I work in a male dominated office for an engineering firm where of the 300 or so employees only 25-30 of us are women, that said, it’s a great place to work where I feel like there are no gender stereotypes or agendas etc.
3 years ago a young graduate started straight from uni and immediately set herself up as the bubbly office flirt, pushing the boundaries of the office dress code by wearing very low cut tops, figure hugging little black dresses etc.
At the time, it was obvious that the predominantly male staff had no problem with this as a bit of fresh “eye-candy” and the majority of the female staff I spoke to generally felt a little sorry that she felt she had to try so hard to please the male workforce.
However, more recently it’s become apparent that she’s somewhat played the long game and is now capitalising on years of investment in flirting and leaving little to the imagination by getting a variety of promotions and pay rises way above her ability and way above the norm for other members of staff (both male and female) of a similar age and experience.
Obviously this reeks of sour grapes but it’s not, I’m in my late 30s and she’s still got quite a bit of catching up to get me worried but there’s definitely an air of frustration among her peers in terms of their efforts exceeding hers and not receiving the same rewards.
It’s annual review season at work soon and I’m wondering if I should say anything or if I should let someone else broach the subject. There’s no doubt that she’s the favourite of several of the senior management and while the situation is beginning to irritate me as a point of principal I don’t want to come across as having sour grapes.
Any thoughts….?