How to combat favoritism at work (strategies and examples)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2025 4:54 am
Imagine an employee who gives his or her best to achieve the organization's goals. They create techniques to make processes more efficient, lead teams, and take initiatives to improve operations.
But when it comes time for promotion, a colleague is promoted just because he or she has a friendlier relationship with the boss.
The result? Low employee morale, lack of motivation, stress, and decreased performance. Favoritism doesn't just hurt one employee, it spreads throughout the workplace, creating a toxic work environment that stunts growth and breeds resentment.
In this guide, we'll explore telltale signs, real-life belgium number data examples, and practical strategies for employees, managers, and leaders to combat favoritism and build a culture of trust and fairness.
Summary in 60 seconds
Strategies to combat favoritism in the workplace:
Establish anti-favoritism policies and a 360-degree feedback system
Create a safe work environment where employees can voice their concerns
Encourage team interactions and promote inclusion
Organize training sessions to help managers manage incidents of favoritism and deal with unintentional bias.
Use tools to track employee performance and offer merit-based career development opportunities
Identifying favoritism at work
Favoritism is when a person in power gives preferential treatment to one employee over another, especially for personal reasons.
Jay Andres, author of The Manager's Bathroom
Identifying favoritism in the workplace can be tricky, especially when the signs are subtle. However, it often lurks beneath the surface, waiting to be detected. Here are some signs of favoritism:
Unequal access to benefits and privileges
Extended meal times, frequent approval of permits, extra vacation days, etc., for certain employees
Better access to equipment, tools, or workspace compared to others in similar roles
Slow with deadlines or objectives for some employees while being rigid with others
Example : A manager promotes some of his favorite employees (including incompetent ones) even though other employees take on more responsibility and perform better.
Unfair distribution of work and opportunities
UnfairRedistribution of workload-Assign minor and easier work or give high-profile projects only to favorite employees
Offering rewards and promotions to the favorite employee (less qualified than others on the team) while excessively criticizing other talented employees
**Give more attention, guidance and opportunities to preferred employees to improve their performance, develop themselves and establish professional networks, excluding other team members who may have equal or greater merits
Biased treatment
Defending unethical employee behavior or workplace violations such as bullying, discrimination, and harassment
Take sides duringConflicts in the workplaceand have a double standard. For example, a team leader who fines an employee for property damage, but not the favored employee
Allowing favored employees to influence decisions that affect the entire team and ignoring input from others Favoritism at work can seriously affect employee well-being. When a workplace is politically inclined, employees vying for position often engage in aggressive behavior to drain their competitors' resources.
The result? Increased resentment, conflicts between employees, and poor performance.
Preferential treatment can lead to exclusion, reduced (internet) connection to the organization, lower morale, reduce productivity and endanger workplace health.
But when it comes time for promotion, a colleague is promoted just because he or she has a friendlier relationship with the boss.
The result? Low employee morale, lack of motivation, stress, and decreased performance. Favoritism doesn't just hurt one employee, it spreads throughout the workplace, creating a toxic work environment that stunts growth and breeds resentment.
In this guide, we'll explore telltale signs, real-life belgium number data examples, and practical strategies for employees, managers, and leaders to combat favoritism and build a culture of trust and fairness.
Summary in 60 seconds
Strategies to combat favoritism in the workplace:
Establish anti-favoritism policies and a 360-degree feedback system
Create a safe work environment where employees can voice their concerns
Encourage team interactions and promote inclusion
Organize training sessions to help managers manage incidents of favoritism and deal with unintentional bias.
Use tools to track employee performance and offer merit-based career development opportunities
Identifying favoritism at work
Favoritism is when a person in power gives preferential treatment to one employee over another, especially for personal reasons.
Jay Andres, author of The Manager's Bathroom
Identifying favoritism in the workplace can be tricky, especially when the signs are subtle. However, it often lurks beneath the surface, waiting to be detected. Here are some signs of favoritism:
Unequal access to benefits and privileges
Extended meal times, frequent approval of permits, extra vacation days, etc., for certain employees
Better access to equipment, tools, or workspace compared to others in similar roles
Slow with deadlines or objectives for some employees while being rigid with others
Example : A manager promotes some of his favorite employees (including incompetent ones) even though other employees take on more responsibility and perform better.
Unfair distribution of work and opportunities
UnfairRedistribution of workload-Assign minor and easier work or give high-profile projects only to favorite employees
Offering rewards and promotions to the favorite employee (less qualified than others on the team) while excessively criticizing other talented employees
**Give more attention, guidance and opportunities to preferred employees to improve their performance, develop themselves and establish professional networks, excluding other team members who may have equal or greater merits
Biased treatment
Defending unethical employee behavior or workplace violations such as bullying, discrimination, and harassment
Take sides duringConflicts in the workplaceand have a double standard. For example, a team leader who fines an employee for property damage, but not the favored employee
Allowing favored employees to influence decisions that affect the entire team and ignoring input from others Favoritism at work can seriously affect employee well-being. When a workplace is politically inclined, employees vying for position often engage in aggressive behavior to drain their competitors' resources.
The result? Increased resentment, conflicts between employees, and poor performance.
Preferential treatment can lead to exclusion, reduced (internet) connection to the organization, lower morale, reduce productivity and endanger workplace health.