Workplace favoritism occurs when a manager is giving better treatment to a person or group of people based on who the manager likes more rather than on who is the most qualified. Better treatment can include promotions, projects, development opportunities, perks, inconsistent standards, and even different performance metrics for the same job. The perception of favoritism can exist among employees even if the manager is basing decisions on work-related factors. This occurs more frequently if there is a lack of communication from the manager to the rest of the team around how and why certain decisions were made.
