Nepotism. That dirty word. 

Hiring relatives. Jared Kushner, son-in-law and Ivanka Trump, daughter, are going to work without pay in the White House for Donald Trump to avoid violating any federal no nepotism policy.  

The Governor of Maine hired his daughter to be his executive assistant. A hospital dietary director said stop when too many of the same family were working in that department.  (If a wedding or funeral occurred she would have a hard time staffing.)  A friend couldn’t work at the same public school as his wife, but when the couple divorced they could work in the same school. A city manager says yes, nepotism occurs in hiring, but it can ‘t be stopped. The city can’t enforce a no nepotism policy with so many of its current employees being related.

A hospital takes a different approach. It says that it welcomes referrals of friends (that’s known as cronyism) and relatives. In the small population area it serves, it is going to hire relatives. 

Usually no nepotism policies are put into place because it is unfair to others to hire relatives. It is particularly a problematic if you are seeking diversity in your workforce.  No nepotism policies also are put into place because hiring relatives may lead to unqualified people taking the jobs. 

Many of these policies have qualifications. It’s ok to hire relatives if the relative doesn’t supervise another relative. Defining whether relatives include a son-in-law or cousin or step-child becomes the problem.

Source: Source: ABC 7 News San Francisco

What do you think: is nepotism a problem for your nonprofit or government agency? Did you ever get a job because a relative referred you or even hired you?