Hiring Family Members

April 13, 2006

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The majority of new small businesses involve the owner's family in some way. This involvement may range from having the spouse do the bookkeeping to having the children work part time after school.

Getting help from family members can be a great, not to mention inexpensive, way to help you get through the startup phase of your new business. Family members can also help alleviate the additional time and frustration requirements of your new business.

A consideration when hiring family members is how the hiring might affect family relations. If your spouse works with you on a full-time basis in the business, how will that affect your home life? Are you willing to or capable of firing a family member if necessary? If your child or spouse is not capable of doing the job adequately, what will you do?

Another consideration is how it will affect nonfamily employees, if you have any. When it is time to promote an employee, will it automatically be the family member? These decisions will affect all of your employee-employer relations with the other employees.

On the positive side, a family member will be more willing to step into your shoes when needed. For example, if you get tied up doing something, a family member usually makes a reliable fill-in.