It wasn't until I had started working with krita.ai that I began to realise how wrong I have been all along. It turned out that I unknowingly had a preference for the younger generation as compared to the older generation.
As we began our research on bias in enterprise communication, I started uncovering the implicit meanings that a lot of my preferred adjectives to include in my resume had.
Words like enthusiastic, charismatic and energetic, all seemed to be great adjectives with a ring to it. Little did I know that the addition of such words in a resume gives an unfair advantage to young people during the hiring process.
Similarly a ‘smart’ person could also refer to them being ‘attractive', something that clearly has to stay away from the hiring process.
If such common, positive adjectives can be loaded with so many implicit meanings, then one can only imagine how many more such terms may be used ineffectively in enterprise communication.
The path to inclusion and diversity, therefore, isn't as easy as I had previously thought. It takes a lot of analysis and correction from our side and it definitely is time for us to translate that to our communication online.