Dear professionals,

I  heard of an interesting case and wanted your inputs  and ideas on it. I just felt that some of  you might have faced similar problems and may  have found a way to handle it.

In an MNC (tech  company) in India, Senior Line Managers are  practising nepotism at a large scale (relatives or  personal friends who have no prior or relevant  experience are being recruited at junior level,  thank god for that. The HR seems to be either  blind or simply unaware of the same. People who  are getting affected are the  immediate Leads/Managers etc.They are left with  a team which is split between performers (minorties)  and non performers (soon threatening to become  majority).

Work of course is getting done but is  leading to low morale and high attrition amongst the  performers! The consequence of the same is obvious  to all of us! What do you think a team lead or a  manager should do to deal with this issue without of  course antogonising the immediate superior (who is  actually practising it!)and at the same time getting  the issue out in open with the top management or HR  and ultimately putting an end to it. I really look  forward to hearing your ideas and inputs and also  whether such practices are rampant in today's  competitive corporate world?

Awaiting for your responses

Sumitha

Your concern is - how to reduce or put an end to hiring relatives by power centres !!!

In may organisations (including mine) there is a policy on recruitment of relatives.

The principle to be adhered to is : No relatives to be in the same department or related departments wherein one would have direct reporting to the other relative.

Relatives would be placed in a such a way that one could be in a position to express/give opinion on the other's performace and influence growth/increments etc.

The existing data of the relatives working and their existing department would be the basis for initiating such a policy. I do not think management would be averse to such a policy.

Hi,

I have gone through such phase in my organisation.  What i have done is,  i have recommeded my management to link that relatives performance with the incentive payment of that of introducer and his pay will and incentives will be paid only after clubbing the performance of that relative.  Here the introducer takes a special care of that Jr.stafff as regards the performance and it will be a example for all others who want to introduce their relatives.  I think this is the most practical way to tackle the problem.

pl revert u r comment on above.

Hi sumitha, saccha & janaki,

I think one has to learn to live with these things. It is very difficult to stop such things from happening, bacause the Management would be interested in a having someone who enjoy's their confidence to be in position so that they have better information and control over what is happening.

marcus

The issue is not just hiring relatives but incompetent relatives/friends (who really don't fit the position) and how to bring it into notice to the top management without antogonising the person who is indulging in it.

I guess we all do learn to to cope with it but if it affects the efficiency of the team then its difficult to ignore or accept it!

Warm Regards

balakrishnan

Hi,

There are a few assumptions to the proposed solution.

If you cannot prevent them from recruiting. Ensure that the Performance Appraisal Form shows an entry of relatives in the orgn.Explain the entry to the management saying that there are rumours that relatives are being recruited in the orgn.

Change your HR PA policy to read that relatives cannot be in the reporting chain.

Moderate the PA done to ensure that the productivity of the individual is reported upon and not other characters.

introduce job descriptions and performance targets for all individuals.

introduce a consulting organisation type policy, if one is in the bottom 20%, you are out after one chance.

My submission to you would be to ensure that the recruitment panel includes a neutral departmental personnel, preferably a senior person.

Ensure that the recruitment is done objectively Get a questionnire prepared with the likely answers ready and share with the neutral person and rank it accordingly. Documents should speak for itself.

At no point of time HR should be viewed as taking sides which would be detrimental to the interest of the deptt.

I hope u understand.

Regards

Ash

I am sorry to say but my view on the basis of experience that i had so far is quite different coz when it comes to Management's near n dear onces they do not let them to go thru HR. Normally such people are recruited by Management n HR gets to know of it much later. So, this is again something wherein HR does not have much to do.

With Regards,

Rajul