What does nepotism mean?

Nepotism is defined as giving an advantage to relatives or friends when hiring or within a company. The classic definition of nepotism is when a relative is hired without needing any experience in the industry and possibly without even having an interview.

Though the definition of nepotism is focused on family or friends, it can also be seen as giving advantages to certain employees. Playing favourites with your staff is nepotistic and should be seen as something to avoid.

When a company partakes in nepotism, it often will see negative consequences as it is an unfair practice for a business to undertake. Allowing personal relationships to influence decision-making can ruin the relationship between staff and leadership, causing a negative working environment.

Related: Signs of a Poisoned Work Environment (Plus How to Prevent One)

Historically, nepotism was very common as positions were often given to those of a certain class and race. Biases allowed for only certain types of employees to be hired and promoted, meaning most leaders came from the same social status. It was also very common for businesses to be passed down to younger relatives regardless of their experience.  This type of practice is no longer acceptable and should be avoided.

Examples of nepotism in the workplace

Though nepotism is classically defined as giving advantages to relatives or friends within an organization, it can often be seen now simply as favouritism. Here are a few examples of what nepotism looks like in the workplace.

• Workload distribution. This is when work is not distributed equally among the staff. Some employees will be given more or less desirable tasks, while others will be given the opposite.

• Critical feedback channels. Important work-related information is only shared with certain employees.

• Rapid upward mobility. Nepotism sometimes looks like an employee moving up in the company despite their lack of experience or talent.

• Manager-employee closeness. When a manager spends a lot of time with one employee, it can be seen as them picking favourites. Other employees might feel as though they are not as valued as the employee getting all the attention.

• Bad habits are overlooked. A certain employee arrives late to work each day or repeatedly makes mistakes without correction, while others are reprimanded when they do the same.

• Project selection. If a certain employee is able to pick and choose which projects they work on while others are assigned projects, this can be seen as nepotism. This can also be seen if a worker is able to choose their schedule while others are not.

These examples of nepotism can be common in the workplace but should be avoided and stopped if seen.

How nepotism affects the workplace

Nepotism, or even perceived favouritism of a family member or any other employee, can cause anger, frustration and dissatisfaction among other team members. It will eventually lower employee morale. Here are a few of the negative effects nepotism can have on a workplace:

• It leads to claims of discrimination. If there is an issue with nepotism in the workplace, some employees may see this as discrimination. This is especially true if there has been nepotism present during the hiring process, as it could be preserved as not giving certain groups a chance of being hired.

• It reduces the internal talent pool. If you are always hiring a certain type of person, you will be reducing the pool of talent that you are hiring from. This will mean that candidates who might be more talented will be going elsewhere for work, possibly to your competition.

• It seriously impedes talent retention. Not only does nepotism reduce the amount of talent within your company due to unfair hiring practices, but it can also cause talented employees to look elsewhere for new positions. This can cause employee retention to become an issue, and the first to go might be the most talented of your employees.

• It corrodes company culture. Having nepotism in a company can cause a lot of bad feelings to spark up within your team. People will start to feel some resentment towards those who are being treated specially, and an uneasy atmosphere will appear. Other issues will start to arise due to the negative work environment, and you will see that the company starts to be affected.

• It lowers productivity, creativity and quality of work. When there is nepotism within a workplace, it can hurt productivity, creativity and quality of work. For those not given special treatment, motivation will start to wean, meaning productivity goes down. With lower motivation comes decreased creativity and quality of work, as no one is producing their best work.

When looking at the above examples of how nepotism can affect the workplace, it becomes obvious that it should be avoided at all costs.  

How to stop nepotism in the workplace

Nepotism can create a lot of negativity in the workplace. It can be difficult to work efficiently when there are bad attitudes among coworkers. By using the following advice, you can create a positive work environment that does not allow for nepotism:

1. Develop an active anti-nepotism policy

Having an anti-nepotism policy in the employee handbook will mean that everyone is aware of the rules around nepotism and knows that it’s not permitted. The policy should make it obvious why nepotism is not allowed, as well as clearly state the specific rules about family members working at the company.

2. Maintain detailed job descriptions

Having detailed job descriptions is a great way of safeguarding against nepotism when hiring new staff. The job description should detail what skills and experience the employee will need for the position and can be used to avoid hiring someone unqualified. If there was a question as to which candidate to hire, you could always pull out the job description and base your decision solely on their qualifications and experience.

3. Conduct leadership training

Having good leadership training can directly address issues with nepotism. By creating a leadership training program, expectations can be defined, and leaders will know what type of behaviour would be considered nepotism. For example, favouritism can be a form of nepotism where a manager gives special privileges to certain employees. By having leadership training, you can define the different types of behaviour that is seen with nepotism and stop the behaviour before it happens.

Related: 7 Effective Skills to Help You Become a Better Leader

4. Create a transparent, communicative hiring and promotional culture.

By having transparency in hiring and promotion processes, you can gain the trust of your employees and help reduce the chance of nepotism. When these two processes are transparent, there will be no questions about perceived (or real) favouritism and the integrity of the leadership is maintained.  

5. Develop an HR management approval process for hires and promotions.

Once the hiring and promotional processes are transparent, you can go one extra step by getting the HR department to approve all hires and promotions. This will mean you have extra eyes on the entire process, erasing any possible biases. This extra step will ensure that nepotism is avoided and the process of hiring and promotions are seen as fair.

These five steps will allow you to avoid nepotism within the company, which will assist in having a positive work environment.