How Can We Tackle This Case- Favoritism At Workplace

Dear All,

I am working in an engineering firm as an HR executive. Recently, I came across a complaint about the Head of the Department (HOD) of one department showing favoritism towards a particular employee (who happens to be his cousin) and degrading other team members (trainee engineers who have just started their careers with us) in front of him without any valid reasons. No matter how well they perform their tasks, they never receive the appreciation they deserve. We are in an engineering domain where it's challenging to find skilled resources suitable for our domain, which may be why the HOD is behaving this way. The HOD is a critical resource for our company. My question is, how can we address this issue without directly confronting the HOD about his rude behavior? I am looking forward to your valuable input.

Thanks and Regards,
Anil

Explore the possibility of transferring his cousin to some other department.

Pon

Hello Anil,

Pon1965 has provided the most practiced solution. Please see if that works for you, since many times, such HODs will not agree to such steps—especially when the relative's caliber is low-end. The HOD obviously knows the relative wouldn't last beyond a couple of months under another HOD vis-a-vis performance.

When you transfer the cousin, remember to transfer him ALONG WITH a few others from this HOD—else you can be sure of a backlash from this HOD. Just let this LOOK LIKE it's a normal/innocuous internal shift of some employees.

It would have helped if you had given the role/qualifications of the cousin as well as the domain of your Company. While some domains are surely as you mention, I think even then, there surely would be other ways of handling the resource availability issues. Like the saying goes: "There's no problem without a solution. We only have to look sufficiently enough to find it."

Regards,
TS

Dear Pon1965 & Tajsateesh,

Thank you for your quick response and great input. As I discussed in my first post, the HOD himself managed to place his relative in his team. In my company, management pampers HODs because if you want to replace or find new resources in my domain, we hardly find 500+ profiles on job portals. I hope you understand the criticality of this particular HOD. Transferring that guy to another department is practically impossible in my company. That is the biggest constraint for me in making that decision. I request you to provide some more insights on this issue that are most amicable to the HOD and the employees who are having issues with him.

I value your input.

Best Regards,
Anil

Hello Anil,

Pon didn't refer to transferring the HOD - he was referring to the cousin. You haven't given the inputs that really matter to give realistic suggestions:

1. What are the role and responsibilities of this cousin?
2. What is your company's domain?
3. What is your company's strength and how many divisions/departments?
4. Aren't there any other departments that this cousin can be moved to - meaning where his skills can be utilized?
5. How many are there in this Group that report to this HOD, including the Trainee Engineers that you refer to? And how many of this lot are actually affected by this partisan way of handling by the HOD?

The more inputs, the better the accuracy and practicability of the suggestions.

Regards,
TS

Dear Tajsateesh,

Thank you for your reply. Here are the details:

1) That relative (cousin) is also a Trainee Engineer who got trained in a particular tool (Designing Software) for 3 months.
2) It's a detailing company with respect to Steel Infra.
3) We have a headcount of 350+ and we have 7 departments.
4) There are 2 divisions in my company: 1--Civil Division (where this issue occurred) 2--Mechanical Division (where we can't place the relative of that HOD because that guy is already trained in Steel Detailing).
5) 40 members report to this HOD. Most of the people who worked under him faced the problem, and now the intensity is high for these 2 Trainee Engineers.

Thanks and Regards,
Anil

TS has dwelt much on tackling the issues. It happens in some organizations. In my experience with a top 10 organization where I worked, one of my bosses was always belittling others in front of his juniors (the junior was brought by the boss from another company where they both worked earlier). All turned against the boss and his close junior, and one fine morning both had to pack up. No one is indispensable.

Meet the HOD and politely explain the disgruntlement of affected employees and request him to behave in a mature professional way. If he is not budging, either of them has to be made the sacrificial goat. This is the last resort.

Pon

Dear Tajsateesh,
1)Role of his cousin is Trainee engineer who got trained with steel detailing tool.
2]It is detailing firm with respect to steel infra
3] there are 390 employees. We are having 7 departments and 2 divisions(1.Civil(where this issue got occurred and these 3 trainee engineers got trained on particular tool(including cousin of HOD) 2.Mechanical divison(where we can’t transfer his cousin).
4] HOD’s cousin skills can be used in Civil department itself.
5) 40 members reports to this HOD.. Most of the people who woked under him faced the problem and now the intensity is high for these 2 Trainee Engineers
thanks and regards,
Anil

Dear Anil,

Don't you have a proper PMS system in place in your organization? If yes, kindly review it again and the targets of HOD and other team members. And if not, then start working on it. Have a performance assessment of all the employees of the organization so that HOD will not feel that he or his cousin is being targeted. This is also important for the overall growth of the organization and surely will solve your problem.

If the HOD is a really best resource of your organization, then involve him in the strategic planning of the organization. In this way, he himself will find out the actual value of his cousin and of course others as well! If he finds his cousin beneficial for this organization (as per his current skills), then he will continue with him or do something to improve his skills. There is no need to put his cousin out of his department; just involve HOD in the strategic planning of the organization and give him responsibility to grow his team as per the planning.

I request other team members to kindly put your inputs on this.

Dear Anil,

Good suggestions from all of them on this thread.

Sometimes, we need to use some clever and strategic moves to nail such problems. The suggestion here is to find the strengths and weaknesses of this junior trainee and highlight the strength of this person to the HOD to keep him happy. Simultaneously, identify a project where the trainee would miserably fail due to a lack of knowledge. Ensure that the project given has nothing to do with the current boss - the related HOD.

Now, inform the HOD that it is high time the juniors are promoted and given good assignments to prove their worth. Surely, he will promote his cousin, and the rest is in your hands. Meanwhile, the affected individuals can be counseled and assessed for their abilities. They can even be asked to be rated by the company that trained them on tooling skills. This way, they can be temporarily moved out for further training and assessment by the training company to get some breathing space. After enduring a lot of humiliation, even if the HOD deems the other two engineers unfit, it becomes easier to send them for training with an understanding and a promise that they will add value when they return.

Leave the rest to time; all of us are dispensable, and assuming to be indispensable is like making a trough in water and expecting it to stay.

Good luck!

Nalina R.

Trainer and OD Consultant