Loyalty?

One of the other interns I work with do not seem to have as good of a relationship with my boss as I do. I feel as though my boss and I have a good relationship but that’s simply because I haven’t given her any reason not to like or trust me to do anything. I think part of the issue is the perception of loyalty in the office.

One of the new project managers who was struggling and felt isolated from the group ended up switching to a new department. She did so because, in getting isolated by the group which should have been there to help, she wasn’t able to reach out. From speaking to her, she only found out if something had been done wrong after the fact, and felt she never received the proper training to do the work in the first place. One day she ended up getting into a pretty big argument with my boss, and about a week or two after that, she ended up getting a transfer to a different FDA division. Part of the reason my boss was irritated was that the employee had been going to other people for help instead of asking her even though my boss was constantly unavailable.

In a conversation with the intern, she mentioned how she felt our boss looks at and treats her differently because she saw her engaged in a conversation with the employee at her desk. She felt that because our boss saw her being friendly with the employee she doesn’t like, our boss has started treating her differently. If this truly were the case and the issue at hand is the perceived loyalty to the leader of the department, this could be a potentially toxic work environment, or at least a toxic part of an otherwise well-functioning work environment.