"If It Cliques"

What is your take on management/employee relations? Our management team is young and they have a clique which includes some non-management employees. They all hang out, watch movies and videos, but the "members" of the group get better treatment than the rest of us. What to do?

Outside Looking In

Dear Outside Looking In,

In any workplace with more than two employees the possibility of cliques forming exists. The first thing to ask yourself in this situation is whether the exclusion you feel is your choice or theirs. Are you a "hang with your buddies at work" type of person? If so, what is keeping you out of this group? Perhaps you need to be a little more accommodating or invitational. Why don't you invite a few people out to see a movie, or to have a beer on Friday after work?

On the other hand, maybe you aren't really a "hang with your buddies at work" type of person. Would you rather go home on Friday and listen to Mahler while your cat sits in your lap? If so, you need to accept who you are and work with that.

The second part of your letter refers to the clique getting better treatment than the rest of you. It may be that management simply treats better those employees that they see most frequently, simply because they are with them and aware of their concerns, capacities and contributions. You may need to find a way to ensure that management knows you are dedicated and can make a contribution. Can you see something that needs to be done around the firm, a project you could volunteer for? You need to find some way of keeping yourself visible, someone that management thinks of when they need something done.

Every employee needs to pay attention to their own visibility within the firm. If you are not a naturally gregarious person working in a company that has a group of outgoing individuals who ignore other employees, either deliberately or inadvertently, you need to work at overcoming this lack of visibility, or else find a way to join the team.

Good luck with it.

Dr. John

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