Why Playing Favorites Is Bad Business
We all remember the “Teacher’s Pet” from school, that student the teacher always called on, who was forever granted special privileges, and who everyone else inevitably despised. (Maybe that Teacher’s Pet was even you!)
While back then, the price of being a Teacher’s Pet was usually nothing more than social ostracism—playing workplace favorites can have far more serious and material consequences. These may range from decreased company productivity to expensive lawsuits. Yet unlike discrimination, its flipside, favoritism, is often harder to identify and even more difficult to prevent.
However, doing so is essential to running a strong, effective business organization.
Favoritism vs. Discrimination
Although both come from a foundation of bias, favoritism and discrimination contain subtle but important distinctions. Discrimination tends to derive from factors employees bring into the workplace, usually items over which they have little or no control. These can include sex, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, physical handicaps, even things such as height, weight, and accent.
Employees who experience discrimination based on any of these factors tend to find they are more harshly criticized than others, have their suggestions and opinions ignored, and are “frozen out” of advancement opportunities. Fortunately, there are now a host of state and federal laws in place to help prevent such abuses.
While favoritism can also spring from these extrinsic factors, for instance, a manager who regularly promotes male candidates over female ones, favoritism, unlike traditional discrimination, can also be earned. Let’s return to the Teacher’s Pet example. If Sally Smith became the Teacher’s Pet, it’s probably because she was always prepared for class, raised her hand in discussions, and enthusiastically volunteered for extra credit projects.
Of course Sally became the teacher’s favorite, you might say. Exceptional performance should be rewarded, just as top-performing employees should be acknowledged at work through raises, promotions, and the granting of special privileges. In most instances, you’d be correct in your reasoning. Rewards incentivize superior performance. The problem occurs when one’s blatant bias toward an individual, earned or not, undercuts group performance.
The Costs of Favoritism
When a leader favors one or two employees over everyone else, everyone eventually notices. And the costs can be heavy. Favoritism often leads to resentment, low morale, depressed productivity, distrust of authority, internal rebellion, and high turnover rates. In extreme circumstances, it can even produce legal action. Let’s face it: No one likes to feel ignored or that their contributions aren’t appreciated.
What Does Favoritism Look Like?
So, what exactly are the telltale indicators of this troubling behavior? Common signs of favoritism include:
Unequal Opportunities. Employees see certain people getting assigned to better projects, receiving promotions, and/or enjoying special privileges without obvious justification.
Exclusive Communications. Leadership communicates more often and freely with certain individuals, including having an “open door” policy to these people and not to others.
Public Praise vs. Private Criticism. Your workplace may have a problem if leadership regularly praises the accomplishments of certain individuals before the group but takes others aside for constructive criticism.
Social Preferences. When a manager regularly goes out to lunch with a select group of employees, or even has certain workers over to their house for dinner, outings, etc., favoritism is likely at play.
Inconsistent Policy Enforcement. George Orwell’s classic Animal Farm made famous the slogan, “All Animals Are Equal—But Some Are More Equal Than Others.” In the workplace, this can manifest in the form of favored employees being allowed to break the rules more frequently or egregiously than the staff as a whole.
Note: Even if such favoritism seems justified, such behavior can still become problematic if the non-favored feel ignored, unappreciated, or that they are the victims of outright discrimination.
How to Prevent Workplace Favoritism
There are several things you can do to thwart and/or correct this practice. These include:
Look for obvious patterns. As leader, you’re likely to have favorite employees. It’s unavoidable. But do your favorites share obvious overt characteristics? Are they all male? All female? Do they share racial or other ethnic backgrounds? Are they of similar chronological age? If so, unconscious bias may be at work, and you’ll want to increase the amount of attention you pay to others.
Be inclusive. Open team meetings up to more than just a select few. Actively seek input from everyone in your organization. If you have an open-door policy, ensure it applies to all.
Recognize great work regularly. Publicly acknowledge accomplishments and be sure to spread that praise around. Also, make sure everyone feels they are part of the team’s success.
Work to build bonds with all. Get to know everyone on your team individually. If you occasionally take workers out to lunch, ensure everyone gets an invite at some point. Focus on building an empathetic rapport with everyone for whom you are responsible.
Make sure the reasons for individual success are obvious. If certain team members get raises, promotions, awards, etc., it should be clear to all why this occurred. Moreover, show your people how they can earn similar rewards themselves.
Consult a third party. When it comes to identifying favoritism, it’s often hard to be objective. This is why calling in an outside consultant experienced in these matters can provide insights you may never achieve on your own.
Eliminating favoritism is a critical part of building a successful culture. As an expert in this area with many years of experience, I can help your company identify if and where favoritism exists and suggest corrective actions. To learn more, please contact me at: laura@conoverconsulting.com.