Resource Centers:(News, information, and tools to support your practice)
July 2006
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Should you hire friends and relatives?
Should you hire relatives and friends?
By Jean Murray, MBA, PhD
At some point in your practice —possibly when you start out — at least one friend or relative will offer to “help out” or “save you money by not hiring an employee.”
On the one hand, you really need the help, but on the other hand, what if it doesn’t work out? How do you handle this tricky situation?
Certainly it’s unfair to generalize about people, and some family/practice combined relationships do work. It’s tempting to hire relatives for key positions because you feel you can trust them to have your best interest in mind and a vested interest in the success of your practice. Plus, you can save money by hiring relatives, if they work for no pay.
But most experts warn that combining work and family relationships almost always causes the personal relationship to suffer. Most large employers even have specific rules against nepotism (hiring relatives) with some stating that you can hire relatives if they don’t work in the same department or one relative doesn’t supervise the other, which can prove difficult in a small practice.
The best policy is to avoid hiring relatives. But if you feel you must, here are some strategies for making the relationship successful:
• Outline the job. Before you begin hiring employees or relatives, outline the specific tasks that they will be performing. Put together an organization chart and job descriptions and hire based on your business needs, not the needs of the person.
• Find the best fit. Ask the relative to go through the same hiring process as if you were hiring outside employees. Tell him or her that you want to practice your hiring skills. Ask the person to fill out a job application; consider what position will be the best “fit;” and then match the person to the most suitable position.
• Explain your expectations. Prepare an employment manual that includes all of the work rules and expectations for employees. Review the manual with the relative and set up work hours, vacations, and attendance requirements.
Clearly establish expectations for attendance and job duties. Setting out these expectations at the beginning will prevent misunderstanding and hard feelings later.
For example: If your parents are working in the practice and they decide to take the winter off to go to Florida, they need to understand that they may not have jobs when they return. You can’t wait until April to get the work done!
• No fill ins. Don’t let the relative just “fill in.” If the relative doesn’t have regular work hours, but just “helps out” when it’s convenient, you won’t have the appropriate coverage or you’ll have to wait until the relative shows up to find out where the files are or whether you’ve exceeded your budget for advertising this month.
• Be careful when hiring spouses. If your spouse has complementary skills and you can define separate areas of expertise, you can often have a positive working relationship.
Mutual agreement on hours and expectations will help keep both the relationship and the business running smoothly.
• Establish a time period. If you must hire someone without pay, set an end point for this relationship at the beginning and agree to re-evaluate continuing the employment relationship at that time.
This allows you to terminate without hard feelings and gives you the option of renewing employment if things are working out. Before you sit down with the relative at the six-month evaluation, know the outcome you want. If you don’t want this person to continue, have an exit plan ready to discuss, then don’t be persuaded to let the person stay on “just for a few weeks.”
The purpose of this review is the same as the review for any proba-tionary employee. It’s always best to cut off unproductive relationships quickly.
• Monitor the grapevine. Having a relative work with your other employees can create some minor problems, such as having your employees accuse you of favoritism. Be aware of these issues because even if the other employees don’t speak up, the undercurrent of tension can lead to lower productivity and morale, and ultimately to higher turnover.
Everyone has relatives and friends, and they can be great contributors to our success teams. But this is a business relationship, and it should be treated as such, from the beginning, in order to preserve both the business relationship and the personal one.
SIDEBARS:
Tax implications
What’s in a practice manual
Jean Murray, MBA, PhD, is a business professor at Palmer College of Chiropractic and principal of Planning for Practice Success (P4PS). She can be contacted at 866-940-7526 or through her Web site, www.dcpracticesuccess.com.
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