How to Manage Employees who are also Family Members?

It is often said that taking your work to bed is a bad idea. Keeping personal and professional lives separate is what a smart and successful person would do. But has anything ever been said about bringing your personal life into your professional? How must you manage employees that are also your family members? You probably know a lot about them as compared to others and vice versa but is it really a good idea? Is employing family members really worth it?

Sometimes things just happen. Your niece, son or daughter has decided to intern at your office, and there might be a moment where you thought it was a great idea, but there goes a lot behind the office besides just employment. The real struggle starts later. Things can either go perfectly or miserably, depending on how the situation unfolds once employed. Things can take an ugly turn on the professional front with your employed family member due to various reasons. Not to mention the colleague jealousy- rivalry or the conception that everybody at the office is going to hold against you and maybe even try to give you a hard time because you are the boss’s personal treasure. People around will think twice to talk to you or discuss the steaming office gossip, and if you are the one who has been employed by a family member, you will never ever be able to bond with your colleagues the way every employee at an office does, by bitching about your boss!

Pros to this situation include that you might be given less work and more understanding as compared to your colleagues, but only till it goes unnoticed. Working with an employed family member can only go two ways. You can either have the best experience of your life, or you can only go downhill from the day you joined. Things might get uncomfortable as word travels fast, especially at an office. Your boss' dad might get to know that you are going out on a date with your friend from the opposite sex from the office and not always be okay with it. You can’t hide most things and you have to be on time, or you get an extra rebuke catering to your responsibility and relationship ties. Managing employed family members can be tricky as you do not want them to feel trapped under your special treatment, which includes giving them an extra blame speech every time they fail to complete their target on time. It also gets impossible to not carry this professional aura into your personal lives after office hours, especially if you share the same roof. You also wouldn’t want to hurt your employed family member and wish to provide them with the best of opportunities and comfort but also not want others to think that you are being partial or picking favorites subconsciously in any way.

How To Manage Employees Who Are Also Family Members?

#1. Create Boundaries

Employing a family member can be a tricky as well as a sticky task. Creating set boundaries is not just essential to maintain peace within your relationship but also to maintain cordial relations with your colleagues and other office members. Office rivalry is common, and you must ensure that you don’t give them a chance to feel like they are being deprived of some comforts that only your family member has the permission to indulge in. Responsibility will evidently double up as you will be the one pointed at if your family member fails to prove himself at the job. 

#2. Avoid The Special Behaviour

Do not, even for a minute think that it is okay to shower your family member with some kind of special treatment and comfort at the office. This is not only regarded as unprofessional, but you will also lose respect in the eyes of your colleagues very soon. Having lunch with them is different but discussing work and giving them easy and light work that they are comfortable doing without taking others opinions into consideration might be perceived in a wrong light, and can go a long way in the minds of the people that you have been working with and have to continue working with.

#3. Be Honest

If you are working or has employed a family member, be honest with the people in your office about it. If you are worried that your colleagues will not treat your employed member equally or make stories about you, then you must avoid these thoughts and let everyone know that the employed person is a family member. This will gain their trust, which is important if you have to work with them.

#4. Have A Clear Talk With Your Employed Family Member

When a family member comes into the picture of your professional life, make sure they don’t take it casually and having a talk with them, stating the rules and behavior that both of you are expected to maintain sounds like a good idea to begin your professional journey. Let them know that maintaining professional ethics is vital and that he will not be given any special privileges. Make sure they call you by your name if you are a fellow employee or go by ‘boss’ or ‘Sir/ Ma’am’ like the others rather than calling you their 'aunt' or 'uncle' if they are working below you or you have hired them to work for you.

#5. Ensure That They Have What It Takes

Before employing a family member, make sure you are not going for it only for the sake of the family. Make sure that your family member is qualified enough and have what it takes to get the job. If they are not capable or qualified for the position, make sure you don’t provide them with the family benefit and offer them the job anyway. Understand the fact that there are so many unemployed people in the world wanting a job and giving the opportunity partially to someone you personally know will only affect the work productivity and quality. 

#6. Let Them Be Responsible

Try not to take the blame for them at work and let them be responsible for their own mishappenings or give their own explanation for not achieving the targets. Also, if you think that this behavior is getting repetitive and you wouldn’t handle this behavior from any other random employee, then make sure you adhere to your professional ethics here and do what is right. Doing what is right will only make your colleagues or work employees respect you more and believe that you aren't’ making any special rules with your personal relationships.

#7. Learn How To Communicate

Make sure that at the office, you refer each other not by the nicknames or by the personal relationship you have. Learn to respect the business ethics and maintain a professional atmosphere at your office. You can chill at your break time but having fun all the while and reminiscing old memories at the cost of peace of others is a bad idea.

#8. Maintain A Professional Environment

Maintaining a professional environment at work is crucial to the survival of your professional relationship. Treating your employed family members differently in any way such as ignoring their late reporting, avoiding the fact that they don’t complete their daily targets or take way too many casual breaks will only create problems in the future, and it is advisable that you make them stick to the rules from the starting day itself.

#9. Be Rational

While dealing with an employee at work who also happens to be a family member, you must always establish the boundaries, office ethics and expectations for them in order to avoid any miscommunication of opinions or feelings in the future. Be rational in their treatment and treat them the same way you would treat any other colleague or employee. If they keep reporting late, then their salary must receive a deduction as well. If they did not perform well or as expected in their probation period, then let them know about it and go for someone else who actually deserves the job. Be rational and logical, and in case they are not comfortable with you treating them this way, talk to them and let them know how wrong they are by expecting unrealistically which is not only unethical but will not be accepted.

#10. Think Again Before Employing!

Before going through all the hassle, make sure you give this decision a clear thought as to whether your family member really is apt for the job or you are just doing it for the sake of the family favor. Make sure you pay heed to the fact that actions must be taken for what is wrong, right, ethical and acceptable. Only if they are qualified enough, passionate towards the job and are serious about it, then you should give them the opportunity or the job. Also, think about the fact how work is somehow bound to follow you into your personal life after office hours and ask yourself if you are ready for it!

Handling employees who also happen to be family members can be a tough task and handling them can be a sticky job especially in order to avoid any unwanted family feud. If you liked what you read, leave a comment below!

(Image Courtesy: 1. The Balance, 2. Australian Security, 3. CHADD, 4. The Balance; Wisdom Times (Featured Image)