NEPOTISM POLICY

"Nepotism is the showing of favoritism toward relatives based upon that relationship, rather than on an objective evaluation of ability, meritocracy or suitability. For instance, offering employment to a relative, despite the fact that there are others who are better qualified and willing to perform the job. The word nepotism is from the Latin word 'nepos', meaning "nephew" or "grandchild"."

So, basically, don't hire your relatives. Is it ok? No, but sometimes yes. I live in a small town (5300 people), and we just went through a big deal about nepotism. One of the members of our City Council got her granddaughter a summer job at our City Hall; the girl didn't even live in our town, but came and stayed with Grandma for the summer to work at this job. It was not posted publicly to anyone else. Of course this made people mad, and charges of nepotism were levied. The girl was hired, worked, and was gone before the issue was resolved, but it ended that no new nepotism policy was instituted, mainly due to the fact that we ARE such a small town that we would be limiting those who could work! Our fire department, for instance--most of the people on it are related to each other! Numerous city employees are married to each other or have their children working for the city. We would really limit the pool of good people to hire if we had a strict nepotism policy. And just because people are related, does that mean a good employee should be denied a job? In our situation, I think the City Council member learned her lesson and won't do this same thing again. The brouhaha made it clear to anyone else that this kind of obvious nepotism won't be tolerated. 

I can see it drawbacks. But if people are adult and play by the rules, it really shouldn't be a huge problem. I realize that's not always how things go. But it would be a real shame if someone who would be an excellent employee couldn't be hired just because a relative was already working at the place. Is it any different than hiring or not hiring someone based on their race or religion? If someone is a talented, valuable potential employee--I say go for it! 

Good pre-screening and interviews should bring out the qualities or problems when hiring someone; a relative should be given the same kind of hiring process as everyone else