Dive Brief:
- SAP is the latest company to invest in technology to help ease out unconscious bias in the workplace, thanks to its plans for its SuccessFactors HR management system.
- New features include the ability to flag biased language that could "unintentionally limit" who applies for certain jobs, Fortune reports. Even descriptors as supposedly banal as "rock star" could unintentionally discourage female applicants, so the new system would inform HR to change those terms to something more neutral.
- Their performance review module will likely have a similar program in place. SAP has been "particularly vocal" about improving equality and diversity at their offices, Fortune reports, and this effort is another reflection of that.
Dive Insight:
If the new SAP program works as similar programs do, it will likely make its decisions based on data from years of candidate data matched to job descriptions to find patterns in hiring, similar to how Textio and similar apps have done it.
Artificial intelligence has slowly found its way into HR systems as more companies focus on diversity as well as other challenges millennials have brought to bear. Many experts now see new and improved tech that seeks out unconscious bias as a way to enable more equal hiring — and with a big player like SAP now in the field, it's likely more HR-focused companies will be making changes, too.
