How to Prevent Nepotism in the Workplace

Patrick Proctor
Contributing Writer
Feb 21, 2023

What is nepotism?
In its simplest form, nepotism in the workplace is favoring family and friends over others for
opportunities within the workplace. These can include hiring, promotions, desirable project
assignments, preferred shifts or any other openly available opportunity in the workplace.
While not illegal, nepotism is one of the more destructive practices managers can imbue in
their workplaces.

Not only is this practice an inequitable way to promote employees, but it also limits
opportunities for the employer. Nepotism cuts off a company’s ability to build teams
authentically, promote top talent, develop organizational collaboration, expand shared
knowledge and retain employees overall.

The corrosive act of nepotism often places the wrong people in leadership or subject-matter
expert positions. Further, it prevents more qualified employees or candidates from
developing their careers and collaborating to produce the best services, products, and
policies. This eventually waters down the leadership quality and key roles within the
organization, as top talent often abandons a company when they feel there is no hope for
future opportunities.

How to avoid nepotism in the workplace

Setting clear expectations through policy, practice, and culture is the only way to show all
your employees that nepotism is not part of your company or its identity. Here are some
recommendations to help you identify nepotism and avoid the practice within your business
altogether.

1. Develop an active anti-nepotism policy.

This should be in the employee handbook and part of your leadership training. Strong anti-
nepotism policies prohibit related individuals from working in the same department or
company, or, more specifically, one family member reporting to another.

2. Maintain detailed job descriptions.

The template that sets up these other safeguards for success is the job description.
Maintaining an accurate and detailed job description for each role is one of the best ways to
keep team expectations grounded, leadership in check, and an open, communicative
platform for all to see. Job descriptions should detail the skills, experience, and attributes
employees need to qualify for any given position within the company.

3. Conduct manager (or leadership) training.

More than any other step, leadership training directly addresses the concerns of nepotism.
A direct callout of the practice should include a clear definition of favoritism, a description
of what it looks like in the workplace, and a statement that all managers are responsible for
not only avoiding the practice but speaking up when they notice it.

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

If the process for how new hires are selected and how employees are promoted is openly
visible to all, it improves the chance of unity and trust-building within the organization. It is
essential that the hiring and promotional processes are not mysterious at all, as that will
increase the questioning and anxiety around actual or perceived favoritism.

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

To fortify the phalanx against nepotism, your human resources department should be
involved before you or your managers make any final hiring or promotion-related decisions.
Hopefully, your HR staff has the neutrality and authority to help govern these employment
actions. Senior managerial approval is another good step in the hiring process for certain
positions and promotions.

Types of nepotism
Generally speaking, there are two types of nepotism: reciprocal nepotism and entitlement
nepotism. Although they are both unjust, they serve different purposes, and the motives
behind them are slightly different.

Reciprocal nepotism is when a family member accepts a position because of financial

considerations, loyalty issues, a desire for a better family relationship, or cultural norms
(i.e., nepotism has been allowed previously).

Entitlement nepotism is when someone feels a sense of entitlement for a certain job or
promotion only because their family member works at a company. This occurs most often
within family-owned businesses.
Examples of nepotism in the workplace
There are plenty of more subtle acts of nepotism in the workplace that many would simply
refer to as “favoritism.” These scenarios can also occur when family-related nepotism is not
present. Poor management styles and bad practices by anyone in the company can lead to
the same undesirable outcomes. These are some examples:

• Workload distribution. The employer or manager does not spread out the workload
equally; some employees have heavier or less desirable workloads than others.
• Critical feedback channels. Important work-related information is only shared with
certain employees.
• Rapid upward mobility. Similar to promotion, there is also a practice of moving an
undeserving employee through each level of the organization. This makes it appear
as though they have “worked their way up,” but it is essentially a fast track to their
desired role in the company.
• Manager-employee closeness. The boss hangs out with the same people or person
day after day and does not spend time with others. Though this is not technically
against the rules in most cases, other team members get the message that they are
not equally valued.
• Bad habits 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. Certain employees have input on their project or work selection
when others do not. This is common with desirable work shifts or hours.

How nepotism affects the workplace

Nepotism, or even perceived favoritism of a family member or any other employee, can
cause anger, frustration and dissatisfaction among other team members. It will eventually
lower employee morale. Employees will have less incentive to perform their responsibilities
diligently and to the best of their abilities if they feel that the path to promotion – or any
future opportunity – is undermined by nepotism.

Although nepotism can have countless negative effects on the workplace, these are some of
the most severe consequences:

• It leads to claims of discrimination. While the act of nepotism itself is usually not
illegal, the practice can result in illegal behavior or outcomes. For example, if you
only hire from a small pool, you will eventually cut off qualified candidates who may
have grounds to claim discrimination.
• It reduces the internal talent pool. When you commonly hire people who fit within
your favored class, you shrink your pool of resources (i.e., truly qualified candidates
or employees). In doing so, you weaken the future of your organization by losing out
on top talent, damaging the culture, and eroding employees’ trust in the company
leadership.
• It seriously impedes talent retention. Research shows that 87% of millennials are
looking for development and career advancement opportunities. Thus, the practice
of even occasional nepotism is a great way to lose these employees. Your top talent
will eventually leave your organization in favor of companies that can offer them
advancement and skill development.
• It corrodes company culture. This goes without saying, but companies that dabble in
nepotism can never build a dynamic and healthy work culture. You cannot build trust
in your company when management is unfairly advancing certain employees and
ignoring more qualified ones.
• It lowers productivity, creativity and quality of work. Ultimately, the act of
nepotism or any unjust favoritism will end high productivity, rich creativity and
quality output in a company. When leadership and other key positions in the
organization are filled with anyone other than your top talent, the results will
eventually show.