Should you work for your relative?
Why do you often hear people say that no matter how poor
you are, you should not go to work with relatives?
The most fundamental reason is that he thinks he is helping you, and you think you are helping him.
I heard this story from my friend. He graduated from university when he was 24, and there was once his uncle went to pay a visit to his house. He noted that my friend was graduating soon so he wanted my friend to be responsible for marketing role in his company.
The situation at that time was that, based on his academic qualifications and abilities, he should be able to find salary of 3k a month. Finding a job will not be difficult at all, but since his uncle initiated it, with a monthly salary of two thousand five thousand. He decided to accept the job.
He also believed that his uncle would not treat him badly, so he agreed and went to work in this uncle's company. His salary remained stagnant during his tenure of 1.5 Years with no bonuses. He decided to talk to his uncle about increment of his salary based on his demonstrated ability and performance. However, the talk did not go well and our relationship became sour.
His uncle was not willing to
give him any bonus, only willing to raise his salary to 4k. His uncle said that
he provided a very good platform for him to learn since he was a fresh graduate
at that time. You see, his uncle thought he helped my friend, and my friend
thought he was helping his uncle, so there is really no need to work for
relatives. There are vast opportunities out in the market.
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Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI guess it can get tricky working for a relative or in a family business. Its hard to draw the line between professional and doing favours. And not to mention favoritism or negative favoritism (ie when the relative in charge tries to show other employees that he / she is not giving special treatment to the relative by being overly harsh).
But at the end of the day, whether you work for a relative or a company, you are offering your help and the company is paying you for that help. No difference here.
The trick is how to be businesslike (and work as a professional) at work while keeping family ties at bay. It needs both parties to be mature and share the same thinking.