How to: Demonstrate Fairness

What does this look like?

Managers who demonstrate fairness:

• consider the individual needs of staff members while still being fair to the whole team
• don’t give preferential treatment
• have candid discussions and tell people what they need to know
• are open with their staff and don’t have hidden agendas.

How can I do this?

1.    Provide information

One aspect of being fair is giving staff relevant information. They should have all the information they need to do their job effectively and be given reasons for decisions that affect them. This means that you don’t:

• give information selectively—to some and not others
• withhold information, unless there’s a good reason to
• use information as a reward or to build certain relationships.

When you make decisions or have conversations about issues at work, make sure you:

• explain your thinking and invite people to explain theirs
• give reasons for your decisions before giving solutions. If you start with solutions, people often don’t listen to reasons.

2.    Treat all groups equitably

We all tend to prefer people who are like us or who we admire. Keep this tendency in check and don’t allow personal preferences to impact how you treat people. An objective observer should not be able to tell who you like and don’t like.

For example, don’t treat people differently because they are:

• low performers
• ‘troublemakers’
• Union members (or not)
• in a lower classification than you
• from a different background.

If you find it hard to treat some groups equitably, try to imagine being in their position and think about how you’d like to be treated.

3.    Don’t have double standards

The standard applied to one should apply to all, unless there’s a good and fair reason to do otherwise. Make sure you:

• don’t excuse behaviour in one person that you wouldn’t tolerate in another
• don’t have personal biases and apply different standards based on gender, age, nationality, ethnic origin or religion.

If you’re not sure whether you’re perceived as having double standards, try asking someone you work with for feedback.

4.    Make sure everyone is heard

It’s your role as a manager to make sure everyone is heard. Sometimes you have to actively engage those who are shy and reserved and quieten those who are loud and assertive.

• Give everyone the opportunity to participate in meetings, unless people don’t want to.
• Encourage the quiet, shy and reserved people to have their say.
• Don’t let the loud and assertive people dominate.
• Don’t direct remarks toward one person or group to the exclusion of others.

5.    Address conflict fairly

When there’s conflict:

• address the problem not the people
• describe the problem and its impact
• don’t blame people
• don’t guess what peoples’ motives and intentions are.

If you can’t find a solution, agree on a procedure for moving forward and identify some points of agreement.

6.    Create standards of fairness

People can have different interpretations of fairness. If you can, use independent standards of fairness such as the Code of Conduct or professional standards. Otherwise, set some standards that can be measured objectively.

Try to involve others in developing standards of fairness, if appropriate. For example:

• have group discussions about the fairness of particular programs or treatment and give everyone an opportunity to contribute
• when decisions have to be made, first develop a shared understanding of what fairness looks like.

Be mindful that some situations should remain confidential and not be discussed publicly or directly.

7.    Maintain composure

It can be challenging to respond calmly when people question the fairness of actions and decisions. If you’re tempted to react strongly and negatively, try to maintain your composure. Take a deep breath or count to five, then ask a clarifying question. Hear people out and try not to jump to incorrect conclusions or respond unwisely.

You may find this challenging if you…

• like to reward certain people
• are inconsistent in how you treat people
• show favouritism
• feel too busy to treat everyone equitably
• don’t listen to staff concerns and needs
• don’t notice how people respond to the way you treat them
• like to keep information to yourself
• categorise people as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and treat them accordingly

You may be emphasising fairness too much if you…

• spend too much time pleasing everyone
• worry so much about distributing work fairly that you don’t give people opportunities to be challenged
• don’t address problems because you don’t want to appear unfair.