I love to see my husband coming back from his office with a happy face and a satisfied heart. Often the reason for his increased dopamine is used to be the appreciation from his boss for his timely accomplishment of the task. His happiness doesn’t last for that day only, but the next day he also gets ready for his job with double the energy. And credit for all this increased energy and positivity goes to the unbiased behavior of his boss. Though money is the ultimate motivation for a good performance, it’s not the only one. Often what drives the employees to go the extra mile at the workplace is the right appreciation, encouragement, and trust in them by their superiors. But when all these are given to the undeserving person out of some selfish motive, the deserving employees lose their interest in doing their job. Favoritisms at the workplace is the most demotivating factor for the employees.
What is favoritism?
Favoritism at the workplace is the situation where the person in a leadership position demonstrates extra favors towards one employee over another due to a personal bond or friendship.75% of the survey have responded that they have witnessed favoritism, and 23% have admitted that they have practiced it.
Effect of favoritism
In the world, 1 out of 6.5 employees has mental health issues due to various work-related issues and one of them being favoritism. These don’t include only the unfavored employees, but the favored employees as well. One survey had been done where the employees who were favored were asked about their response to the cheesy behavior of their boss towards them, and what they said was surprising. They said that they are under constant pressure due to interpersonal conflicts with their coworkers. They also feel emotional exhaustion and turnover intentions. On the other hand, the employees who had been unfavored reported the following negative effects on them
Having negative emotions towards the organization
People spend most of their time at the workplace, that’s why it’s important for them to feel satisfied and comfortable with the place and people around them. Due to the biased behavior of their boss, they feel stuck at the organization, and start looking for better opportunities in other companies.
Less work motivation
As they say, an appreciated person will do the work more than they are expected, likewise only those employees will go the extra mile who are appreciated and rewarded for the job they have done. If the hardworking employees feel less worthy and see undeserving employees are getting favored then they start working for the sake of working.
Less loyalty to the company
Less motivated employees will work only for the sake of working. They are hardly concerned about the quality of the work, and they don’t even hesitate to manipulate certain important data.
Emotional exhaustion
When a person is not happy and satisfied from within then he/she may start feeling jealous, irritated, angry, and also start backbiting others, which directly affects their productivity.
What are the signs of favoritism at the workplace?
For any boss it is always difficult to keep a balance between all his subordinates, some kind of imbalance will always be there, but that would not create much of a problem. The following behavior of a boss will be sign of favoritism to avoid in the work place.
- Frequently going for lunch with same people
- Giving authority to the same person when he goes out
- Allocate travel budget to only a few people
- Giving special training about new equipment to only few