Hiring siblings


3

There are 12 ppl in my organisation. Should I hire siblings of people already working for my organisation? I mean its not a big deal for a big company, but such a decision should be thought upon in a small company.

Hiring Employees

asked Aug 29 '11 at 19:56
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User392406
128 points

3 Answers


3

You're taking a risk by hiring them. You could fire one and lose the other one or reduce their productivity if they get angry. I'm sure you realize that, hence the question. Ask yourself these questions:

  1. Do you want to hire the sibling, and is there someone equally skilled who could do the job? Avoid the situation if you can, for the simple reason above. Obviously if it's a hard position to fill, this might not be an option.
  2. What's your working relationship with the current sibling? Your judgement of this person makes all the difference. If you can't afford to lose them, you are taking a big risk. If you don't think they could handle you firing or otherwise "mistreating" their sibling (true or not), don't tempt fate. A frank conversation with this person might do the trick, but again, you need to make a judgement call.
  3. Lastly, what's your impression of the sibling? Obviously you'll have less experience there, but can they become critical to the organization as well? The same questions from #2 apply here, and yet again, it's your judgement call.

The end, summarized idea is that if you can avoid it, do so. Don't hire as a favor to your current employee - don't risk a big blow to your business, and your employee should understand it. If you need to or want to for whatever reason, make your best guess on it and make sure you make your expectations clear to both, lay it right out there - you expect professionalism and each to respect your working relationship with the other, including your ability to terminate them if you feel it's in the best interests of the company. It's all in your judgement. Good luck with whatever you decide! Hope this helps!

answered Aug 30 '11 at 00:00
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Craig Saboe
423 points
  • Actually its a confusing decision. Being a startup, it is difficult to find good people. But even I think its an unnecessary risk, that has the potential to be a future problem. Anyway I am inexperienced with handling of people. (I am 24).and would be better to stay away from such situations. – User392406 12 years ago

2

It is hard to find very good people. But bear in mind that if you fire one of them or have problems, are you gonna be able to maintain a healthy professional relationship with the other one ? On the other hand, if it sticks well, you might have that extra power.

answered Aug 29 '11 at 22:11
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Bahadir Cambel
251 points

2

There are evidently two schools of thought on this, but I say Don't do it. On top of the points mentioned, the other employees may look at the situation negativity and may be jealous of the fact that the sibling has the bosses ear more then they do. The boss will be in a tight bind, having to choose between taking the siblings input into account versus the other employees input and may then actually give less credence to the sibling as to create a false balance. This will create a TON of animosity, especially if the input is perfectly valid.

I went through this on my team, it's not worth it.

answered Aug 30 '11 at 03:30
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Chamilyan
353 points

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