Bringing relatives of employees onboard is a great idea – until it isn’t.
Clearly there are positives: money saved on advertising, recruiting and time.
But if those new staffers don’t perform well, it can cause serious problems.
Plus, other employees may accuse the firm of giving those workers preferential treatment.
Make it official
Here are four tips on how to hire employee relatives, courtesy of Jennifer Halford from FindLaw:
- Be honest. Ask yourself: Will the new worker and the current employee be able to separate their personal relationship from the job? Talk with the current employee before you offer his or her relative a job to get a better sense of whether it will work out.
- Make it official. If you offer an employee’s relative a job, don’t do an informal handshake – go through all the normal red tape you would for any new staffer. Also, spell out expectations about how the staffer should perform.
- Talk with other staff. Anticipate that current staff will think the firm favors family members – and shut that down immediately. Speak with current employees and let them know the new worker will be held to the same standards as everyone else.
- Don’t treat him or her differently. Just as you would with all new employees, family members should get the same training, pay increases and opportunities for advancement. One potential pitfall: Managers shouldn’t be overly strict with employee relatives just to prove they’re impartial.
