Hiring bias could be reduced by allowing hiring managers to “opt in” to the information they want to see about a job candidate, rather than asking them to “opt out” of information they don’t want to see, according to a study from researchers at Cornell University and Duke University.

With an “opt in” process, hiring managers were less likely to choose to see potentially biasing applicant information, the researchers found. The option also preserved hiring managers’ autonomy.

“We found that having to actively select each piece of information leads individuals to be a little more thoughtful about what they’re selecting,” Sean Fath, assistant professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University, said in a statement.

“The main takeaway was that if you require people to actively opt into what information they want to see, as opposed to just giving it all to them and trusting them to opt out of the stuff likely to cause bias, you’ll get better outcomes in terms of what they ultimately choose to receive,” he said.

In the study, about 800 participants with hiring experience screened applicants for a hypothetical job position and decided who should advance to the interview stage. The participants received a checklist with seven items they could choose to see about the applicants. Five items included information typically requested in job applications, such as education credentials and work history, while two items — the applicant’s race and gender or the applicant’s name and picture — didn’t indicate job performance and could trigger bias.

As part of the experiment, participants were randomly assigned to either “opt in” to the items they wanted to see or “opt out” of the items they didn’t want to see. They were also randomly assigned to choose information they would like to see if they were screening applicants or what information they would like a peer to see when screening. In addition, they were randomly assigned to a checklist where they could choose to view the applicants’ race and gender, or the applicants’ name and photo.

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