes—to keep the focus on qualifications.
Take your hiring process a step further by building “structured dissent” into interview panels. Assign one panelist the role of playing devil’s advocate or reviewing candidates specifically for overlooked strengths and underrepresented experiences.
Also, consider scoring interviews separately before team discussion begins. This reduces groupthink and surfaces divergent perspectives—particularly important when affinity bias is at play.
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5. Analyze your organization’s demographics
Take a close look at your workplace demographics to identify potential gaps in representation. Are certain groups underrepresented in leadership roles, key departments, or high-visibility projects?
Review promotion rates, track hiring trends, and examine team composition to see whether your organization distributes opportunities equitably. Encourage diverse leadership pipelines, expand mentorship programs, and review internal policies for bias to help create a more balanced and inclusive workforce where everyone has the opportunity to grow and succeed.
6. Establish DEI&B training for all team members
Training is a practical way to address affinity bias across your organization and build a more inclusive culture. Offer programs that highlight how bias impacts decision-making and teach strategies for creating fairer, more objective workplace practices. Make sure everyone participates, from leadership to new hires, to ensure a shared understanding and commitment to inclusivity.
To deepen the impact of training, shift from generic bias modules to scenario-based learning. Use real workplace dilemmas where affinity bias might show up—such as in assigning project leads or selecting a mentee—and explore how different responses can drive inclusive outcomes.
Create department-specific micro-trainings that tailor bias awareness to relevant team decisions, like code reviews for engineers or campaign feedback for marketers.
7. Revise organizational policies to encourage inclusivity
Review your current HR processes to ensure they promote fairness, transparency, and inclusivity, and implement accountability check-ins to track progress toward inclusivity goals. This could include regular diversity audits or structured discussions with leadership to review hiring and promotion trends.
Then move beyond updating policies—embed inclusive behavior expectations into your performance and promotion criteria. For example, add specific metrics related to inclusive team management, sponsorship of underrepresented talent, or collaboration across functions.
To keep policies from gathering dust, run quarterly inclusivity reviews with leadership to assess progress on representation, equity, and fairness benchmarks across departments.
8. Elicit feedback from team members
Your team knows where bias may show up better than anyone else. Encourage open feedback by creating spaces where people feel comfortable sharing their observations, such as anonymous team member surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one meetings.
Rather than relying solely on surveys, use short, anonymous “bias check-ins” after key decisions—like promotions, hiring rounds, or recognition ceremonies. Ask team members, “Did this feel fair?” or “Whose contributions did leadership highlight?” Track responses to uncover where bias might still influence outcomes.
Also consider including bias questions in exit interviews to surface long-term patterns that may not appear in pulse data.
9. Develop mentorship programs
Create structured mentorship opportunities that intentionally connect team members across different departments, seniority levels, and backgrounds. Match mentors and mentees based on complementary goals or skills—not just shared experiences.
You can also revamp mentorship by launching reciprocal mentoring, where senior leaders are paired with professionals from underrepresented groups—and both serve as mentors and mentees. This builds awareness, reduces affinity-driven assumptions, and helps decision-makers understand different experiences within the organization.
10. Use HR tech
Leverage your HR tools to spot where affinity bias may shape decisions. Analyze hiring, promotion, and attrition data by demographic group. Launch anonymous pulse surveys to understand how people perceive fairness and inclusion. Deliver DEI&B training through your learning management software, and track engagement to measure impact.
Move beyond tracking and reporting—use HR tech to design bias interruption workflows. For instance, set automated nudges to prompt diverse panel selection, flag skewed promotion data, or remind managers to consider a wider pool when assigning high-impact work.
Integrate inclusion metrics directly into performance dashboards so that managers can see how their decisions align with company DEI&B goals in real time.
Overcome affinity bias to build a strong company culture
Affinity bias often happens unconsciously, but its effects show up in real decisions—shaping who gets hired, promoted, and heard. Leaders who recognize and actively reduce this bias create more equitable, people-first workplaces.
Inclusive teams collaborate more effectively, make better decisions, and adapt faster. Focusing on shared values, expanding recognition, and using data to guide fair, transparent practices helps create a culture where everyone can thrive and contribute to long-term success.
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Affinity bias FAQs
How does affinity bias affect hiring?
Affinity bias can subtly influence hiring decisions, leading decision-makers to favor candidates who feel familiar or share similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences. This unconscious preference can limit team diversity and cause employers to overlook highly qualified candidates from different backgrounds.
Recognizing these tendencies and implementing structured, objective hiring practices help reduce bias, create a more inclusive recruitment process, and build diverse, high-performing teams that drive innovation and success.
Is affinity bias always conscious?
No, affinity bias is often unconscious. It influences decisions and judgments without people realizing it, shaping who they hire, promote, or collaborate with. This bias happens when individuals naturally gravitate toward those with similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences, which can unintentionally affect fairness and objectivity in the workplace.
Why is affinity bias a problem?
When decision-makers unconsciously favor people who share their backgrounds, interests, or experiences, it can lead to missed opportunities for highly qualified individuals. This bias can influence hiring, promotions, project assignments, and recognition, limiting diversity and innovation within teams.
What is implicit bias?
Implicit bias refers to the unconscious attitudes or stereotypes that influence how we perceive and respond to others. Unlike explicit bias, which is intentional and conscious, implicit bias operates in the background—shaping behavior and decisions without us realizing it. In the workplace, it can affect everything from communication to hiring and promotions.
How is affinity bias different from unconscious or implicit bias?
Affinity bias is a specific type of unconscious or implicit bias that relates to preferring people similar to oneself. Implicit bias covers a broader range of unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that can influence decision-making across various situations.
Is affinity bias illegal?
Affinity bias itself isn’t illegal, but it can lead to discriminatory practices that violate employment laws like the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Act. If it results in unfair treatment based on protected characteristics, it can create legal issues. Organizations need to identify and address bias to ensure compliance and build an equitable workplace.
Can affinity bias affect remote teams?
Absolutely. Affinity bias can show up in remote settings just as easily as in-person—and in some cases, it becomes even more pronounced. Without casual, in-person interactions, people may rely more on shared backgrounds or interests to build connections, which can unintentionally exclude others.
To counter this, use inclusive practices and varied communication channels to make sure every team member feels seen, heard, and valued.
