Question

What action on the part of a manager can a person perceive as favoritism?

Answer 1

When managers play favorites, it can not only have a detrimental effect on employee morale, but it can also cost the company money in lost productivity, lower efficiency, and even lawsuits.  Managers are people just like anyone else.  They have their own personalities and get along better with certain people, which is understandable.  It’s not always apparent to the manager how obvious the favoritism practices are to the rest of the employees and how much it can derail productivity.

Favoritism defined

Workplace favoritism occurs when a manager is giving better treatment to a person or group of people based on who the manager likes more rather than on who is the most qualified.  Better treatment can include promotions, projects, development opportunities, perks, inconsistent standards, and even different performance metrics for the same job.  The perception of favoritism can exist among employees even if the manager is basing decisions on work-related factors.  This occurs more frequently if there is a lack of communication from the manager to the rest of the team around how and why certain decisions were made.