Family in Business: Top 5 Benefits of Hiring Family Members

Hiring family members in an organized setup is a matter of debate. While there’s a sense of emotional safety working with your family members, there’s also a concern about how it reflects on company policies and overall efficiency. Onboarding a family member might sound tricky, but it has several advantages. From unwavering loyalty and trust to streamlined communication, adopting this approach can be invaluable. 

However, a competent strategy and adherence to HR best practices are required to ensure that integrating family members into the workforce yields benefits and does not cause confusion. Let’s understand how the talent acquisition of family members can help you achieve organizational success. Additionally, learn the secrets to making the most of this remarkable employment dynamic.

5 Advantages of hiring family members for your business

Employing family members and making them a part of your business is highly profitable. The recent 2023 EY and University of St.Gallen Family Business Index shows how the largest family enterprises are evolving faster than the global economy. This type of employment generated $US8.02 trillion in revenue.

• Bolstered team dynamics

As the family members have a shared purpose and utmost loyalty, these values also extend to workforce collaboration, interactions, and team spirit. This makes project execution and problem-solving more effective.

• Fostering open and transparent communication

Open communication, creativity, and innovation nurture a positive work environment. Familial bonds do encourage such values! By adhering to HR best practices and sharing the same intent, family members as employees can also help others feel more comfortable expressing their concerns and opinions.

• Allegiance beyond short-term goals

Family members possess unwavering dedication and commitment, contributing to a business’s longevity and growth. Having a personal interest in the firm’s sustainability and long-term prosperity, family members as employees can create a more significant impact in the competitive industry. 

• Knowledge retention and business understanding

Involving family members in a firm brings a treasure trove of opportunities and generational knowledge. They know about the company’s operations, roots, and culture. Utilizing this insight can aid in devising plans for future initiatives and informed decision-making.

• Alignment of objectives and merits

Family members closely align with a firm’s goals, principles, and merits. This alignment builds a cohesive work environment following the same vision and mission. It leads to elevated synergies among team members.

3 Easy-to-follow strategies while hiring family members

To maximize the prospect of hiring family members, here’s what you can do:

1. Enforce equitable and transparent hiring procedures

One of the best practices for hiring top talents is ensuring compliance with transparent and impartial hiring procedures. Thus, when considering employing family members, provide fair evaluation processes, clear role descriptions, and equal opportunities for all candidates.

2. Enable professionalism in interactions

Upholding professionalism is the key to setting clear boundaries between professional and personal relationships. Enabling professionalism aids in sustaining a balanced work atmosphere.

3. Present opportunities for growth and development

It is essential to offer family members prospects for career advancement and growth, just like other employees. This evokes a sense of righteousness and inclusivity in the workplace.

According to the PwC Global Family Business Survey, 71% of family businesses declared growth in their latest financial year. Additionally, the same report highlighted that family enterprises with a communicated ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) strategy are more relied on by customers (62% vs. 49%) than those that do not. Thus, integrating family members into the company can be highly beneficial.

The final word

Employing family members and making them a part of the organization can be a blessing if addressed effectively. Leveraging the right tools and knowledge, implementing employee development initiatives, setting clear objectives and expectations, believing in the workforce’s commitment, and building an encouraging work environment can help you make the most of having family members as employees.

Want to know more about setting up best HR practices? Since 2006, Escalon has helped thousands of startups get off the ground with our back-office solutions for accounting, bookkeeping, taxes, HR, payroll, insurance, and recruiting — and we can help yours, too. Talk to an expert today. 

This material has been prepared for informational purposes only. Escalon and its affiliates are not providing tax, legal or accounting advice in this article. If you would like to engage with Escalon, please contact us here.