Nepotism: Is It Good to Hire Job Seekers because of Pre-existing Relationships? 

When pre-existing relationships appear to take precedence over actual qualifications in the hiring process, the adverse effects on morale are likely to be felt by all parties involved in the hiring process, even employees on board.

What is nepotism? 

Nepotism is a form of discrimination where family members or friends come first and are getting hired despite not qualified enough for the job. In general, the practice of nepotism occurs more frequently in family-owned businesses, non-profit organisations, small companies, and performing arts than in public-sector positions. 

Tactics of nepotism include creating job specs that are precisely tailored to the qualifications of only one person that the employer wants to hire. Another tactic is the practice of giving a test and awarding the job to the applicant with the highest score. The winner, however, is provided with the answers in advance. 

See also: How Does Google Hire Their Talents? Lessons to Learn 

How nepotism affect employers 

Subordinates will likely take a dim view of an employer’s ethics and judgment when they hire their own friends or relatives for certain job openings. Hiring individuals due to pre-existing relationships might also indicate that employers are weak, insecure, and require a network of allies to support their decisions. In addition to inspiring little confidence and authority, a boss who embraces nepotism is seen as unlikely to make fair assessment of others’ accomplishments, indicating a failure in employee management. 

However, there are some advantages of hiring someone employers already know. For example, employers are already attuned to the candidate’s strengths and weaknesses and feel comfortable. And if the friendship is longstanding and secure, the hired employees have a vested interest in not letting employers down and in maintaining professionalism. 

But should employers practice nepotism? 

Apart from how nepotism affects employers, it is obvious that the practice has an impact on office morale and employees in general, such that managers need to give second thought about hiring candidates with pre-existing relationships. 

In terms of office morale, nepotism can foster hostile feelings of inequality that employees might react to in one of two ways. First, nepotism practice might repeatedly undermine the favoured worker’s capabilities and attempt to sabotage projects. These efforts to get employees who behave badly in the workplace fired can result in costly mistakes and loss of time, impacting customer relations.

Second, nepotism can make employees react to an attitude of defeat. For instance, if employees assume that promotions and perks will always go to that friend of the boss, they will likely be less inclined to do their best work to distinguish themselves. Resentment and indifference can lead to reduced productivity that eventually creates employee turnover. To say the least, nepotism without maintaining professionalism is bad for the overall business future. 

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