To Hire Family or Friends – or Not: How Close is Too Close?

When it comes to finding a job, everyone has heard the saying “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” So, if someone opens their own franchise, it’s possible that they’re going to face a family member or friend asking about a job. There are a lot of things to consider, especially if there is a chance things might go south, tensions climb and ruin a relationship. But if the family member or friend is a hard worker and has your back no matter what, odds are it could be a fruitful situation.

Carole and Steve Luber are Right at Home* multi-territory owners with over 400 employees in Maryland. They currently have five family and friends working for them, and Carole speaks positively of the decision.

At their Frederick County location, Carole’s sister-in-law, Beth Rollinger, is the care coordinator manager. Carole always admired Beth’s customer service skills when she was the regional manager for Blockbuster.

“She knew each person who came in by name and asked about the movies they rented. She has such warmth about her, a heart of gold and a great personality; we said for years we’d love to have someone just liked her, so when Blockbuster locations closed, we approached her and brought her along,” Carole said.

When the Lubers’ daughters graduated from college, both were given a role at the family business.

“It was a natural fit because they were raised in that environment and saw how important it was for family to take care of family and to treat people with respect,” Carole said.

Tricia Luber is the care coordinator manager at Howard County. Although she has a degree in fashion and design, Carole says she’s very organized and computer literate. She was also a caregiver and clients loved it because she could do fun artwork projects, paint their nails, do their hair and she would take them out to lunch and go to the museum.

“We recognized how skilled she was in the office setting, at making flyers for the company and taking phone calls,” Carole said. “So we knew she’d be a great addition to our staff.”

Carole and Steve’s other daughter, Mary Beth Burns, received a degree in gerontology and social work, so she was “more than equipped to join” the family business, says Carole. Mary Beth’s husband, Ryan, joined her, and they each support community relations and marketing roles in the Washington County office. While still working for the Lubers, Ryan received his MBA and then opened a senior care move management company called Stress Free Solutions, where he then hired Carole and Steve’s son as a project manager. Through his own company, Ryan was able to expand from the family business and stay in the senior services industry.

The fifth family member the Lubers hired is Linda Luber, Steve’s sister.

“We brought her on board four years ago as my husband’s right-hand person,” Carole said. “Because of her work ethic, education and experience, it was a no-brainer.”

All in all, Carole recommends hiring family and has had a great experience with the employees who are related to them.

“Really, they have such strong loyalties and pride of ownership for the business. Our children feel like one day they might be our legacy, and as Steve and I get a little bit older, Linda actually said the next generation is going to be ready to step in and it’s great to prepare our daughters to step into management because we will retire eventually,” Carole said. “The idea is we can hand over our business to them, and they’ll continue to have the same strong work ethic we started today.”

She only discusses one negative about keeping family and friends on the payroll. She says it can be hard to turn off talking about work at a family event.

“If we are at a cookout or it’s a holiday, it’s hard not to let the topic of work creep up. Especially if there’s a problem or someone passes away, it’s hard to turn it off after hours. After working a full day, it’s time to think about something else, but at family get-togethers, it’s hard to step away,” Carole said.

But being able to separate family and work is an important part of the process if something goes wrong.

Raj and Veenu Prakash own two Lightbridge Academy* early education and child care locations in New Jersey, with a third under construction. Veenu’s sister-in-law, Karin Kapoor, has been working for the couple for more than 11 years as a pre-kindergarten teacher.

“It’s a very tricky and challenging thing,” Raj said. “You have to think whether you’re able to manage family relationship or not. Veenu has been able to have a fine line between family and work relationships.”

Raj says that even though it is a difficult situation, there definitely are advantages – like you know the person’s strengths, you trust them, you know they’ll be loyal to you and they’ll be reliable. However, he warns there can be negatives associated with this, as well.

“There are things that are not so good, like even if you are not being partial to your family and friends, there might be a perceived nepotism by other employees and sometimes perception is bigger than reality,” Raj said. “If it doesn’t work out, then to fire somebody who you know well and will see at social gatherings is a tough decision and it can lead to hurting the relationship.”

Veenu comments if they’re happy, you’re happy, and they’re doing well, then everything is good. However, if they’re not happy and if you are keeping things from them, then that can be a drawback. The couple hasn’t hired any friends, but they have hired some acquaintances that they know but aren’t close with.

Raj explains that even when they don’t hire family or friends, their business has built a culture where their employees become like family.

“It’s very difficult because our employees become our friends and like part of our family, so then it becomes challenging how we deal with them and we have to manage them with a fine line. We have staff that has been working with us for the past 15 years, so they are our family now,” Raj said.

He says the important thing is just don’t play favoritism or give family special treatment.

“If you’re the person who is hiring and is able to manage the fine line, there is no problem with it,” Veenu said. “I’ve been able to do that so it’s Ok. If it comes to a point and you can’t correct them, or they’re doing something wrong that you don’t approve, then it becomes a problem and it’s on you.”

Lessons from the Lubers and Prakashs boil down to really understanding the personality of that family member or friend and deciding if they did something wrong or weren’t performing optimally if both parties can truly handle the situation. Benefits are great, but the disadvantages can be major and relationship breaking if the clash is large enough.