If a supervisor suspects bias in a performance review, which action is best?

• A. Deny the bias and proceed with the original decision.
• B. Remove all feedback and use only objective numbers.
• C. Acknowledge the concern, retrain, and re-evaluate using standardized criteria.
• D. Blame the employee for triggering bias.

Answer: (C)

When bias in a performance review is suspected, the course of action should center on fairness and accuracy: acknowledge the concern, retrain, and re-evaluate using standardized criteria. Acknowledging the issue shows a commitment to a fair process and prevents letting biased judgments stand. Retraining helps the supervisor recognize and mitigate implicit or explicit biases, improving objectivity in future evaluations. Re-evaluating with standardized criteria ensures consistency across employees and provides clear, defensible measures for performance, reducing the influence of subjective impressions. Together, these steps create a more reliable, transparent review process.

Denying the bias and proceeding perpetuates unfair outcomes and undermines trust in the system. Relying only on “objective numbers” ignores the need for context and qualitative performance factors that numbers alone may not capture, and can still reflect biases in how those metrics are defined or applied. Blaming the employee shifts responsibility away from the reviewer and does nothing to improve fairness or the evaluation process.