Hiring In-Laws: A Bad Idea

Hiring In-Laws: A Bad Idea

Many successful small businesses have been ruined by bringing in-laws in to the family business. As these in-laws struggle to establish a voice in the company, meaning well, they often wind up destroying them. As the owner of the family business, it is your job to avoid situations that could hurt or hinder your business. In this case you should assume a few often overlooked points:

 When approaching your business, never think of it in terms of one happy family.

 Never assume that in-laws will be grateful to benefit from the opportunities the business offers. Rather, they often feel guilty and incompetent thinking they would have never gotten the job if they weren't family.

 Even in-laws with terrific ideas for the company will disrupt the business, the family, or both.

 In-laws will struggle from day one to try to prove themselves to you. Even at family outings they will often engage in business talk to promote their worthiness and creativity. The O'Shea Family Business

To further illustrate the risks of hiring in-laws into a business we will use a real life example, the O’Shea family. The O’Shea family business was fairly simple. They owned a clothing manufacturing company that made camouflage apparel. They were contracted suppliers of clothing to the military since the business opened its doors during World War II. Daniel O'Shea, the company president, was earning a "comfortable living" in 1970 when began making plans to select his successor. His two daughters had no interest in the day-to-day operations of the company. As a result his decision to choose his son, a levelheaded recent M.B.A., was easy. His name was Sean. Sean knew the business very well, and the company grew from his good business sense. He was young and energetic, helping the company to increase profits almost 50% in his first 2 years while at the helm. This meant bigger monthly checks for the family members, and no one argued against that. The business began to grow and so did the need for personnel.

Sean made a big mistake only 5 years into his career. With the insistence of one of his sisters, he hired an in-law. It was against his better judgement, but he figured he could place him in a job were the family ties would not cause any problems.