Nepotism is Alive and Well
A look at nepotism in the workplace.
Equal Opportunity Employer. Don’t you love the sound of those words? If only they actually meant something. Many companies like to boast that they are equal opportunity employers and they may be to an extent yet we often see examples to the contrary.
Nepotism is like the ever-renewing phoenix rising from the ashes. Most companies would deny the allegation of nepotism even when there are clear examples of it in their midst. Good employees often get overlooked for promotions they well deserve while relatives or friends move up the ladder quickly and easily.
For instance, I know of a woman who was an employee of a nearby store where I shopped quite often. She had worked there since the store’s opening and was an excellent employee. She was hardworking, pleasant and efficient. Her co-workers liked her and so did the customers.
When a manager position became available she was told she was being considered for the position. Co-workers and customers alike were shocked when someone with no experience was hired for the position instead. Interestingly, the new manager turned out to be the store manager’s son’s girlfriend.
My son works for a company where the boss’s son is also employed. Of course, the boss’s son gets privileges the other employees don’t. For example, he gets to pick his days off and what hours he wants to work. Everyone else has to go by the schedule. Not to mention, if he wants to work more hours another employee’s hours get cut to accommodate him. He quit once, came back and was rehired with no loss of seniority. He was then promptly promoted over employees that had more seniority, more experience and better skills. Other employees have complained to no avail.
Now if these aren’t clear cut cases of nepotism I don’t know what is. Unfortunately, there are many people that are victims of such unfair practices as these. There are some companies that are painfully aware of situations like this taking place. Those that attempt to combat unfair practices such as nepotism have implemented measures such as not hiring relatives. Although this does lessen the problem of nepotism it does not eliminate it entirely. In fact this practice is also viewed as unfair to an extent.
It seems there is no completely satisfactory solution to nepotism and other unfair work related practices. While an employee should be judged on job performance, skill, education, attendance and dedication, in some cases we find that these factors may have little significance in the larger scheme. Equal opportunity can equal a sad state of affairs. Someone once said, “It’s not what you know but whom you know.” Unfortunately, that still holds true today.
Liked it
-
-
-
-
-
Post Commentlekeysha brown
On June 2, 2008 at 10:02 am
I went threw eeoc and got no results they took the company side and just ran with it.It wasn’t so much as discrimination but the nepotism was clearly there and still exsist in the work place today.They figured they would give me a manager postion to make me feel better but the treatment is still the same they only hire friend and family no application off the street the family works the same shift the roommate of the manger which is the daughter of they famiy works there they bring babys on the job they come and go as pleased they set the schedule to accomidate the family they take vaction no one else can they are scheduled threw the hole year fo vaction what if some one else wants one well the way the boss talks to you you better not ask for one s i am the familys boss an they don’t even work my shift they work with the daughter get this the mother works there to with the daughter so you got to daughters and a roommate and the mothere on the same shift people been there for years begging for fist shift because they have children and none of they familyh has children it just so unfair i see why some people kill there coworkers on the job!
David glenn
On August 27, 2008 at 4:00 pm
hi i work at a company where 80% of the employees are related the office manager, both secretarys, and the bosses son. the bosses son just got a raise the same time i did at the time i did not know how much he got well it turns out i got fifty cents more and he got 200 more dollars a month. that comes out to be 1.25 more an hour. not to me that a little un-fair being there was no evaluation to justify that raise now tell me thats right. no its fricken wrong!!!!! they pretty much said he should get the most money
Don
On July 12, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I worked at 3M for about 22 years and with four other guys worked on a very hard project and midway into the project a lady was brought in to help us even though we didn’t need help. In about two years the project ended and she became our supervisor with five years of working for 3M, and she jumped two job classifications. It took many years to find out she was the cousin of the manager that brought her in the department. I complained about it when I work there and was told,”it is too late to do anything about it”, and complained after I retired and was told the same thing. It says on the application for employement,” do you have any relative that work at 3M”, and does it surprise anyone to know 3M does not do their job as an employer and protect their employees from nepotism?
Don
On December 2, 2009 at 4:18 pm
The director of IT at 3M when I worked there said to me,”if you tell anyone what happend to you here I will kick your ass,” while the HR manager sat next to me and said nothing. Was I threatened?, I think so! An upper level manager used the, F”,word to me twice while my manager sat next to me and said nothing and no action was taken against anyone when I reported it and the manager that used the, “F”, word to me was caught lying also, and you do that to a supervisor or manager and they will walk you out the door, but the good old boys protect each other at 3M.
In addition I had a manager that was unqualified, and incompetent and got his job by politics. Being a elementary school and an instructor doesn’t qualify a person to be an IT manager, or supervisor. According to the qualification for jobs at 3M I am qualified to be the CEO and I told Mr. Buckley in a letter along with my qualifications that I want the job, and of course he did not reply.
Don
On December 8, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Being demoted at 3M;
When I work at 3M for about 31 yrs I held seven technical jobs and three supervisory jobs in IT and worked for 11 different supervisors and many managers. Then my manager and supervisor told me I would be writing rules for Tivoli and would get training and someone to work with me. I was sent to a class I didn’t need and to the wrong programming language class for six hours. Then, I had nobody to work with and couldn’t write the code without training so I was demoted and the HR manager said,” if you can’t write the code without training and nobody to work with then we may not have a job for you here”, what does an HR manager know about IT? The manager was replaced on the project and the new manager got my successor the training required and that is how an older outstanding employee gets demoted at 3M, and of course the manager that demoted me was incompetent and unqualified and the company would of lowered my pay if it was not for my age. As I have said being a 3rd grade school teacher for 12 yrs, an instructor at 3M for 10 yrs, and supervisor of a help deck does not qualify a person to be a manager in IT, and that is why I am qualifed to be the CEO at 3M, as I told Mr. Buckley I want the job.