How To Deal With Favouritism In The Workplace?

Favoritism in the workplace isn't always loud—it’s often subtle, quiet, and slowly corrosive. A skipped promotion here. An overlooked idea there. Over time, the impact is loud and clear: team resentment rises, trust erodes, and good talent walks out the door.

This isn’t just a rare HR headache—it’s a widespread issue. In 2025, nearly 90% of employees reported witnessing favoritism at work, and 40% admitted they considered quitting because of it (Source: Forbes, 2025)​. Whether it’s a manager consistently choosing the same “go-to” employee or a pattern of exclusive social circles, the effects ripple beyond individuals—they shake the very foundation of workplace culture.

In this blog, we’ll break down:

• What favoritism really looks like in a professional setting
• Why it happens (even unintentionally)
• How it silently erodes team culture
• What both employees and leaders can do to respond

Favoritism is more than unfair—it’s a threat to equity, engagement, and performance. But with awareness and the right interventions, it can be addressed—and corrected.

What Is Favoritism in the Workplace?

Favoritism in the workplace occurs when an employee receives preferential treatment based on factors unrelated to performance—such as personal relationships, shared backgrounds, or unconscious biases.

Unlike merit-based recognition, favoritism distorts equity. It undermines trust, skews access to opportunities, and subtly reshapes how teams function. Over time, this behavior breeds disengagement and resentment, especially when overlooked employees feel invisible in decision-making processes.

An example of favoritism in the workplace might be a manager consistently assigning high-visibility projects to the same individual, despite others having equal or greater qualifications. Or it could appear in the form of selective praise, informal mentoring, or flexible work perks extended only to a favored few.

Favoritism becomes dangerous when it’s systemic—impacting promotions, training access, and morale. It erodes organizational trust, a core pillar of a healthy work culture. Left unchecked, it fractures psychological safety and compromises long-term retention and innovation.

10 Examples of Favoritism in the Workplace

Favoritism at work isn’t always overt. It often presents itself in small, repeating behaviors that, over time, shape an environment of exclusion and inequity. Recognizing these signs is the first step toward intervention and cultural course correction. Below are ten clear examples of favoritism in the workplace, grounded in research and real-world organizational patterns:

1. Preferential Task Assignments

High-visibility tasks—such as leading client presentations, managing key accounts, or representing the team in cross-functional projects—are frequently handed to the same employees. Often, these decisions are not tied to skill, but to trust built outside formal performance. This prevents others from showcasing abilities and advancing their careers.

2. Exclusive Social Interactions

When leaders consistently socialize with a small group—at lunch, during coffee breaks, or in casual conversations—it creates inner circles. These interactions, while informal, often lead to deeper rapport, unspoken influence, and off-the-record opportunities, leaving others feeling excluded and undervalued.

3. Unequal Access to Training

Favoritism becomes visible when upskilling or certification opportunities are extended selectively. Managers may recommend favored employees for leadership programs or technical workshops, ignoring others who have expressed interest or demonstrated readiness. This undermines growth equity and hinders talent development across the board.

4. Biased Promotion Decisions

When personal loyalty outweighs professional results in promotion discussions, it erodes confidence in leadership. Employees may start believing that progress depends more on likeability than contribution. This not only demotivates performers but creates a stagnation effect where deserving individuals see no path forward.

5. Disproportionate Praise and Recognition

Public recognition—whether in team meetings, emails, or internal platforms—can quickly reflect bias. When managers celebrate the same people repeatedly for minor contributions while overlooking major efforts by others, it signals partiality. This damages morale and reduces trust in the fairness of reward systems.

6. Flexible Scheduling Privileges

Granting remote work, time-off approval, or flexible hours only to a select few, without transparent criteria, breeds resentment. While some flexibility may be negotiated, the absence of documented policies makes favoritism appear systemic—even if unintentional—especially when denied employees perform equally well.

7. Exclusion from Key Meetings

When team members are left out of strategic discussions, especially those directly related to their work, it signals a lack of trust or valuation. This exclusion limits their exposure to decision-making, reduces their influence, and often isolates them from critical career-building conversations.

8. Unjust Salary Differences

In many organizations, salary discrepancies go unnoticed until exit interviews or internal audits surface the issue. If favored employees receive raises more frequently—or in larger increments—without clear performance justification, it creates long-term inequity that damages internal equity and employer brand.

9. Mentorship Based on Affinity

Mentoring relationships are vital for career progression. But when managers mentor only those with whom they share personal rapport—similar backgrounds, personalities, or preferences—they risk excluding diverse talent who may not naturally connect but possess equal, if not greater, potential.

10. Uneven Disciplinary Actions

Favoritism often shows itself during moments of accountability. If one employee is given a warning for repeated errors while another is penalized harshly for a first-time slip—purely based on who they are to the manager—it compromises psychological safety and sets dangerous precedents.

🔗 Related Insight: Culture Assessment 

Why Manager Favoritism in the Workplace Happens?

Manager favoritism in the workplace is rarely intentional. In most cases, it stems from unconscious biases, personal comfort zones, or structural gaps in accountability. Yet, its impact is far-reaching—fueling disengagement, damaging team dynamics, and perpetuating inequity.

Understanding why favoritism happens is key to preventing it:

1. Familiarity and Personal History

Managers tend to favor those they share familiarity or common ground with. While this may ease collaboration, it often leads to biased decisions. 41% of employees report unequal access to flexible schedules due to personal ties with managers (Forbes, 2025). Objectivity suffers as trust replaces fairness.

2. Lack of Accountability Mechanisms

In many organizations, equity and fairness aren’t tracked as part of leadership KPIs. Without visibility into promotion patterns, reward distribution, or training access, biased decisions go unchallenged. Only 25% of companies assess equity metrics during manager reviews, leaving favoritism unaddressed at the leadership level.

3. Fear of Retaliation and Silence

Employees often witness favoritism but hesitate to report it. 75% of employees avoid speaking up due to fear of being labeled “difficult” or facing retaliation. This culture of silence allows favoritism to become normalized—even among well-meaning managers.

4. Cultural Blind Spots in High-Pressure Industries

In fast-paced environments like tech, finance, or healthcare, managers may lean on “trusted” individuals for quick results. This often means going back to the same few employees, inadvertently excluding others who are just as capable. Over time, this practice becomes a pattern, creating an inner circle.

5. Emotional Bias Over Data-Driven Decision Making

Without structured feedback or competency metrics, managers often rely on instinct to make decisions. This opens the door to unconscious favoritism in promotions and recognition. Emotional cues replace objective criteria. Tools like PMaps People Management Assessments help shift decisions back to merit and measurable behavior.

The Impact of Favoritism on Team Culture

Favoritism doesn’t just affect the individual—it quietly undermines the entire team. Over time, unequal treatment creates invisible divides that hinder collaboration, reduce engagement, and weaken the organization’s cultural fabric.

When employees perceive bias in how decisions are made—whether in promotions, praise, or daily interactions—they begin to question the fairness of the system itself. This skepticism chips away at psychological safety, lowers motivation, and disrupts teamwork.

Here’s how favoritism damages team culture at a systemic level:

• Productivity Loss
  Excluded employees are 24% more likely to disengage, leading to reduced individual and team performance
  (Source: YoursApp, 2025)
  
• Increased Turnover
  1 in 10 employees plan to leave their jobs in 2025 due to favoritism, highlighting its long-term impact on retention
  (Source: Forbes, 2025)
  
• Mental Health Strain
  Persistent exclusion activates neurological responses linked to physical pain, increasing anxiety, isolation, and burnout
  
• Innovation Decline
  Teams experiencing favoritism see 37% fewer collaborative innovations, as marginalized voices pull back from contributing
  (Source: LinkedIn Pulse, 2025)

What Managers and Leaders Can Do to Prevent Favoritism?

Preventing favoritism starts with awareness, systems, and accountability. For HR leaders and managers, it’s not just about avoiding bias—it’s about actively designing equitable, transparent, and merit-driven people practices that encourage work life balance. Here are five proven strategies leaders can implement to mitigate favoritism and build trust:

• Implement 360-Degree Feedback: Incorporate input from peers, subordinates, and cross-functional partners into performance reviews. This widens perspective and uncovers patterns missed in top-down evaluations.
  
• Standardize Advancement Criteria: Publish clear, role-specific benchmarks for promotions, raises, and recognition. Employees should understand what’s expected—and how success is measured—regardless of personality or relationship.
  
• Audit Assignment Distribution: Use data to monitor how projects, clients, and responsibilities are assigned. Regular analysis reveals if certain employees are being unintentionally favored, helping correct imbalances.
  
• Enforce Relationship Disclosure Policies: Require leaders to disclose personal relationships—friendships, family, past affiliations—that could affect impartiality. Reassign reporting lines if necessary to preserve objectivity.
  
• Create Forums for Open Dialogue: Host quarterly team check-ins or anonymous feedback loops where employees can voice concerns. Psychological safety increases when people know their observations will be heard without retaliation.

Final Thoughts

Favoritism is more than just a fairness issue—it’s a structural risk that silently drains trust, dampens innovation, and accelerates attrition. In a time where workplace culture directly impacts business performance, overlooking favoritism is no longer an option.

Addressing this challenge means re-evaluating how opportunity, recognition, and leadership access are distributed—and embedding systems that support unbiased decision-making. Culture doesn’t just shape experience. It shapes outcomes. And it starts with trust.

Looking to diagnose invisible biases within your culture? Explore how PMaps’ Culture Assessment can help your teams identify, prevent, and correct favoritism through data-backed insights. Call us at 8591320212 or email assessment@pmaps.in to begin the conversation!