Samantha Ghan, Staff Writer flutedm@yahoo.com
Favoritism is when you, a hard worker, are passed over for a position and someone else gets the job who is not as hard of a worker as you or who just doesn’t qualify for the position. This happened to my friend Danielle.
Danielle was a hard worker. She did everything that was asked of her. She was also in line to become an assistant manager, which she was really excited about. She had been working hard for over a year to get to where she was. She had the interview and she nailed it. She had her second interview and that interview was even better than the first interview. She went home, knowing that she would get the job. The position came down to Danielle and Katie. Katie had been working there for two months longer than Danielle but nothing else about Katie made her more qualified for the job.
The next day Danielle got an email along with every other employee informing everyone that Katie received the new assistant manager position. This upset Danielle because she felt she deserved it. Now she has to go to work every day and feel that her boss favors Katie over herself. This can be one of the worst feelings for a workplace environment.
Favoritism should not be in the work place because there is no reason to have favorites. If someone works hard, it should show in his or her paycheck, his or her responsibilities or in his or her schedule. People know when they are doing their jobs correctly. They, like Danielle, feel that they worked hard and therefore that they deserved the promotion, the way Danielle felt she deserved the assistant manager position. Her paychecks and responsibilities did not reflect her hard work. She didn’t deserve to be treated in that way.
If you are being abused by favoritism in the workplace what can you do? You could go to your boss and talk to them. That could work, but it could also bring more trouble. You don’t know if your bosses will accept your view or if they will accuse you of being a baby or a complainer.
What else can you do? You can go to Human Resources. They are there to help you deal with problems such as this. They can let your boss know that someone feels they are being treated unfairly. They can also see that things can change. Another thing, you could quit. Find another job, one that treats you fairly. It is a hard cycle to break and hard to decide what the right thing to do is in this situation.
The workforce needs to overcome favoritism. I don’t know how that happens, but sometimes we just need to accept it and continue to work hard. You should continue working hard, while you work with your boss or human resources.
Don’t give up. Be the person and employee that you know that you are supposed to be. People like Danielle will succeed in life no matter what.
Going to HR may be the worst move. If you’re a part time employee, you may be fired because it is simply easier to get rid of you than to handle any drama going on.
Ms. Ghan,
I agree that favoritism in the work place can be an issue but I disagree with some of the logic in the article.
Not everyone is cut out for management roles. Not all employees are able to function at a higher capacity or are productive enough to merit a pay raise. An employee is not necessarily profitable if they work hard. likewise not all hard-working employees can handle management. You have no way of knowing that your friend, Danielle, was actually more efficient or capable of being a manager. You would have to ask her boss. In fact, you inadvertently demonstrate that she lacked certain quality traits, proving that she should not have been given the leadership position. Instead of being a leader and having a personal conversation with her boss about what she could improve on or why she should be given more consideration for her work, she complained to you enough to…
I was in this place recently and decided to move forward (searching for another job). Most employees were upset that this practice “favoritism” occurred. They chosen the other coworker who doesn’t come into work hardly, no education and suddenly got hired. Disappointed that the boss hired this person because she favors him over other qualified candidates.