Favoritism in the Workplace

by Frank
(Texas)

As a hiring manager and manager of staff, how can I avoid being accused of being guilty of favoritism in the workplace?

Frank

Response from Carl: Good question. On this site and on this page specifically, you'll see plenty of submissions from people who suggest that they are either victims of favoritism in the workplace or that they have witnessed it. In many cases, there is usually some sort of treatment that one or more people in the company get that others don't get that leaves people with the impression that one or more people are being favored at the expense of another person or people. In some jobs this can be more obvious than others especially when it pertains to scheduling hours or shifts and giving some people the "favored" shifts, in sales environments where some people seem to get more sales opportunities than others, or in family-run businesses where the family member(s) seems to get favored treatment over non-family members.

So in a nutshell, one way to avoid being accused of being guilty of favoritism in the workplace would be to avoid doing any of these things! But on a more serious note, as a manager you can also do a number of other things:

1. Speak with your staff and get their feedback. Asking your staff for their advice and also encouraging them to speak up and let you know about how they like their job might encourage them to also let you know about an instance(s) that they feel is unfair to them or others in the group. Having an open door policy and showing your staff that you're someone they can confide in and trust for business discussions is certainly a good start.

2. Promote and offer incentives based on merit. As in the examples above when it comes to scheduling hours, offering overtime, giving out sales leads and things of that nature, there will always be people who think they're getting the shaft. In some cases it might be that they simply have a sense of entitlement and/or are lazy. But you don't want to become a manager who looks like he's playing favorites. In my experience, the best managers were ones who were professional and fair and while they were sociable, they never made it look like they were getting too chummy with certain staff members to the detriment to the others.

3. Get feedback from other managers or HR. When all else fails, getting a second opinion from a peer and/or your HR department might help, too. Sometimes it takes a second or third set of eyes to look at an issue from a distance to offer an unbiased and useful perspective.

Carl