Do you know of people who honestly do not deserve to be in their position at work because they got there unfairly?

Yes. I suspect that is everywhere, at the majority, if not all of workplaces.

I would tell you, but then either they or their connections would come and kill me…

Define “unfairly”. The president of the company where I work is the son of the guy who founded the company. The old man died and the son is now the CEO/president. He’s a smart enough guy, but not a compelling leader.

Did he get there ‘fairly’?

It happens all the time. People are routinely promoted to their level of incompetence. Most promotions (especially in the corporate world) are based upon standardized performance metrics. If an employee applies for a promotion, that person’s qualifications are usually based upon her/his metrics in the current and/or former positions. These performance evaluations do not necessarily evaluate that person’s qualifications for the promotion, so many people are promoted to their “level of incompetence”. This is known as The Peter Principle.

Sure, and I know a lot of folks who, rather than being laid off (or made redundant) for incompetence, were promoted to get them out of the way. Sadly, I think this is the main method of problem solving in positions such as at universities and government entities where getting rid of someone involves much time, effort, paperwork and possible lawsuits for discrimination.

N’yep. I sure do. I might even be one of them nasty buggers, considering the privilege I was granted beyond my younger brother simply upon the merit of birth order.

Happens all the time. Connections and guile are used in nearly every area of human endeavor where there is competition for prestige. It won’t go away.

most members of congress

The fucking Queen.

It’s about as common as bugs in the dirt.

YES!! and it sucks big time ,and it will never end or go away.

I don’t know about “unfairly”, but I know people who do not deserve to be in their position at work because they are dumb as a post.

It seems like the bitchiest, meanest people seem to get the promotions. Why is that?

@Dutchess_III because they are also the best brown nosers there is, they have their nose so far up the bosses ass they can’t see the light.

I really can’t think of anyone where I work who falls into this camp. I’ve seen people in this position in the past, but we have much stronger ‘conflict of interest’ rules now so I really can’t think of anyone. There are people I don’t think do a great job, but I don’t think they obtained their position through nepotism.

Yes, I was subpoenaed and had to testify against him. He was given a golden parachute and since then, this happened about 10 years ago, he’s been promoted and given raises at multiple companies since then, and he’s left a trail of damaged lives in his wake. He always receives a glowing review from each company he’s been forced out of retires from.

@rojo I know a lot of folks who…were promoted to get them out of the way.

I’ve often heard that practice as being “kicked upstairs”, or “kicked up the ladder”.

At my last company, a lot of directors and above who weren’t quite performing were sent to IT or to Training and Development to live out their careers. That seemed to be the dumping ground. I would say that was unfair to people in those fields that actually have a passion and talent for what they do.