Favouritism in a company is never a good thing, as it creates an environment that’s no fun to work in. Not only does it lower the morale of everyone involved, it also lessens their productivity and even causes a high turnover rate as the employees get fed up with this office atmosphere. While it’s never fun to think that your boss is playing favourites, don’t let this atmosphere of favouritism get in the way of your career success. Here, we listed down some tips on how you could handle the situation with much dignity and class.

Act Normally

Behave as if your boss isn’t playing favourites in your office. The worst thing you could do is to react in a way that puts you on your boss’ bad side. Remember, making assumptions can be deadly. While you might believe that you’re not the favourite employee, that doesn’t mean that you’re the least favourite either. So avoid falling into that category by keeping yourself from reacting negatively to your manager’s behaviour.

Improve Yourself

The best thing that you can do with any type of boss is to clarify what he or she expects from you, do your best to reach (or even surpass) those expectations, and get his or her feedback regularly. Instead of stressing out with your boss’ negative behaviour, focus on bringing good results and improving yourself. Behaviours like favouritism are usually noticed by others, and all you’ve got to do is trust that your company has a system in place to correct these situations.

Promote Yourself

Advocate yourself by proposing new ideas for the team, requesting meetings, and showing appreciation and respect for your boss. Don’t let yourself get distracted by feelings of neglect, as it’ll only you and your career down.

Set Your Emotions Aside

When a boss starts playing favourites, it usually strikes an emotional cord in us. Our emotions then start clouding our vision – especially when we’re in the office. But instead of nurturing these emotions, take a moment to evaluate the favourite to see if there’s anything that he or she does exceptionally well that you’re also capable of doing. After all, nobody said that your boss can only have one favourite.

Take the High Road

Badmouthing your co-worker or your boss won’t help you, and could only make things worse. Any signs of bitterness or anger will only reflect badly on you. If there are tasks and projects that interest you, take the time to speak to your manager as to why you should take the assignment on, instead of focusing on the less-than-ideal situation on your office.

Learning that your boss is playing favourites is certainly not fun – especially if you aren’t the favourite. But instead of giving too much attention on the situation, continue improving yourself and delivering good results into the company. Who knows, your boss might eventually notice the efforts you’re giving!

In our time today, it’s become relatively easier to start a business. This is simply because of the ease provided by technology and the internet. Different industries in Singapore are already starting to have more and more companies and most of them are start-ups! Even so, what’s still difficult is making sure your start-up survives and grows. Here, then, are some valuable things you need to know.

Have a clear picture of what you want your business to be

Before you even start a business, you have to already know what you really want your business to be. Make sure you have practical and concrete plans both for the short and long-term. The easiest way to start with this, really, is to stick to something that you’re passionate about.

You’ll have difficulty envisioning the future of your business if you don’t even like what you’re doing. You’ll also have an easier time planning for products, services, and gimmicks this way.

Know that you don’t always have to take risks

No matter if it’s for business or life in general, people are always going to face risks. Though that is the case, you don’t necessarily have to take risks, especially as a start-up. Even when you have to take one, you have to make sure you have back-ups or at least have something left. Because risks come naturally, you don’t need to seek them thinking that taking risks will help you grow.

Listen to the customers

To any business, big or small, who are the most important people? That’s right, the customers? How will a company profit if others don’t buy their products? That being said, it would be very beneficial to your start-up if you could listen to your customers’ feedback. Listening to your buyers is one of the easiest ways to know what you have to improve one. So, take both praise and criticism well!

Take advantage of the internet

It’s become very easy for start-ups to promote themselves because of social media. So, there’s no reason for you not to do it too. Using social media not only helps you get a wider audience; it also helps you network and create relationships with other businesses as well.

If it is fitting, you could even have a website created for your brand as well. Your customers can browse your page for products and services and becomes easier for them to contact you as well.

Be flexible and learn to adapt

No matter what the industry, there will always be many ups and downs in the market. Mostly, they can all be affected by unforeseen circumstances. For example, if a certain product or service becomes in-demand, of course, it will be advantageous to those who already sell them.

However, that doesn’t mean that if you don’t have those, you can just let it go. Find ways to incorporate your brand’s identity to those trendy products and services and use it to your advantage!

Though Singaporeans are considered hard workers at the office, not many notice how much stress they’re already in. Though you could say stress is normal, there are still times when it already becomes a huge burden to many. That’s why it’s important to explore the different factors that cause workplace stress and how to deal with them effectively.

Clutter

Remember that one time you couldn’t find a very important document because your workspace was so messy? Think about the fear and stress that caused you. It seems like a subtle thing but having too much clutter can definitely add to more stress.

You’ll have difficulty finding and arranging things. You’ll also be distracted because there are too many things around you. Clutter can also mean other aspects as well, like your schedule. If you intentionally leave tasks unfinished, they’ll pile up and you’ll have to do everything all together. Clearly, this will put you under a lot more stress.

Misunderstandings

Having fights and misunderstandings are already common in the work setting. The problem is, misunderstandings cause stress not only to one person but possibly to an entire group. Fortunately, it’s also quite easy to avoid being misunderstood.

One is to be a better and humbler communicator. By using appropriate communication tools, you can make others understand what you expect from them and the other way around. For example, one thing you can do when giving instructions is simply to have the other person repeat what you said.

Lack of recognition

The simple fact is, humans crave praise and recognition. If a person’s work is always downplayed, the stress will take its toll on his/her patience and motivation. If this is happening to you, don’t give up too early!

You could always communicate with others about how much you’ve done or you could emphasize the significance of your work as well. It’s also important to see that maybe you really are underperforming. Try to take a step back and reevaluate yourself if this is the case. Then, you can slowly fix your mistakes and do your work better overall.

Sudden changes

In Singapore, and surely in all other countries, there can sometimes be huge age gaps in the workplace. When sudden changes happen in a system, for example, the older generations might have difficulty adjusting.

They’ll have to learn how to work on the new system again and doing so will delay their work. Or if they insist on using the old system, there’ll be conflicts on output. The younger workers might expect tasks from the older ones but they’ll have to wait longer. This can create an air of tension around the office.

Anywhere you work in Singapore, you’ll always have a bad coworker. This isn’t just some dude who annoys you, he’s bad bad. He’s the type to gossip about every person he has a fight with, he’s the person who always talks back, he’s the person who passes all the work to you.

Now, if you work 8 hours a day, you’ll be spending that long with this person. And for some people that can surely be a bit too much. So, here are some things you can do.

Just look for ways to avoid them

The easiest way to handle a bad coworker is simply to avoid them. One great reason is that you won’t have to confront them about their attitude when the time comes. For example, if your cubicle is right next to this person’s you can try asking your boss to move.

Another thing you can do is to move to another team or change your schedule. This approach, though, isn’t necessarily very effective in the long term especially if your workplace is relatively small.

Acknowledge your differences

One of the most common reasons why there’s conflict in the office is everyone’s differences in personality and work ethic. Some work faster than others and it could annoy them if those people can’t keep up.

There are also those who like to work alone and others who thrive in group work. So, the best thing you can do is try to understand everybody’s situation. If you understand the other guy’s personality, you can adjust easily and handle them better.

Consider the work culture and office environment

Most of the time, it’s also best to consider how the work culture affects the employees. For example, famous companies are likely to be more demanding from their workers. This can encourage competitiveness which, in turn, might also lead to different conflicts.

In this case though, having a bad person won’t be much of a problem if you also have a lot of people on your side. In bigger companies, employees usually approach their higher-ups if the person goes overboard. Whereas in others, it might be difficult to kick them out because of a shortage of employees.

Discuss it with the supervisors

Speaking of approaching the higher-ups, it’s exactly what you should do if you really can’t handle it anymore. If you’ve talked to this person one-on-one and things still don’t change, just save yourself the trouble and go to the higher-ups. Make sure to express how it’s affecting your work and maybe even your mental health. If many other coworkers share your sentiments, you can also approach your higher-ups together.

To some, having a side hustle can mean more work. Although that can be true, there are also a lot of positives. Let’s just jump right into the benefits of having a side hustle!

It’s a great way to spice up your work life

If you feel like your career is getting stagnant and that your main job is getting boring, having a side hustle can be a great way to reintroduce the fun to your work life. For one, your side hustle doesn’t have to be something big. Just as long as it’s fun for you and it doesn’t take your time off your main job, then it should be perfectly fine.

You can have more sources of income

Well, the main reason why we do side hustles is to earn more money in the first place. This is already an obvious benefit of doing a side hustle. If you mean to look for ways to earn more money, then you can consider doing business on the side. Again, what’s great about having a side hustle is that you can earn money from it without necessarily having to take time off your main job. 

You have full accountability

Another great benefit of doing a side hustle is that you are your own boss. You can simply work on your own time! You also have full accountability for your actions. If you make a mistake, you won’t need to worry about getting scolded by anybody. On the other hand, this can also be quite a challenge. If you don’t know what to do at first, you’ll have to figure everything out yourself. But, of course, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

You can do things you’re really passionate about

Your side hustle can also be related to something you’re really passionate about. For example, you enjoy making portraits of people. When you do it as a side hustle, you’re not only earning money for it, you’re also honing your craft with something you’re really interested in. Sometimes you can even discover new things about yourself and start pursuing new interests as well.

Increase your knowledge and improve your skills

Doing a side hustle can also help you sharpen the skills you can use in your main job. Even if you don’t notice it, your side hustle can help you increase your skillset sometimes through indirect ways. For example, if you work in sales and you proofread papers on the side. Sometimes you’ll get ideas from the papers you read that you can also utilize in your sales job.

To have more connections

Lastly, having a side hustle lets you meet more and more people. If you work in a certain industry, chances are you’ll also only meet people who are connected to that industry. If you have a side hustle, you can get to know a variety of people aside from those at your job. You never know, these people might also give you more opportunities for your career to grow.

Social media is a great platform to share your thoughts and gather new ideas. For some professionals, these platforms can boost their career; while for others, it could mean the end of their profession. Do not be one of those in the latter group. Make sure to avoid these four social media mistakes to maintain a healthy environment for your professional growth.

1. Talking Trash About Your Work or Boss

Putting out your rants for the public to see is never the best way to deal with your frustrations, especially if it has something to do with your job. Even if your post is hidden from your boss, an officemate might see and forward it to him. And even though that one post or comment does not hurt your current job, it could come haunting you later on. A future prospect employer might see the post and think that you’re not healthy for his company as you have the tendency to badmouth your employer when something doesn’t go your way.

2. Badmouthing Your Clients

Like the first one, complaining about your customers can have equally damaging effects to your reputation. Numerous social media stories involving waiters who took photos of poor tips and posted them online got fired for doing such action. Complaining about customers puts the company in a bad position. Most employers in Singapore do not tolerate that, so avoid posting such complaints on your social media accounts.

3. Posting Party Photos with Alcohol

You have probably heard stories that someone lost a job because of posting photos on social media with tequila on hand, or more like engaging in wild parties. Sometimes, people even post photos of themselves in company uniform, lewdly dancing and making offensive hand gestures. Some photos are best kept private. Before posting something online, consider if you would want your employer or colleague to see it.

4. Writing Something About Your Political Views

Working for a company also means representing them wherever you go and in whatever you do. As such, whatever you write and post online will now be reflected on the company you’re working with. Before posting any of your political views, think about this every time. Typically, political contents that swing extremely right or left are flagged as inappropriate by companies. The best thing you can do is to keep your posts wholesome or simply keep your political views to yourself.

On way to boost your professional image is by being mindful of your social media activities. As long as you keep these tips in mind, you will keep your job and your professional reputation intact.