Favoritism in the Workplace 2026: Types, Examples & Fixes

Around 72% of employees reported witnessing favoritism in the workplace, and roughly 40% considered quitting because of it. In a talent market where retention is already competitive, 89% of HR leaders rank it as a top priority. Favoritism is an error you cannot afford.

In 2026, favoritism has evolved into subtle "proximity bias" in hybrid teams and algorithmic bias in performance reviews. It silently kills morale, breaks trust, and sends your high performers away.

Our research-backed guide breaks down exactly what modern favoritism at work looks like, why it happens, whether it is illegal, and how to fix it before it damages your culture.

What Is Favoritism in the Workplace?

Favoritism in the workplace means giving special treatment to one employee or a group based on factors unrelated to their job performance.

It is the opposite of meritocracy. Instead of rewarding skill, output, or experience, a manager rewards personal connection, likeability, or physical proximity.

It is important to distinguish between preference and favoritism. It is human nature for managers to "click" with certain employees more than others. That is chemistry.

Favoritism happens when that chemistry leads to unfair advantages, like better projects, relaxed deadlines, or faster promotions, while equally qualified colleagues are ignored.

Types of favoritism

Each type disrupts fairness and talent development. Organizations that tolerate these patterns risk losing high performers and damaging their employer brand.

Common Signs of Favoritism at Work

Favoritism often starts small before it becomes systemic. Here are the 5 red flags to watch for in 2026:

• The "Inner Circle" Meetings: Key decisions are made in informal lunches or private chats where only a select few are invited, bypassing official channels.
• Selective Leniency: One employee misses a deadline and gets a "don't worry about it," while another receives a formal warning for the same mistake.
• The "Ghost" Promotion: A role opens up and is filled by a pre-selected candidate without a fair interview process or internal posting.
• Unequal Access to Leadership: Certain employees have an open-door policy with the CEO, while others must jump through hoops just to get an email reply.
• Information Hoarding: Critical context or project updates are shared only with "favorites," setting them up to succeed while leaving others in the dark.

Real Examples of Favoritism in the Workplace

To fix the issue, you first have to recognize it. Favoritism manifests in different archetypes:

1. The Proximity Bias (The Hybrid Trap)

In a hybrid setup, a manager naturally gravitates towards the employees they see physically in the office. They get the "plum" assignments simply because they were visible when the decision was made.

Meanwhile, a remote employee with better metrics is overlooked because they are "out of sight, out of mind." This "accidental favoritism" is one of the biggest culture killers in modern distributed teams.

2. The "Mirror Image" Hire

A VP of Sales hires a candidate who reminds them of their younger self—same university, same hobbies, same background.

Despite the candidate lacking the necessary technical skills, the VP insists they "have the right DNA" and fast-tracks them. This is often framed as "culture fit," but it is actually affinity bias masquerading as strategy.

3. The "Legacy" Shield (Nepotism)

An executive’s family member joins the team as a junior associate. While they claim to want "no special treatment," they are mysteriously shielded from difficult projects and negative feedback.

When layoffs happen, they are the first to be protected, signaling to the rest of the team that blood relations outweigh business results.

Pro Tip: As a leader, you should convert these signs into data points. Then, conduct a quick investigation before reputational or legal costs rise.

Why Does Workplace Favoritism Happen?

Workplace Favoritism is rarely a conscious attempt to damage company culture. In most cases, it is a byproduct of human psychology and weak management structures.

We’ve identified 4 common factors that unintentionally fuel workplace favoritism:

1. The Brain’s Shortcut (Cognitive Bias)

Our brains are wired to seek safety and familiarity. This leads to similarity-attraction bias, where managers unconsciously trust people who look, think, or act like them. It feels "safer" to give a critical task to someone you resonate with personally, even if they aren't the most qualified.

2. Proximity Bias

As noted in the examples, humans place a higher value on things (and people) that are physically close to them. In the absence of objective data, a manager’s brain substitutes "visibility" for "productivity." If I see you working, I assume you are working hard.

3. Lack of Objective Data

When performance metrics are vague, feelings fill the void. If a company doesn't have clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or standardized rubrics for promotions, decisions are left to "gut feeling." And gut feeling is just a playground for bias.

4. The "Halo Effect"

This occurs when one positive trait overshadows everything else. If an employee is incredibly charismatic or funny, a manager might subconsciously ignore their missed deadlines or lack of attention to detail, viewing them through a "halo" of positivity that others don't get.

Business Impact: Retention, Morale & Performance

Favoritism drains talent, trust, and productivity. You can see the effects in exit interviews, engagement surveys, and missed deadlines.

It’s a massive financial leak. In 2026, the cost of looking the other way is quantifiable, and the numbers are ugly.

1. The Retention Crisis

When employees realize the game is rigged, they stop playing. Research shows that nearly 70% of employees believe their leaders have favorites. Once that belief sets in, turnover intent spikes.

With voluntary turnover costing U.S. businesses an estimated $2.9 trillion annually, losing talent to unfairness is an expensive mistake. Replacing a mid-level employee now costs between 75% to 125% of their annual salary.

If you lose a top performer because they saw a less qualified colleague promoted, you lose more than just a person. You’re also losing valuable knowledge and momentum.

2. The Morale "Death Spiral"

Favoritism creates a toxic "Us vs. Them" dynamic. The "out-group" (the non-favorites) naturally disengages. They stop offering new ideas, stop volunteering for extra tasks, and do the bare minimum to stay employed. This is "Quiet Quitting" fueled by resentment.

• Trust Erosion: When rewards aren't tied to performance, trust in leadership evaporates.
• Collaboration Breakdown: Why help a colleague if you know they’ll get all the credit due to their relationship with the boss? Teams fracture into silos.

3. Performance Drag

Ironically, favoritism hurts the "favorite" too. When an employee knows they are protected by a manager, their incentive to perform drops. They become complacent.

Meanwhile, high performers who are ignored stop striving for excellence because the ROI on their effort is zero. The result is a team-wide regression to mediocrity.

Is Favoritism Illegal at Work In the United States?

No, but it’s a legal minefield. In the United States, favoritism like preferring an employee due to their personality, college, or company is often not illegal.

Employment is largely "at-will." This means managers have significant freedom in how they assign work and grant promotions, even if those decisions are unfair or bad for business.

Favoritism crosses the line into illegality when it mimics or masks discrimination. Under laws like Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it is illegal to favor (or disfavor) employees based on protected characteristics:

• Race
• Color
• Religion
• Sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity)
• National origin
• Age (40 or older)
• Disability

What HR leaders should do immediately?

• Don’t Dismiss Patterns: A single complaint is worth a look; a pattern needs swift action.
• Preserve Evidence: Keep emails, calendars, assignment records, and performance data secure.

Get counsel if protected classes appear involved. The legal stakes rise fast when protected characteristics are implicated.

How to Fix Favoritism in the Workplace?

You cannot fix human nature, but you can build systems that check it. Here is how forward-thinking leaders are removing favoritism in 2026:

1. Kill "Gut Feeling" Decisions

Subjectivity is the breeding ground for bias. Replace "I feel like they are ready" with data.

• Standardized Rubrics: For every promotion or high-stakes project, use a scorecard with clear criteria. If you can't quantify why Person A is better than Person B, you aren't ready to decide.
• Calibrated Reviews: Don’t let a single manager hold the keys to an employee’s future. Use "calibration committees" where managers must defend their ratings to a group of peers. If a manager rates their "favorite" highly but has no data to back it up, the committee acts as a firewall.

2. Democratize Visibility (The Hybrid Fix)

To combat proximity bias, you must intentionally expose remote and quiet employees to leadership.

• The Rotation Rule: Rotate who leads the weekly stand-up or presents the monthly report. Don't default to the loudest voice in the room.
• Digital "Paper Trails": Ensure praise is documented in public channels (like Slack/Teams) or performance software, not just shared in a hallway conversation. This creates a visible record of who is actually doing the work.

3. Implement 360-Degree Feedback

A manager might love their "favorite," but do their peers? Often, the "teacher's pet" is difficult to work with for everyone else.

360-degree reviews allow peers to weigh in on an employee's performance. If a manager rates an employee 5/5, but the team rates them 2/5, that discrepancy is a massive red flag for favoritism.

4. Open the "Why" Box

Transparency is the antidote to suspicion. When a promotion is announced, clearly communicate the business reasons behind it.

• Bad: "We are excited to announce John is our new VP!"
• Good: "John is being promoted to VP because he led the X project, which generated $2M in revenue, and he holds the Y certification necessary for this role."

When the criteria are public, the accusations of favoritism usually die down.

5. Open a Safe Complaint Channel

Enable anonymous reporting and ensure no retaliation. Let teams know you’re looking into patterns and enhancing fairness. Being transparent reduces the impact of rumours.

Conclusion - Save Your Company

Favoritism in the workplace is common and fixable. It costs money, weakens teams, and sometimes creates legal risk. Your employees are smart. They know who is doing the work and who is just "playing the game."

If your management style rewards the latter, don't be surprised when the former hands in their notice. Audit your processes, demand data over vibes, and build a culture where the only "inner circle" that matters is the one that delivers results.

Use data, apply accountability, and communicate clearly. Do that, and you’ll stop workplace favoritism and rebuild trust.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Is favoritism unprofessional?

Yes, favoritism is unprofessional because it undermines fairness, damages team trust, erodes morale, skews career advancement, and signals poor leadership and governance, reducing organizational credibility and performance.

2. What are the signs of favoritism in the workplace?

Unequal assignments, opaque promotion decisions, clustered raises or perks, informal decision-making, inconsistent discipline, social cliques receiving insider information, and repeated project concentration around the same employees indicate workplace favoritism.

3. What are the negative effects of favoritism in the workplace?

Favoritism reduces morale, increases turnover, weakens collaboration, blocks internal mobility, damages employer brand, creates legal risk when tied to protected traits, and drives hidden costs from lost productivity and recruitment.

4. Is favoritism illegal in the workplace?

Not inherently, favoritism becomes illegal if it discriminates against protected classes, constitutes harassment, or involves retaliation. Employers can face liability when patterns correlate with race, sex, age, disability, or religion.

5. How do I complain about favoritism at work?

Document specific incidents, collect dates and witnesses, use internal channels (HR, anonymous hotline), present factual concerns professionally, request investigation, and escalate externally to state agencies or EEOC if discrimination is suspected.