10 ways to detect favoritism in the workplace

You’ve spent your career building new skills and expertise to start an upward path and thrive as an employee. But favoritism in the workplace, whether it comes from managers or coworkers, can impede your growth and create a toxic work environment.

Favoritism could be the reason your manager chooses others over you for important promotions, raises, and responsibilities. It could also make you feel left out of social events where only the “favorites” get invited.

On the other hand, you might get caught up in office politics and not even realize you’re contributing to favoritism, fueling a competitive environment or a toxic company culture. 

Favoritism might spur a lack of motivation and have serious impacts on engagement at work, team relationships, and your career path. If you fear favoritism is contributing to poor morale, learn the signs and how to approach the subject with your supervisor or team. 

What’s favoritism in the workplace?

Favoritism in the workplace happens when a team member or manager gives unfair preferential treatment to another. This type of special treatment generally has less to do with someone's job performance and more with nepotism or personal relationships.

A hard worker losing a promotion to a less deserving candidate who’s better friends with a manager is a popular example of workplace favoritism. 

You might associate workplace favoritism with leaders who favor a specific employee, but it can exist among coworkers, too. A project team might not give tasks to a member they aren’t friends with, or they’ll save less visible or impactful tasks for that person instead of distributing them equally.

All of these examples can also be a product of unconscious bias, too. People might not realize they’re picking favorites, or they might not be doing it on purpose.

Here’s how favoritism impacts different professional relationships.

Favoritism between a manager and a direct report

Managers, supervisors, or even employees with seniority can practice favoritism with the people who report to them, and it starts with the hiring process.

A higher-up could sway human resources or hiring managers to pass over more qualified candidates in favor of friends or family. People in charge of hiring could also favor candidates based on their relationships, shared connections, or work history.

From there, favoritism between managers and reports can manifest in the following ways:

• Perks: Managers might give certain employees the upper hand with vacation time, paid time off, a company car, work expenses, or a nicer office.

• Career development opportunities: Favored employees could be more likely to get promotions, mentorship opportunities, and special assignments.

• Relaxed consequences: When employees aren’t performing well, managers might not give them the same consequences. Managers could brush off tardiness, absenteeism, and poor work performance.

• Extra attention and help: Leaders could offer extra assistance or time with projects. They might also take favored employees’ opinions more seriously than others.

Favoritism between coworkers

There’s a fine line between a healthy workplace culture that encourages teamwork and an unhealthy work environment that rewards cliques. Workplace friendships can improve mental fitness and lessen stress, but they can also create unwanted hierarchies and exacerbate unfairness.

Here are some examples of favoritism in the workplace between coworkers:

• Information silos: Hierarchies prevent the flow of information and stunt communication across teams. Employees could exclude unfavored coworkers from skill or knowledge sharing.
• Unfair opportunities: Like leader-worker favoritism, the bias between coworkers affects recommendations for internal roles and new opportunities.
• Extracurricular exclusion: Groups of employees might get together outside of work without inviting other coworkers, leading to more exclusion in the workplace. Because this happens outside of the office, it’s harder to control.

10 signs of favoritism at work

Favoritism at work comes in many forms, and they aren’t all easy to spot. Whether you’re feeling left out or worry that you’re contributing to favoritism, here are 10 signs to look out for:

1. Too much time at the water cooler

You may notice a team leader spending a lot of time with a particular employee in the break room, at their desk, or around the office doing non-work activities. If you’re in a fully remote environment, this might look like the extra time spent in Zoom calls discussing non-work topics or private channels for casual conversations that exclude certain members. 

Workplace friendships can improve morale and make the workplace more enjoyable for everyone. But they can also lessen professionalism at work. Rather than taking work commitments seriously, leaders, coworkers, and favored employees may feel empowered to dedicate company time to personal tasks.

Keep in mind that you don’t know what’s going on between coworkers or between managers and reports. If you see them interacting more than usual, it might not be favoritism. An employee could need extra guidance with a sensitive project or be talking through an issue privately. Try not to jump to conclusions if you don’t know what they’re actually discussing.

2. Dismissing employee violations

Rather than ask employees to own up to bad behavior or poor work performance, a boss or colleague might step in and defend them. This could be for less serious behavior, like the occasional absence, or for more severe violations, like workplace coercion. If other employees take notice, it could create resentment or a lack of trust in the organization's values. 

3. Unfair distribution of tasks

In an ideal workplace, everyone has a chance to work on exciting projects and earn increased responsibility. But when favoritism is at play, the same employees might unfairly access these opportunities every time. They might also work on more interesting or easier assignments while their coworkers have to settle for menial or less exciting tasks.

4. Unfair access to mentoring and extra guidance

A mentor-mentee relationship can help employees of all ages improve their skills, career path, and professional network.

When it comes to nepotism or favoritism, some people might have better access to mentorship programs and career growth than others, even if they’re equally deserving. Likewise, coworkers might give extra guidance to friends and turn away others, putting the performance of the entire team at risk.

5. Unbalanced recognition

When managers say thank you and show appreciation for their employees, it builds confidence and motivates engagement and productivity. But a leader might only recognize the work of their favored employee and rarely acknowledge others’ accomplishments.

This favoritism could lead to resentment, jealousy, and gossip in the workplace among employees who feel left out.

6. Selective feedback and suggestions

Managers should play an active role in developing varied communication styles to encourage diverse thinking. With access to multiple perspectives, teams are more likely to collaborate, problem-solve, and get creative.

If managers play favorites with the most outgoing employees, or those they’re more friendly with, they may unintentionally discourage more timid or quiet employees from voicing their opinions.

This attitude can lead to less collaboration and the loss of potentially innovative ideas. It also creates an echo chamber of similar ideas and points of view.

7. Taking sides

No team is immune to disagreements. Workplace conflict between coworkers, managers, and leaders is inevitable. But conflict isn't always negative. Disagreements force people to evaluate their ideas, actively listen, and consider new perspectives.

When a manager constantly takes sides with their favorite employee, it stunts this opportunity for organizational and individual growth. Instead, it rewards potentially bad behavior and can make other employees think twice about trying to meaningfully solve problems.

8. Self-serving promotions

A manager or other person in power might be tempted to promote people who benefit their own careers, whether that’s employees who never question their directions or people who could improve the manager’s prospects.

However, this type of promotion strategy can create a hive-mind mentality that avoids independent and innovative thinking. More qualified employees that get passed over for promotions may feel frustrated, leading them to leave and seek employment with organizations that better support their ideas.

9. Unfair reprimands

Favoritism can create cognitive bias: Managers or coworkers think favored employees can do no wrong and therefore have trouble acknowledging their faults and mistakes. This is called the halo effect — your impression of another person influences how you judge their actions.

The favorable employees may be easily absolved of their mistakes or misgivings, while less popular employees are reprimanded when the mistakes or misgivings are the same.

For example, if your favorite person at the office is an office gossip, you might write it off as innocent, even if it's disruptive or negative to other employees. Then, when someone you’re less cozy with starts to gossip, you might feel inclined to report their behavior.

Employees that are never reprimanded may be encouraged to never correct their poor behavior or low work performance, while employees that are constantly reprimanded may begin to harbor resentment or disengage with work altogether.

10. Uneven raises and benefits

Although some states in the U.S. require pay transparency, there are still taboos about asking employers, coworkers, and colleagues what they’re getting paid or what their benefits are.

A lack of pay transparency could favor uneven and unfair decisions from bosses who want to reward their favorite employees. Bosses might also unfairly prioritize one person’s paid time off or vacation time over another’s.

If other employees take notice or begin to suspect that their colleagues are receiving better compensation and benefits than they are, it could provoke gossip and stifle engagement.

Consequences of favoritism

Even small instances of favoritism can impact an entire organization. Here are some examples of negative consequences of favoritism and preferential treatment in the workplace:

1. Higher turnover rates

According to a study in the ​​Sustainability journal, favoritism can exhaust workers and increase overall turnover. When left untreated, it creates a hostile work environment that strains worker relationships and encourages power struggles — and most employees don’t want to stay in a toxic workplace long-term. 

2. Lack of advancement

Professional advancement based on relationship biases can limit both employee and organizational growth. Workers who begin to think they're in a dead-end job with no room for growth can become disengaged and do the bare minimum rather than push themselves to innovate. 

3. Burnout

Employees who notice managers playing favorites might feel the urge to work harder to catch their attention. If they want the benefits of being favored, they might put in extra hours, take on more projects, or try to be someone they aren’t. This unnecessary effort can lead to burnout at work. 

4. Loss of respect

When employees see their coworkers advance into better positions with higher pay, they may lose faith in the management team. This is especially true if said coworker doesn't have the skills to justify a promotion.

This can lead to less respect between leaders and workers, and on the other hand, employees can put too much energy into courting their superiors.

How to prevent favoritism as an employee

Favoritism might not seem serious at first, but it can create a cycle of distrust in the workplace and ultimately impede growth — both for employees and organizations as a whole. Here are some actions you can take as an employee to fight favoritism within your workplace:

1. Analyze the situation: Be honest with yourself about the root of the problem. Are other employees getting special treatment, or could your work performance improve? Start with some self-reflection.

2. Talk to your human resources (HR) department: When you think favoritism is negatively impacting your work, team dynamics, and growth opportunities, reach out to HR. You don’t have to make a formal complaint, but making them aware of the situation can help reduce its impact.

3. Speak up: If you feel like your leaders favor others over you, show them why you’re a valuable employee. Stand up for your ideas, give feedback to your boss, and be open about how favoritism impacts you. And if the work culture doesn’t change, it might be time to look for an organization where you can continue to grow.

How managers can stop favoritism

Favoritism poses serious threats to the health of an organization, and as a manager, it’s your job to spot and prevent it. If untreated, you risk losing important talent and pushing productivity down.

Here are some actions that leaders can take to fight favoritism within their workplace:

1. Train your team: Favoritism doesn't always take hold of a workplace because of bad intentions. Our human nature predisposes us to self-serving biases that can impact our relationships. Consider unconscious bias training for leaders and staff to address patterns, build consciousness, and promote equity in the workplace.

2. Create a system: An extra measure to keep bias out of important decision-making is using metrics rather than emotions to track employee performance. When giving promotions, consider an employee’s impact and the measurable, concrete ways they’ve helped the company. Develop a clear promotion policy with benchmarks and guidelines that avoid favoritism.

3. Be transparent: Make it clear that your leadership team won’t tolerate nepotism and favoritism. You can survey employees about favoritism in the workplace to evaluate how different departments can address the problem. Create space for workers to speak up when they notice unfair decisions and dynamics.

Can we end favoritism?

It’s natural for leaders and employees to become friends. But workers and leaders alike should learn how to differentiate between positive professional relationships and destructive team hierarchies. 

Favoritism is ultimately counterproductive. It squashes morale and productivity, stagnates growth, and puts employees and organizations at risk. 

If you’re struggling with favoritism in the workplace, learn about common forms of favoritism, their consequences, and how to combat them. Avoiding favoritism and being honest about employee performance will help you build an equitable workplace.