How to Deal With Favorites at Work

Don’t let the “favorite” co-worker know you’re upset about the favoritism.

Regardless of how many hours you work, you see it -- even when others don’t. Your boss has a favorite employee and it’s not you. Your co-worker doesn’t have to work as hard as you, always confers on important matters with the boss and gets the accolades -- your accolades. When workplace favoritism occurs, a supervisor has one or more employees she considers “favorites.” Workplace favoritism doesn’t affect only your workplace. In fact, 92 percent of senior business executives asked in a 2011 Penn Scheon Berland study said they’d seen favoritism in promotion decisions. You don’t, however, have to accept the workplace favoritism.

Instructions

1. Continue doing your work, even though it may be tempting to slack off. You don’t want to give your boss a reason to want to fire you. Besides, job-related skills, overall job performance and leadership potential may be some job promotion criteria so you don’t want to slack off and ruin your chances at advancement opportunities or higher pay, especially if your boss doesn’t make promotion decisions.

2. Resist competing with the favorite minion. You can put extra effort into doing your job, but complete tasks because you want to, not because you’re competing against the favorite co-worker. You won’t change the boss’s mind.

3. Evaluate the degree of favoritism in your workplace. Think about how the favoritism is impacting the possibility of earning a promotion. Also, talk with other co-workers to see if you’re jumping to conclusions about the favoritism or it really exists.

4. Determine if you want to change employers. You should think about the depth of favoritism going on in your office. For example, you’ve worked at a company for years and have seen your boss choose different “favorites." However, you’ve never been picked as his “favorite." You may want to seek employment elsewhere.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t let the favoritism cause you to have a bad attitude or become passive-aggressive just because you feel like you can’t do anything about the situation.

• If you like your job, company you work for and co-workers, then your boss playing favorites may not impact you enough to leave.

• You can discuss the favoritism going on in the workplace with your boss or your boss’s supervisor. However, you may experience retaliation.

References

• Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business: Favoritism in Workplace Promotions, Study Says; August 23, 2011;
• Fox News; When Your Boss Plays Favorites; Nicole Williams; June 26, 2009;