Dealing with favoritism at work

Ever been in a position where your boss or your senior simply picks a favorite in your team and the latter receives everything nice and noble by maintaining their place in the good books!?

Do you ever feel like there is sheer discrimination going on and there is no other option but to punch your way through it?

Well, favoritism is quite real and is seen in a lot of places.

Now there are many ways to deal with such a situation well punching your boss square in the stomach is not one of them unfortunately

Let’s have a look at the options you have.

Avoid overthinking, Put in efforts

Don’t be delusional, there are a lot of times when your mind starts playing tricks on you.

For example you and your fellow employee, Brad, are working on the same project and you are sure that you outperformed him, yet he gets away with all the appreciation. You would be frustrated and your mind starts pointing out stuff like favoritism while you should actually remain calm and assess the situation again.

There might be a possibility that Brad put in some effort and in some way or the other was better than you. Try to be a grown-up man in such a situation and go shake hands with him

Don’t get emotional

Getting emotional is a huge mistake especially in corporations where people judge you for every word you utter inside and outside the office. The main thing you need to focus on is what you say and where you say it.

If you witness workplace favoritism or are being affected by it, try not randomly get up, blurt abuses, and throw the coffee mug across the office at Brad.

Gather yourself, take a deep breath, and go on with your day. This may not give you a solution but it will definitely stop you from making a fool out of yourself and you might also avoid ruining the chances of that next promotion.

Stand out from the crowd

Sometimes people don’t deliberately choose favorites. At times you are just not proving yourself in a manner that would be visible.

You sometimes do have to act smart and witty. You can indulge in some tricks that you might call cheap but then if favoritism is getting to you it would be a small price to pay. These tricks involve quietly placing yourself before the favorite at times. Trying to indulge in some cool one-line conversations with your boss (try not to overdo it with a joke about a priest and a monk walking into a bar).

You could also try to nonchalantly ask your boss to check out your recent presentation before he goes up to the favorite (make sure the presentation is better than your usual gig).

Such tricks might seem childish, but favoritism at work isn’t exactly a mature stunt to pull off, and as they say, you have to sometimes fight fire with fire.

Raise voice, if it gets too much

At times your team leader might just go a little extra in pleasing his-her favorite which might leave you in a dreadful position.

In such a case the right thing to do would be to first see if the boss is fair in his dealings. If yes then you can speak up about this to the boss in a discreet manner. If you feel that the boss also plays favorites with the team leader then well, God helps you.

Be Professional

Whatever the situation maybe you are never supposed to lose your cool or let things like favoritism in the workplace reflect on your work.

Prejudices and biased behavior are everywhere in the world whether you like it or not. Even though it is not something that should be there, it doesn’t mean that you will lose your essence and vibe. There are other employees in the company who can become friends with you and you will soon realize that you do not need to be concerned with the romantics between two other people in the office.

In the end, there is only one thing left to say. No matter what the other person is doing, it should not affect your work. We are not asking you to simply take on unjustified actions but we are asking you to deal with it in a way that will not hamper your position as a good human being and a model employee.

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