Hi Jane,
I work in the administrative office of a popular chain of restaurants. I’m a part of the hospitality department in this company. Under my job profile, it is my responsibility to visit restaurants across the country and review the way customers are being attended to by the staff. I have a co-worker along with me and both of us are in charge to make sure that every guest at all the various restaurants leaves the place with a pleasing attitude. In order to be certain that this happens; we need to travel a lot for personal scrutiny of the staff. Especially in the hospitality industry, the people involved are busier during weekends and festivals as the sales are at the peak during such times.
Due to this factor, I’m mostly travelling on a Saturday evening or even on important holidays when I would like to spend time with my family. On the upcoming festival of Thanksgiving, I won’t be able to sit down with my family and enjoy dinner with them. I have to travel to another city as the rush in that restaurant is vivid and my boss wants to make sure that the customers are treated well. But when my co-worker is asked to travel on a holiday, he makes an excuse and gets away with it. I have noticed that this has happened repeatedly and my boss doesn’t seem to mind it. I’m unable to understand what I should do about it as I feel it is unfair to me. This is the kind of subtle bias which I face on a regular basis.
Distribution of job responsibilities in an unfair manner is unacceptable.
Answer:
I understand your plight as an employee can’t directly question the decision of his boss. The feeling of being treated in an unfair manner is also not right. It will gradually reduce your interest in the work. I’m sure that while being recruited, your company would have clearly mentioned that you will have to travel often. Hence the question of raising this issue with your boss is unacceptable. Instead, do your job well and you’ll receive remuneration for working on a festival in some other manner.
On the other hand, I guess that your primary concern is that your team member does not travel as often as you do. He might be travelling frequently but he gets the option of choosing his convenience over the boss’ decision. This seems like the kind of case in which the boss gives liberty to one employee whereas is strict with the other one. Your point is valid over here as it definitely is unfair on his part to do so. Rules and duties should be equivalent for everyone.
I advise you to observe once again whether your colleague gets away with his excuses the next time or not. If he does, try to bring up this topic with your manager in the form of a general conversation. Don’t approach it in a complaining tone. The HR will understand your issue without your need to directly address it. It is the role of the manager to bring such an issue to the head person’s notice. This will keep you away from the matter. Hopefully, this practice will assure you a positive result.