Entitlement is the belief that certain people possess, that they are entitled to

irrational privileges without having earned it. Culture of entitlement at the workplace
is when an employee is under the impression that he deserves irrational and
unmerited concessions and privileges.

As per psychologists entitlement is a personality trait that creates an unrealistic and

inappropriate expectation. It creates a belief that a person deserves preferences and
resources. Culture of entitlement at the workplace creates an environment where the
employees have an increased sense of expectation of benefits and perks. The
employees believe they are entitled to these benefits irrespective of the work done
by them and solely on the grounds that they are the employees.

The culture of entitlement disturbs a positive workspace.

The culture of entitlement lowers the standards of an organization. It does this by
destroying motivation and lowering productivity. At the workplace, people who
perceive themselves to be entitled also believe that their work is of more value and
therefore should be appreciated more than the other’s irrespective of its quality. In
addition, rather than taking responsibility and improving upon their own work, they
blame others for poor performance by the organization. This attitude of entitlement of
the employee makes it challenging for them to accept constructive criticism and
feedback on their work. This, in turn, leaves no scope for improvement and
advancement.

This is a large problem

As per national professionalism survey workplace report, 27.5% of the respondents
point to the sense of entitlement as the reason for a decrease in the percentage of
new employees exhibiting professionalism in their first year of work. Moreover, over
half of the respondents, 52.9%, believe that the sense of entitlement has increased
during the past five years.

Psychological research has established that entitlement is correlated with

undesirable workplace practices such as unethical behavior, corruption, conflict with
supervisors, and low levels of job satisfaction. Moreover, while entitlement is a trait
found in every generation, it is far more common amongst the millennials.

Consequently, with more millennials coming into the workforce, the culture of
entitlement is likely to grow. Therefore for a healthier working environment, it is
substantial to curb entitlement.

Entitled employees display an inflated sense of self-importance. They expect

rewards and praises regardless of their performance. In addition, they demand
higher responsibility regardless of their experience and accomplishment. According
to the Society of Human Resources, 40 percent of Millennials expect a promotion
every one to two years. Moreover, entitled employees are individual players rather
than a team player. This disrupts the work environment and may, further, cause
damage to the organization.

A culture of entitlement can be reduced

Here are few things one can do to constrain the culture of entitlement at the
workplace.

Calling out entitlement and driving corrective action

The primary and the most substantial step towards terminating the culture of
entitlement is acknowledging the said culture and making its presence know. This is
done by pointing out the acts that indicate entitlement and at the same time, treating
the entitled employee similarly like the other employees. Not giving any employee
preference and instead, acting towards all the employees alike reduces entitlement.
As per research, making entitled people feel equal to other employees makes them
feel less entitled. This is for the reason that the key component for entitlement is
feeling better and different than others. Hence, when the entitled employees feel no
special or superior to the others, their entitlement would decrease leading to a
decrease in the culture of entitlement.

Drive action and ownership through direct conversation

Setting clear expectations as well as being transparent about the effort,
performance, and behavior expected at work and the workplace reduces the culture
of entitlement.

Employees who want to take ownership and want to be held accountable, grow and
help the growth of the organisation. They are open to constructive criticism and
thereby, improve their performance through it. Improved performance of the
employees, in turn, improve the performance of the organisation.

At the same time, creating an environment with a high level of ownership and
accountability would promote a more professional environment which would result in
the employees being more motivated to perform their best.

Bringing out the adult pact

Being mature and professional is a substantial trait amongst the employees of an
organization. There is a certain code of conduct in every workplace. These include
being dependable and respectful and most importantly, to be proactive in upgrading
professional skills. Having a sense of responsibility and having space for personal
growth is important for a supportive professional environment. Along with this,
instead of blaming others for wrongs, it is vital that the employees work together, as
a team, for benefit of the organisation.

Employees with a diverse and great set of skills help in the expansion of business
and consequently also help in ending the culture of entitlement. Taking steps to curb
entitlement and to correct the damage done by it is necessary in order to have
healthy teams and optimal organizations. Greenlatte helps to establish a zero-
tolerance policy against the culture of entitlement and helps to eliminate any
emerging entitlement.

Few leaders would admit to a favorable view of entitlement. In fact, most will
express strong negative views about it publicly. But behind the scenes, many
managers unwittingly tolerate or even allow themselves to be held hostage by
entitled employees.

Related: 11 Types of Ineffective Leaders

Entitlement is the belief that a person has a right to special treatment, whether or
not he or she actually earned it. It can come from a variety of sources: parenting,
financial status, popular culture, proven performance… the list goes on. We often
hear that entitlement is especially prevalent with millennials, but the truth is that
entitlement stretches across generations, and it’s not limited to one
demographic.
There are a number of reasons that entitlement runs rampant at work. And many
of them are permitted—or even endorsed—by leaders. Here are a few signs that
you’re letting entitlement infiltrate your team:

You dole out raises via threat.

Many managers have been in this situation: You have a key employee with loads
of institutional knowledge whose leaving would cause major disruption,
annoyance and even pain. The employee knows it, and uses this loaded
bargaining chip as an excuse to threaten to leave or ask for an undeserved
increase in salary. To avoid losing this employee, and maybe for fear of what
might happen if you do, managers instead throw money at them as a
preventative measure to keep them. As a result, you have somebody with
average performance who feels even more entitled because they are getting paid
for their behavior.

You allow different employees to play

by different rules.
One of my clients has a project manager with excellent skills who works
efficiently, on time and on budget. He has good relationships with his customers,
and yet his internal behavior is awful. He doesn’t complete paperwork, is lazy
about procedures, and generally thinks that office policies and practices don’t
apply to him. And since he’s a strong performer and gets the job done, the boss
lets him get away with it, even going so far as to ask co-workers to fill in the gaps
and complete work for him.

You have obvious favorites.

Another CEO I worked with had a favorite employee whom he had personally
hired and brought up through the ranks. She was prematurely in a position she
wasn’t prepared for, yet was protected by the CEO and therefore “untouchable”
by her immediate managers. You are only stroking an employee’s sense of
entitlement when you play favorites based on job performance, personality traits
or common interests. Whether you give additional time off, extra privileges,
flexible schedules or even more money to one employee over others, know that
the rest of your team sees it, and your authority and trustworthiness will be
diminished.
No matter the source, entitlement damages relationships and teams. Here are
five ways that employee entitlement may be disrupting your organization:

1. It breaks down the team dynamic.

When employees act entitled, they are no longer team players. They are instead
focused on themselves, their own desires and their own results as opposed to
those of the team. When even one person on a team is in it just for themselves,
the team cannot function optimally.
2. It causes distrust and resentment.
One of the first emotions that entitlement elicits from other team members is
resentment, which builds and festers. When one employee receives undeserved
favor, the lack of equal treatment across the board also breeds distrust—not only
in the entitled employee, but also in management who is doing nothing about it.
And when distrust and resentment exist in a work environment, it is much easier
to jump to conflict.
3. It produces copycats.
When other employees see their entitled team members getting special
treatment, they may start to copy bad behavior. If the best employee at the company
doesn’t have to complete paperwork or follow rules, why should I? Your aspiring
employees can even begin to believe that a flippant attitude and inflated sense of
self-confidence is what they need to get to the next level.
4. It damages communication.
In entitlement situations, employees are reluctant to speak up because they don’t
want it to seem as if they are complaining. Even worse, when they do talk about
the situations, it’s not to the manager, but instead to their sympathetic co-
workers. This secret communication incites office gossip and spreads an overall
sense of discontent—in many cases about more than just the entitled employee.

5. It infuriates managers.
Managers don’t like to be backed into a corner, and entitlement often does just
that. Dealing with entitlement on top of the actual work product makes a leader’s
job more complicated. While solid work might force managers to give perks,
entitlement will generally block promotion options and ultimately be limiting to
a person’s career. If the manager has the opportunity to get out from under the
entitled employee, he or she will always take it—and an entitled reputation will
follow a person to the next job.

Taking steps to check entitlement at the door—and to correct the damage done
by it—isn’t easy, but it’s necessary in order to have healthy teams and optimal
organizations. Establish a zero tolerance policy and make sure that you and your
managers eliminate any emerging entitlement before it takes root. If you
consistently cut it off if when it appears, you’ll create the foundation for an
entitlement-free workplace.

Depending on your work history, you may have worked alongside an

entitled employee. These colleagues can exhibit selfish behavior
when they believe they’ve been treated unfairly.

While most of us would prefer to steer clear of these

individuals, Emily Zitek, assistant professor of organizational
behavior at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor
Relations, actively seeks them out.

Assign roles or tasks to entitled employees that play to their

strengths.

People who are entitled feel they’re more deserving than others,
Zitek says. “[The behavior] manifests as complaining a lot,
requesting a bigger raise or more resources than others without
additional effort, blaming external factors, and thinking others treat
them poorly,” she explains.

Fast Company spoke with Zitek to learn how companies can better
manage entitled employees.

Most consequences of entitlement are negative for both the

manager, as well as the entitled employee himself, Zitek notes. For
example, the manager has to supervise a difficult person while trying
to minimize conflict with other employees who are stressed out by
that person’s behavior. Meanwhile, the entitled person experiences
negative feelings associated with believing he’s being treated
unfairly.
Related

 Entitlement Might Make You More Creative, But You Probably

Knew That Already

However, Zitek and Lynne Vincent, a research scholar at Vanderbilt

University’s Owen Graduate School of Management, recently
published a study finding a surprising benefit to entitlement:
creativity. The study, appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal
of Experimental Social Psychology, suggests encouraging feelings
of entitlement can lead to creativity.

While this silver lining approach doesn’t diminish the difficulty of

working with a difficult employee, it does offer some insight into
harnessing that energy and redirecting it into productive behavior.
Here are Zitek’s three tips for dealing with an entitled employee:
1. REIN IN THE ENTITLED BEHAVIOR

One way to reduce entitlement is to make the entitled person feel

similarly situated to the other employees. Research shows making
entitled people feel equal can make them feel less entitled, because
feeling different from–or better–than others is a key component to
entitlement, Zitek says.
2. ASSIGN TASKS THAT HIGHLIGHT THEIR STRENGTHS

Another option is to assign roles or tasks to entitled employees that

play to their strengths. Entitled people are ideally suited for
brainstorming tasks, such as coming up with a new product idea or
marketing plan, because they think differently and creatively, usually
aren’t afraid to suggest ideas that are outside the norm, and want to
be seen as different from their peers, Zitek notes.

They also may be good at negotiation because they’d have the

opportunity to make demands and show how they’re different from
other employees, she says.
3. TREAT EMPLOYEES THE SAME

Have entitled employees? Turns out, it may be your fault. Zitek is

working on another study about which management practices lead
to entitlement. Some potential indicators of problems are managers
who are too lenient, and making exceptions for one employee
versus having consistent rules for everyone.