Should Favoritism ever be exposed?

Wanderer2010

I work in a place where the managers show a lot of favoritism towards some staff. Some of this is small and would be hard to prove (like letting some of their former mates off early for a match, letting things slide with them that they wouldnt with others) but Im working with a guy who is out at least once a week, very unhelpful when it comes to helping me (we kind of depend on each other for document completion) and when I drop hints to the boss about how hard he is to work with, the boss either laughs or says "Oh i know i know" but nothing is ever said or done to him.

Is it worth making a complaint of favoritism here as I sense it will just go nowhere, has everyone ever successfully make such a complaint or is it just as easy to request a transfer, not sure what to do??

Eoin

I'd begin with stop dropping hints with your boss and be a lot clearer that your colleague is causing you trouble on a regular basis, and that you're unhappy working with him as long as this goes on. Maybe arrange a meeting with your manager and have some solid examples to back yourself up. Explain how it affects your productivity and so on.

If you complain about favouritism - even if that is the case - you're really making a complaint about the manager, not your colleague. Your manager doesn't seem to be helping things, but your immediate issue is with your colleague.

You might need to escalate it to someone else later on, but that'd be where I start.

belcampprisoner

tell him you dont want to work with the other person

Mrs OBumble

Ahh, is this favouritism based on age, sex, ethnicity, dis/ability, marital status, MOTC ... or any of the other criteria that make it illegal? Is it making you feel bullied?

If not, then it's perfectly acceptable.

razzler

The favoritism seems to be based on the boss being mates with a select few of the staff, not on age, race, ethnic origin etc. So while it's not illegal it's certainly not acceptable. I'd talk to the boss about how your co-worker's slacking off is affecting the work of both of yous. Then, if he wants to solve this issue he will have to cut out the favourtisim. Good luck.

Mrs OBumble

razzler wrote: »

The favoritism seems to be based on the boss being mates with a select few of the staff, not on age, race, ethnic origin etc. So while it's not illegal it's certainly not acceptable.

To who?

If this was a publically funded workplace, you'd be correct. But in the private sector, there is no requirement to be "fair".

(Agree it may not be good practise. But that's not the question here)

razzler

Not fair to the OP, it's affecting his job. An employee has the right to expect a fair workplace, public or private sector. Fairness doesn't have to be a 'legal requirement' or have to be in one's contract. Also, being expected to take up the slack to cover someone else's laziness and then be brushed off by the boss when the issue was raised could be bullying? That would be illegal.

Eoin

It'll probably help to remove the buzzwords from the topic as they confuse things.

The OP's colleague appears to be acting the arse, which is affecting the OP's ability to do his job as well as presumably making the working environment unpleasant for him at times. They share the same manager, so he needs to get his manager to sort it out.

Wanderer2010

As an update to this, I finally had a private word with my boss on Friday about how my workmate is causing me extra work and throwing work back at me when he cant/wont do it and how this has led to me missing deadlines etc, I also showed him a log I have been keeping of his times the last month (late 17 times longer than 20 mins, hence holding me up as I depend on him to kick start our review process) and I left all emotion out of it, kept it purely professional and made my case, even practiced it for 2 weeks as well. And what did my boss do?

"Ah, thats just the way he is, sure dont worry about that, it wont affect you. And bin that log, nothing good can come of that", I was so shocked to be dismissed that I couldnt even think of a decent comeback bar a lame "He is affecting my work" at which my boss just smiled and hurried back to his desk, with a final grin. Now im dreading going back tomorrow, maybe I should have just said nothing, any advice on how to proceed or is it a lost cause?

Mrs OBumble

As per your original post: request a transfer.