Taking a Look at Unconscious Bias in Your Agency Processes (Inquiry, Application + Interview)

As agency owners, it is our duty to educate family clients about discrimination and to ensure a fair hiring process for candidates of all backgrounds and identities. While every placement counselor has to address families with overt or unconscious biases at one point or another, have you ever considered that our own pre-screening processes are areas where unconscious bias may be playing a role in our decisions about who we hire to our back-up care programs or who we choose to represent on our nanny rosters? 

This session explores unconscious bias and the way our experiences shape how we look at the world, experiences that impact our internal agency processes. By examining anonymous real-life examples, we will discuss actionable takeaways to combat bias in our everyday interactions. The first step to any substantial change is educating ourselves. Unconscious bias is a concept that affects us all, in every aspect of our lives. The better we are able to understand how our biases affect our interactions across differences – with domestic workers, nannies, agency owners, and administrative staff – the better we can defuse potentially negative situations and break cycles that impact our caregiving communities.

Yvonne Davenport-Perkins is a life coach, consultant, New York City native, wife, homeschooler and mother of 3 young men. Her mission in life is to help others create a life they’ve always dreamed of while simultaneously establishing spaces where those lives are viable, regardless of background. She has 20 years’ experience in Business Administration and Project Management across the education, health & wellness and diversity & inclusion industries.