jus' wonderin'

[Ponto]

There are many thought provoking discussions here and indulge me on this topic if you could... you have to live it in order to understand the implications but I am interested on the topic of nepotism in the workplace. Has anyone had the pleasure or displeasure of having to deal with this reality???

JP

 

[cptcorn]

Everyday. External to our company though. My brother's sister-inlaw's 4th cousin twice removed great grandmother's adopted stepchild is a designer and she made me this logo. You couldn't possibly do better because she took a class in high school.

 

[Mosh]

I honestly try to NOT do any work or business with any of my relatives.

 

[SKADSIGNS]

My wife did it for about 8 years (worked for brother in law) I was against it the whole way. Company started out with him and partner with my wife doing the books, secretary, etc. Company grew to 40 +employees, wife hardly got a raise. He ended up in an affair, left his wife and son, company went under, three years later my wifes sister is still having banks come after her. Fortunately my wife is good at business, has morals, and kept her side of the house clean. Bottom line, be careful.

 

[Fred Weiss]

In my younger days I was in two different partnerships with family members, one with a good friend and one with a complete stranger. The only one that came close to succeeding was with the complete stranger.

 

[Liquid GraphX]

I would have to say stay away...run even. I had a partner until his mother decided that I was cheating him. Neither of them knew absolutly anything about signs or making them and he actually locked me out. So breaking up is hard to do....I have learned not to work for relatives or friends directly. When dealing with family and friends I have a written pricing sheet that is the same across the board for everyone. I had to actually stop repairing computers for family memebers all together...lol Good Luck.

 

[ABPGraphics]

........

 

[GypsyGraphics]

Last year I had two web developer, one was my sister. When we were busy she was handling the overflow. She sometimes comes to this site so sis if your reading this, please go to answer #1 and promptly exit this thread.
All others go to #2.

#1. It was a wonderful experience, she was a pleasure to work with, met every deadline and took instructions well. It was decided mutually that it would be best for our friendship if we didn't work together. love ya sis

#2. It was a freak'n nightmare! It started out okay but went downhill quickly. She never quite got this all important fact.... I'M THE BOSS! We should have called it quits when the tension started. Instead we waited for the huge blow-up ended it. The fight was essentially...
OH YES I AM THE BOSS OF YOU!
Get outta my room (office)!
Gimme back my stuff (files)!
Go find your own friends (clients)!
She pulled my hair, I pushed her down and she ran away crying to daddy.

A week later everything was back to normal.

NEVER EVER AGAIN.... NO FAMILY, NO HOW!

 

[Ponto]

Thanks for the replies... interesting but not unexpected! It seems that the topic, ...and one which I am completely familiar with..., is generally a powderkeg with a fuse that begs to be lit at some time or another.

JP

 

[mark in tx]

You ever watch Orange County Choppers?

Surprised that family break up took so long.

On the other hand, I have seen some great family run business, the thing that really seems to make the difference is that 1 person is undeniably in charge, and no one steps over that line.

 

[gabagoo]

My sister is my receptionist, book keeper, and general office manager and she looks out for me like no one else ever would. We are never late on payables (sometimes I wish we would be lol) and I have absolutely no concerns over banking. I trust her 100% and she works hard and looks out for me. We have had some doozy fights over the years but in the end Idont think I would want it any other way.

 

[weaselboogie]

At my previous place of employment, my bosses dad would visit daily and there were disagreements on a daily basis, several resulted in screaming matches. My bosses dad didn't technically work there, but tried to help out. He would even go as far as to promise same day turn around at a discounted price for the girls with big jugs and then let us deal with pushing everything else out of the way to accommodate him.

 

[BobM]

My wife was my bookeeper for about 6 months. She is the love of my life and soulmate. One Friday I told her I had good news and bad news. The good news, I found you a higher paying job at one of my vendors, the bad news, Your Fired. We get along so much better since.

 

[DOGraphics]

discounted price for the girls with big jugs and ...

Nice

 

[Bigdawg]

Family business for 8 years....

My daughter worked for me as did my husband and my son.

Daughter was great when I could get her to remember I was boss. I refer you to GG's answer #2 for how that went. I fired her 3 times - the last time taking away her key... used her as a freelance type of thing after that and it worked much better...

Son... he couldn't forget he was working for mommy so he was a slacker... big time. Really had to stay on him to get him to work - found out later he had zero interest in screen printing except for the cool shirts he thought he'd be able to make for his buddies. Really pissed off the other guy that wasn't family, causing bad office karma.

Husband... well... that didn't go so well at the end. Started out great but in any business there has to be a boss. I was the boss at the office. He was the boss at home... lots of hard feelings in the end and although I would do it again, it is hard to work day in and day out with your spouse. Especially if you had any kind of marital spat - no matter how slight - that carried to work with ya. I'd rather be married to him and love him than work with him and want to stick an exacto in him.

Family's great.

 

[Just Another Sign Guy]

my family had a signshop that had been in business for 77 years when i left...it was the absolute best thing i ever did (leaving). about 5yrs after that it was ran into the dirt.

i have employed my brother multiple times....that also means that i have had to fire him multiple times. that door is permanently closed.

but as far as nepotism (favouritism granted to family or friends) i can't say it was really an issue, in fact i would say it was the exact opposite in my original family business.

 

[k.a.s.]

I work with my mom and dad everyday, and have all my life. Actully works pretty wel for us, we all do different things.

Kevin

 

[Ponto]

Family business for 8 years....

... pissed off the other guy that wasn't family, ...

Bingo... a very sensitive situation to find oneself in! Even though everyone is theoretically held accountable in the same way, I think it would be difficult not to perceive some form of double standard.

JP

 

[Mainframe]

Work with the wife everyday, I go get her at noon every day & we have lunch & come here to work, works out ok, she has no clue about signs, only grammar & spelling, comes in handy at times, only problem is some of the outfits she wears I can't concentrate on my work! I think she does it on purpose.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Worked for a father/son shop for 15 years. While I liked both of them there were times it was hard to work for them (and more times where it was hard for them not to fire my ass) While they had a really, really strong relationship it was obvious that the father/son aspect of it was killing the business. The son knew that there needed to be changes and growth for the business to survive, the father was too cautious and conservative to do it. The business got slowed down to the verge of death because of it.

 

[Circleville Signs]

These things aren't fun to deal with. As with anything in life, some are able to make it work, and others aren't.

The last place where I worked for someone else was a family owned sign company. Owners were brothers, son was PM, wife was bookkeeper.

I had been friends with the family for several years before they offered me a position with the company to develop and build a sales team. Long story short, it didn't end well. Trying to work with friends and family, at least for me, is not an option.

I'm hard headed, good at what I do, and want to do things my way. Putting someone like me into that type of a situation is NEVER going to work out well


Gary