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Several superiors display a biased behaviour towards their "favourite" subordinates, right? We delve further into this menace called preferential treatment.  

You may have seen your boss harbour preferential treatment towards his favourite team member a number of times, right? It could be in terms of letting them leave work early or in the form of giving better work and lesser pressure. Moreover, when it comes to annual appraisals, you see them have the cake and eat it too!

If you have noticed that a co-worker is the blue-eyed one for your boss, you are not alone. Preferential treatment towards only certain employees can have negative repercussions. "Such treatment towards a particular employee creates a huge negative influence on the team members and their performance. This is an open secret but no one confronts it," feels Giridharan VK, founder director, B-CUBE Technology And Consulting Pvt Ltd.

Preferential treatment should be an absolute ‘no-no' in an organisation, asserts Murali Santhanam, VP-HR, Cavinkare. "When a manager notices preferential treatment practices, it is imperative to call it out. It brings down team morale, creates disgruntled teams and instills a feeling of inequity. However, spending more time with one team member who requires support and help to improve performance should not be seen as preferential treatment by the team," he adds.

But there are many experts who believe that what really looks like preferential treatment to many might really not be it. According to Kuldeep Gahlaut, VP and HR, Ashiana Housing Ltd, "At most times, preferential treatment to a specific person within an organisation is a perception of other employees. Even when such treatment exists, it is generally based on high performance, high potential, functional and critical expertise."

So, what is the ideal way to react when an employee sees preferential treatment being meted out to another colleague by the superior? Should one beat the boss' pet or become one? Santhanam feels that noticing preferential treatment is more often than not a perception.

Giridharan VK advises that building a healthy professional relationship with superiors will go a long way in gaining respect and dignity. Having face-to-face discussions also help. "Those who receive preferential treatment without performance, merely by being boss' pets, will be certainly compromising on their self-esteem," he avers.

Hence, when someone else receives preferential treatment, don't get mad - get introspective. Also, do not ‘hide' yourself, because if nothing else, your performance will itself speak for you eventually!

- Yasmin Taj

The writer can be reached at yasmin.taj@timesgroup.com