How to Deal With Favoritism at Work: Best Tips for Employees and Managers

You might think that all you must do to get somewhere in life — and at work — is work hard. But putting in effort might not be the recipe for success you think it is. In some situations, it’s more important who you’re friends with.

Today, we’re talking about favoritism at work — what it looks like and how you can solve it.

*** This article is the abridged, adapted version of the blog post originally published on the Pumble blog: https://pumble.com/blog/favoritism-at-work/?

Favoritism at work: What is it and what does it look like?

Favoritism in the workplace happens when one person gets unfair preferential treatment based on personal relationships rather than professional performance.

Let’s say you’ve been working hard for the past year to get a promotion. You’ve gone above and beyond to excel at what you do. However, what you didn’t do is rub elbows with the boss — something your coworker, let’s call him Mark, did do.?

So, lo and behold, come promotion time, Mark is the one who gets to climb the corporate ladder instead of you because your boss likes him more than you.?

That’s favoritism. And it can happen on multiple levels.?

For example, Mark might also be a part of a tight-knit group at work that usually keeps information to themselves and doesn’t help employees who don’t “belong” to that group.

That’s also favoritism.

Generally speaking, we can divide favoritism in the workplace into 4 separate categories based on which aspects of the job it influences:

1. Career development opportunities — reflected in favored employees getting more opportunities, guidance, and references.
2. Assignments and tasks — usually present in the distribution of work, where the favored employees get special assignments, more lenient deadlines, and more assistance and information.
3. Double standards — reflected in favorable treatment regarding absenteeism and poor performance.
4. Exclusive behavior or benefits — seen when favored employees often get benefits that others don’t, such as first pick for vacation time, PTO, or tasks.

How favoritism at work can sink an organization

No matter the type, favoritism has negative consequences — for individuals and the entire organization.?

Let’s say that Mark did get the promotion instead of you. In fact, he got it even though multiple members of your team deserved it more — based on professional merit.?

What would happen in your team after that??

The most noticeable (and damaging) effects of such favoritism would be:

• Toxic culture — If people saw their hard work being ignored, they’d resent the situation and feel alienated. This would create a toxic atmosphere where no one can thrive.
• Low morale — Once you and your peers realize your efforts are being completely overlooked (as if they don’t matter), you’ll lose all motivation to actually do the job you’re paid to do.
• Low productivity — No motivation usually means there won’t be any productivity either (at least not on a satisfying level), so your team will start to underperform.
• Conflict and resentment — You’ll resent your boss for passing you over for a promotion, but you’ll also start to resent Mark, which will probably breed conflict in your team.?
• Loss of trust and respect — Once you realize decisions are based on friendships and not merit, you’ll lose trust in the leadership.
• High turnover — Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave a company. So, when you disengage, lose all motivation, and are no longer productive, you’ll probably start looking for a new job.

How to deal with favoritism in the workplace: Best tips for employees and managers

Favoritism at work isn’t a “one-person” problem — so it doesn’t have a “one-person” solution either.?

However, that doesn’t mean you can’t contribute.?

If you’re the victim of favoritism in the workplace or even if you’re the person who’s being favored, you can:

• Speak up, even if it damages your chances of getting promoted.
• Work on your skills to ensure you get noticed even if you’re not the favorite.
• Network to give more people a chance to notice you.
• Keep trying to bring favoritism to the attention of your higher-ups.

Sometimes, even just opening a discussion about favoritism with your manager will be enough to stop it from happening, as you can see in the example below.

If you’re a manager or a leader and want to build a positive company culture, you’re probably looking for ways to prevent or eradicate favoritism.?

Here’s how you can do that in 7 easy steps.

Step #1: Use skill-based and structured interviews?

To stop favoritism before it even begins, strive to create a hiring process that relies on skills and merit rather than “vibes”.?

Assess skills and competencies to avoid falling into the trap of your own unconscious biases. These biases can lead to you hiring someone similar to you, which will inevitably lead to them becoming your favorite in the future.

Step #2: Make transparent and fair promotion criteria?

If you did hire someone because they passed your “vibe check”, don’t worry — you can still avoid favoritism.?

To ensure everyone is rewarded or reprimanded based on merit, you need to establish a rulebook containing all information on promotion criteria and employee behavior protocols. You can hand it out during the onboarding process and also make it easily accessible for existing employees to go over it from time to time.

That way, everyone will know what is expected of them and what they have to do to earn promotions, benefits, or any additional perks.

Step #3: Clearly communicate all decisions

Favoritism erodes trust in leadership. To avoid that, you can ensure your employees know you always tell them the truth.

You can start by clearly communicating all criteria as well as promotion and reward policies to everyone.

When you’re transparent about your decisions — why you made them and which factors contributed to them — your employees will know that you are objective and not driven by your friendships and personal relationships.?

Step #4: Make time for relationship-building

Favoritism at work is often a consequence of the proximity bias — we spend more time with people we like, and we like them even more because we spend more time with them.?

It’s a cycle that’s hard to break, which is why you have to ensure you make time to bond with all employees.

Step #5: Encourage teamwork?

Aside from being beneficial for the company, fostering teamwork among employees will help with bonding. When employees bond with each other, the chances of them forming cliques go down — by a lot.?

That, in turn, diminishes the chances of peer favoritism.?

Step #6: Establish training and resources for employees

No matter how much you try to eradicate it, favoritism might still happen in your organization.?

That’s why your penultimate step should be to empower employees to report favoritism.?

However, to get there, you first have to teach them how to recognize it and set up a reporting protocol.

Step #7: Establish leadership training courses

Finally, provide leadership training to managers to help them recognize, investigate, and act on favoritism.

Your managers should be able to recognize favoritism not just in others but also in themselves — and they have to have the resources to deal with it.?

Prevent favoritism with Pumble

Fighting favoritism isn’t an easy task — so it’s no wonder you’re looking for help.

Your best ally in the battle might be a communication and collaboration tool like Pumble, that will help you:

• Create your digital HQ where all your employees will have access to all important information,
• Establish a communication protocol that will ensure none of your employees are left behind (or favored over others), and
• Keep all your important documents (like promotion criteria and employee expectation policies) in one place forever, thanks to unlimited history.

So what are you waiting for? Fight favoritism and ensure equal treatment for all — ?try Pumble for free today!