Hiring Family Members and the Needed Communication Skills ...

Hiring family members draws as many strong and diverse opinions as discussions about politics and religion. There are companies whose policy was to encourage nepotism while there are those that are strongly against it ? both ideas for very good reason.

On the positive side, hiring a family member or even just a friend gives employers a strong sense of someone?s strengths and weaknesses; and they have a loyal employee in the work force who won?t bail and find a new job at the first sign of struggle.

However, there are probably more disadvantages than advantages:

Managers that have family members working for them often have either too high an expectation or won?t hold people accountable. Either way, it can appear to others that the manager is soft or giving out special privileges because of the relationship.

Firing a family member can lead to a relationship?s demise. As the manager, the goal is to keep people who can help the company grow but as the family, egos and relationships need to be taken into consideration.

Family members tend to forget that it?s a business relationship inside the company, which can cause some embarrassing situations, as well as a manager again being perceived as someone lacking authority over that family member.

In order to gain the rewards of hiring family members or friends rather than face its disadvantages, it?s important to know the different sets of communication skills that managers and employees must have in the work environment. The manager needs to set up a structure and a set of rules on how to engage as family members in the same work place. Everyone must know how to behave towards each other, whether in talking about the business aspect or leaning towards a more personal conversation.

There should be an understanding between family members that what happens in their personal lives is separate from what happens in their professional careers. No one needs to act like the boss while sitting down at the family table and no one should act like it?s a casual sit down when it?s a business meeting. And it?s in communicating that to each other where a business relationship can improve while working together, or when a personal relationship can be mended if it comes time to part ways in work.

Many great companies have been built by having friends and family members as part of the working environment but the trick is not to show any preferential treatment and knowing which set of communication skills to use ? more personal communication outside of the office and more business-minded within the office walls. Taking these things into consideration can be the difference in being able to have hiring family members be a success or failure in an organization.

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? 2012 Incedo Group, LLC

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