There’s a shocking amount of small companies where a sizable proportion of the workers are family of the owner. The most perplexing example was a tax consultant whose 4 employees were his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law and his sister.
I’ve often looked down upon this and have been quick to label it as nepotism, but if I was in a position to hire someone, wouldn’t I prioritize someone I care about who was suffering to find acceptable working conditions in the labor market? Then again, this attitude generates a self-perpetuating problem where people can’t access to job openings through their own merits and meritocracy, because the family members of the company owner can’t find a job through their own merits and meritocracy.
There’s nothing wrong with a family owned and operated small business, but once you start hiring outside the family you need to value the performance of all employees fairly. If somebody is working hard at your company and you promote a family member who’s slacking off to a position the good worker was eligible for then that’s nepotism.
I think what happens a lot with small companies is that family members start out with key roles but then nobody is willing to demote them as the organization grows.
At my last company, the head of IT was definitely the most qualified when they only had 10 employees. She was also the owner’s sister in law. But the business grew, and with 150 people from across the industry, she started to look pretty clueless. But folks were afraid to criticize her position because she was a close relation of the owner. So IT suffered and projects weren’t done well, and qualified people couldn’t move up.
In my home town there’s a masonry company that is 2 older brothers and 2 of their sons. They do great work, including some volunteer jobs directly for the town.
I know 3 of my long time friends that have used the guys for projects. Everyone is very happy. I think their set up is fine. Fathers have obviously passed on the trade skills. I would never expect them to hire a rando unless they decide to expand some day.
It’s not nepotism unless you pass over a chance for a good employee to advance, because you promote family.
Overall hiring family and friends has its negatives - you can’t really seperate work from personal life. As a business owner, you may need to have “a tough talk” with the employee, or even fire them. Doing that to a family member brings up emotional baggage and can result in broken connections. Overall it’s rarely worth the trouble, maybe a part time position that’s not critical would be.
The advantages to hiring family members would be trust - if you work out of your home, with family you know who you are dealing with. With a rando off the street, who knows if your console goes missing, or an expensive machine gets stolen.
I got my foot in the door for my career through nepotism(aunt was an employee). Started with a bunch of other temps. I worked very hard though and have felt extremely grateful throughout the years for the opportunity. My cousin also started as a temp a couple years later at the same company. He kinda squandered the position and was laid off within a year.
I don’t really have an opinion on this but thought I would share my story.
Small businesses it’s almost always compassion. They’re hiring from a small pool, and that pool often only includes people close to them.
Fortune 500 companies, then it’s nepotism
If you don’t feel the same “compassion” for every applicant, it’s nepotism. On another note, nobody can abuse you like your family.
Nepotism is nepotism, regardless of the scenario or spin. It can be done well and it can be done poorly. Nepotism isn’t illegal so it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks on the subject.
The last company I worked for did it all the time and my current employer has rules strictly forbidding it.
In the US you don’t have to carry workers comp on family members. You may also get payroll tax breaks.
If it’s direct family like that, I’d probably choose them as well, working with new people is always hard. With cousins and other more distant relatives I probably wouldn’t give a fuck and only hired them if they were better than other candidates.
Nepotism makes the world go round - for better or worse.
Also - meritocracy is a joke. Quite literally. It was invented as satire.
There’s nothing wrong with nepotism if you own the company.
If you don’t own the company, then it’s up to the owners if nepotism is ok.
