Victims of favouritism at workplace reveal shocking details.

According to experts, workplace favoritism is the preferential treatment given to certain employees over others, often due to personal relationships or bias rather than their performance or merit. 

A select group of employees who are "in" with the management or "in" the same social circles are favored, leading to a closed environment where others feel excluded.

The same is true when in some departments, middle managers who are friends or with certain connections creates a clique to the extent of revealing certain opportunities to their colleagues, hiding mistakes they make among others vices.

A member of Human Resources Managers Association Angel Tumusuime during an interview says that holding other employees at higher standards in favour of others can lead to unfairness in performance leaving the favoured to enjoy what they do at work while creating an environment of lower morale.

“This can manifest as unfair promotions, inconsistent task distribution, or overlooking mistakes for some while holding others to higher standards. It creates an environment of unfairness, lowers morale, stifles innovation, and can lead to high-performing employees leaving for fairer opportunities” she said

Amos Ntenga an employee with a telecom company said that when he joined the company as field telephone operator, his immediate boss became great friends the department supervisor.

He said that when mistakes happened while in the field in their line of duty with his boss, the supervisor overlooked his mangers mistakes but fronted his contribution alone and a judgment would be made against him.

“I will never forget how they made me feel, while I was in full knowledge of his mistakes and how it unfolded against me alone would derail my work ethics and resort to thinking that it was well to do such things” he said

The Federation of Uganda Employers (FUE) is partnering to address such negative workplace phenomena, including harassment and violence, by promoting international labour conventions.

FUE in a statement reveal that “strategies for dealing with workplace favoritism include open communication with management to reveal cliques and other underlying issues, focusing on performance, and seeking opportunities elsewhere if the environment does not improve”

The second part of this article will reveal the companies mentioned by the victims of favouritism while at their work places.