Unfair treatment in the workplace - make sure it's real and not just your perception

Bruce Whitfield interviews organisational behaviour specialist Siphiwe Moyo.

There's nothing like unfairness in the workplace - perceived or real - to unbalance employees' behaviour.

It can lead to anything from strikes to 'quiet quitting', where staff do the very minimum just in order to keep their jobs.

Major issues that can lead to this sense of unfairness at work include a perception of favouritism, and of skewed salaries.

RELATED: 'Toxic bosses need to have a look in the mirror and address their own underlying fears'

Bruce Whitfield explores the workplace minefield with Siphiwe Moyo, an organisational behaviour specialist.

It's becoming more common today that employees no longer opt to go the union route when they are dissatisfied, Moyo says.

"They will choose other ways of expressing that perceived lack of fairness or real lack of fairness. They'll withdraw their labour, they will do as little work as possible..."

"...but often it is retaliation because they think some people are being favoured, being paid more, or whatever lack of fairness they're perceiving at that time."

Siphiwe Moyo, Organisational Behaviour Specialist

As we know, it's a human trait to compare ourselves with others, which often leads to envy.

Moyo cites studies which show how people that were satisfied with their pay at some point, become dissatisfied when they find out that other people at their level are earning more.

Even when you're unemployed, you feel a little bit better in a remote place where there's more unemployment than say in a big city where a lot of people do have work, he says.

As our satisfaction or dissatisfaction is always in relation to someone else, Moyo emphasizes that employers need to try their best to have equitable policies and pay. 

Being open to dialogue around what is making people unhappy is also important.

"So even though certain things will not make me motivated, as soon as I discover they're not there they will definitely demotivate me... We also need to try our best to have an open door policy where we have uncomfortable conversations about the things that matter in the workplace."

"That's particularly conversations around those things that people have been banned from talking about, like salaries."

Siphiwe Moyo, Organisational Behaviour Specialist

When it comes to employees and performance, it might be that the boss is favouring someone who delivers, which only makes sense, he says.

A sense of entitlement might be playing a role here, and you also need to take a good look in the mirror and ask whether you yourself are actually performing.

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the conversation