If Bill Gates hired his kids over veteran computer programmers to be his partners in business, people would be mad. If President Bush hired his daughter to be the secretary of state, people would more than likely be mad. These scenarios are examples of nepotism, the practice of hiring and/or showing favoritism based on kinship. Nepotism does not belong in the workplace because it does not create the same relationship with the other employees. Quality of work may diminish because that relative might not work as hard because they know they sill will be treated as a family member and not an employee. Family interferes with workplace practices and rules. .
Relationships must not go farther than business in the workplace between employees. When favoritism arises, it creates a separation of the work force. This separation involves attitudes that extend from jealously and lack of expected work for the relative of the employer or manager. It would not be fair to the other employees to let someone slide on the amount of work they are required to do because they are related. The other employees would feel like their job would be made harder because the load of work would be increased cause of a lower productive rate of the other individuals. This situation would be highly unethical in places where a supervisor is among the ranks. If the supervisor treats others based on kinship, they might be more lenient on how long they let their relative stay out on break, take longer smoking breaks, and not care if they show up late or leave early. They also could go as far as expecting less work from them while putting a good word in with the boss while making the other employees mad, creating conflict in the workplace. Not only are these people getting benefits, the company suffers. So nepotism is clearly unethical because happiness is not attained for the most people, just two out of the whole company.
