Seeing favoritism in the workplace can be one of the most demotivating things you might experience.

In the workplace, favoritism refers to when someone appears to be treated better than others and not necessarily for reasons related to superior work performance.

Favoritism in the workplace might result in this person being promoted faster than others unfairly, being paid more to do the same job as others, being given more leeway to come and go during the day as they please, that sort of thing.

The end result is that they appear to be treated better than others and for no valid reason.

In each case, the favoritism they are given seems to you to correlate less to their abilities and more because they know the right person or people.

Favoritism can occur in pretty much any office environment large or small. How you react to the favoritism really depends on how blatant it is, if its proveable and whether or not its illegal. Your companys willingness to tolerate such behavior is also key.

Before you consider going public with a complaint about favoritism think about the possible consequences.

Whistleblowers are increasingly being offered more protection in some countries but whether or not your complaint is legitimate and proveable might be the biggest obstacle and a public announcement could end up causing you long-term grief.

If the favoritism you are witnessing is holding you back or hurting you and you feel it is based on illegal reasons race, sex, age, etc you might consider legal action but youd obviously need proof of wrong doing to have a case.

You might also ask if your current job is worth fighting for? Do you want to work for a company that tolerates favoritism if you can find a better opportunity elsewhere?

Depending on the specific situation, you might have a hard time proving favoritism or getting any sort of positive resolution otherwise.

Short of getting a new job, you might consider exploring other options depending on your situation such as consulting with a labor lawyer or speaking with a Human Resources rep from your company.

Also make sure you are familiar with your company's policies towards this issue. They may have processes in place that can help you and guide you.

Carl Mueller

My name is Carl Mueller and I'd like to thank you for learning a bit more about me!

I feel that I have numerous relevant experiences during my career that come in useful when helping people with their careers:

I know what it’s like to work internationally, having worked overseas (in New Zealand, from 1994-1998).

I've survived several corporate downsizings while many of my colleagues were being laid off.

I have also experienced being laid off twice myself during corporate downsizings.

I know what it’s like to be self-employed.

I've helped many people find better jobs. I started to work as a professional recruiter in 2000 first as an Information Technology (IT) recruiter and then in general recruitment across many industries including IT, manufacturing and marketing. Since this time, I have helped many people find their dream career and it’s a great feeling.

I experienced one of the slowest hiring periods in recent memory especially during the general hiring slowdown that followed the Y2K frenzy in 1999, the bursting of the dot com bubble in early 2000, and then the employment market bottoming out following September 11, 2001.

These were certainly not great times to be a job searcher in most industries nor was it a particularly good time to be a recruiter.

Following this, I began running the day to day operations of an Internet-based company in early 2003 that focused on developing online software and subscription-based websites for consumers. It was then that I fully realized the power, usefulness and potential of the Internet which really spurred me to set up my own website which you can view in my Personal URL section below this bio.

I’m also a Platinum Ezine Articles Expert as recognized by EzineArticles.com, one of the most visited websites on the Internet. This special designation is earned by having consistently high-quality articles published and viewed on their website. All of my submissions are related to helping you find your dream career and many of my articles get reproduced on other websites by their webmasters.

Good luck with your career and I hope I have been of assistance to you!