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Many years ago, I was at an industry conference where one of the topics presented covered nepotism. It was all about how hiring relatives of employees was not a good idea, and why it should be avoided. I remember standing up, looking around at all of the second- and third-generation pest management professionals (PMPs) in the room, and making the statement that if it were not for nepotism, I would not have a job!
I have both suffered and benefited from hiring relatives and friends of current employees. Sometimes losing one has cost me another when termination comes, but all in all, it has been good for my business.
In the beginning, I occasionally accepted relatives of employees, but I did not exactly encourage it. But then my brother Bobby mentioned how hiring relatives of employees had been good for his company, so I decided to begin a process of allowing, and even soliciting employees to “bring your families to work.”
Looking at my current employee lineup, 24 people have a spouse, child or cousin who works with us. There are another two whose spouses worked with us for a time, but have since moved on to other employment. The interesting thing is, those two didn’t leave when their spouses left. The fear I had about losing two at a time did not prove to be true, at least not in those cases.
We have a very active referral program: We give employees $500 when a person they refer to us is hired, and then another $500 when that new hire has been with us for six months. While we have a lot of employees who recommend friends, we also have a lot who recommend family. We love having multiple family members working together, and encourage our folks to bring a relative to work.
We are a “family business,” after all, so it just makes sense that we hire our employees’ family members as well. What better affirmation that you are doing something right, than your people recommending your company as a place to work to a spouse, child or other relative?
GO IN WITH EYES OPEN
When you hire family members, though, you need to take a hard look at the culture of the business you are building. Are you truly valuing family? Are you sensitive to the hours your employees work, and allow flexibility in the work schedules of young parents with kids? Is your business the kind of place that values family time for employees? Is your pay structure such that a family can make a good living if two spouses work at the same place? These are all questions that have to be addressed if this type of policy is to be successful and not backfire.
I have encouraged people to refer us to family, and then occasionally lost both the new hire and existing employee at or near the same time. But our culture was not as strong back then, and we didn’t truly live up to our core values at that time.
Valuing employees and their families, and extending grace, is not something that just happens. Is your place of employment a place where memories are made? Is it a place where people go home telling stories about the good, wonderful, funny, fun things that happened at work? Do you show employees how you value them through how you work with them? Do you have ways to show appreciation, like holiday parties, company picnics, group outings and the like?
The job market in the pest control industry continues to tighten, and employees are harder to come by. More young people are going to college and not looking at the trades as a career. We have to be very creative in not only how we attract people, but how we keep people. If your employees love working at your company, letting them share that experience with relatives can only be a good thing for all.
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