
Recruiting Future with Matt Alder - What's Next For Talent Acquisition, HR & Hiring? Ep 763: How Much Do We Actually Know About Bias In Hiring?
Jan 25, 2026
Bas van de Haterd, co-founder of the TA Audit Institute who audits large employers for bias and discrimination. He explains measuring age, gender and ethnicity together across ~250 organisations. Short, surprising findings about age bias, mixed gender and ethnicity signals, and where bias may actually live in hiring processes. Practical ideas on targeted audits and where to look next.
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Comparing Biases Side-By-Side
- The TA Audit Institute tested age, gender and ethnicity bias simultaneously using paired, similar CVs who only differed by age, gender or name.
- Comparing all three biases together reveals which bias is most prevalent and allows valid comparisons across biases.
Age Bias Is Most Prevalent
- Age bias was most common, with 48% of age-paired applications treated unequally in the sample.
- Gender showed 45% and ethnicity 38% unequal treatment, making age the most prevalent bias in this study.
Direction Of Bias Varies By Type
- Direction of bias differed by type: gender and ethnic cases showed almost zero net bias across the sample.
- Age bias favoured older candidates in about two-thirds of unequal age cases, a counterintuitive direction.
