Is it Smart Business to Hire Friends or Family?

Businesses are built on relationships. You spend a great deal of time making contacts and developing your relationships with those contacts. So it would seem like a good idea to bring into the business people with whom you’ve already developed strong relationships. Either friends you’ve known for a long time or family members you may be close to. But bringing in such people comes with its own particular risks.

The Risk of Hiring a Friend or Family Member

The primary risk inherent with hiring a friend or family member is the relationship itself. You first have to realize that hiring someone you already know comes with one major catch. And this is where your relationship with them could be put at risk. What happens if you eventually feel that they are not doing the job they were hired for? Can you fire them? If there is one thing that might come between you and them, you firing them might be it.

Can You Fire Them?

Often employees don’t work out. Their job performance is substandard, their behavior is disruptive, or they don’t show up for work. The reasons are endless but what matters most is can you fire a family member or longtime friend? And can you do it without permanently damaging your relationship with them? It can be much harder than just letting go another employee.

What about Your Other Employees?

In addition the hiring of friends or family can lead to problems with your other employees. They might become jealous or think that you are going to show favoritism. Often your other employees might feel that they won’t be treated equally. And of course it is possible that your friend or family member could try to take advantage of such a situation. They may use their relationship with you as an advantage for themselves.

What if They Cause Permanent Damage?

Finally you need to consider the impact on your relationship if the person you hired was to cause significant damage to your business. What if that person caused you to lose an important client, or contract? What if they were put in a key position such as being your accountant and they screwed up your bookkeeping? How are you going to react to that? If any person were to cause significant damage to your business you might never want anything to do with them again. But what if that damage was caused by a family member?

Make Sure Both Sides Know the Consequences

These are some of the things you need to consider when you think it might be a good idea to hire a family member or friend. At the very least you need to thoroughly discuss the consequences with the person you are considering hiring. Making sure how both sides would feel should your working relationship end in disaster can save you and them a lot of grief as well as making sure both sides can survive a bad ending.

Hiring Grandpa is Not Always a Good Idea

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