To hire or not to hire relatives

By Peter Kamuri

Kenya: Hiring workers in any organisation can be a daunting task. Many employers choose to hire through recruitment bureaus to avoid the stresses and time that the process may take.

However, this is not without cost. Huge resources are consumed to meet the recruitment costs. In some cases, the organisation may fail to get the desired personnel. This may force it to repeat the exercise. To get around this, some organisations or institutions resort to hiring friends and relatives. This is common especially in small organisations or personal businesses.

By hiring friends or relatives, there is a possibility that they are already familiar with your company and its inner workings. This means the resources you may need to train them are reduced. It is also assumed that family members and close friends will be more loyal to the company or business than other employees.

Useful talents

This implies that they can be more dedicated to work with minimal supervision. However, although friends and family members may bring useful talents to your business or organisation, there is a flipside in hiring them. By hiring friends or close relatives, there is likelihood that personal problems and differences may spill over to the workplace.

Most of them believe the family or friendship connection cushion them against any dire consequences such as dismissal. One is also likely to overlook qualifications and skills required for a given position. At worse, firing them even when they under perform becomes difficult.

Sometimes, bad blood may develop with other employees as they may think hiring friends and relatives is favoritism. This is more manifested when they get a promotion. Some think their work is to spy on other workers.

They are also prone to resisting change at workplace no matter how positive it may be. The employer may be reluctant to initiate changes that can affect people close to him.

However, if you are to hire friends or family, let them know from the onset you will treat them like any other employees. Hire them on probation and have a written contract that explains their duties and responsibilities to the company.

Before hiring them, weigh how each of them will impinge on your business or organisation. At times it may be ruinous and at others, beneficial. The choice is yours.

—kamuri@benchmarkpublishers.co.ke