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What is the best policy toward hiring spouses?

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Question added by Fida Abo Alrob , Sr. Copywriter , Imena Digital
Date Posted: 2015/03/26
Nkondog Anselme Vencelas
by Nkondog Anselme Vencelas , Senior Software Engineer , Afrimalin Group

When employing spouses, there are several things that you want to avoid:

  • Nepotism. No one wants to see someone get hired simply because they are a relative. That's demoralizing for everyone.
  • Favoritism. Having one spouse report to another is asking for complaints of favoritism.
  • Relationship rupture. Two people who see each other all of the time are going to have conflicts. Space is good. Think about what happens if they decide to divorce.

Towards that end, your policy should include:

  1. Independent hiring. The spouse must follow the exact same interview path as every other candidate for the position. The spouse must be excluded from the interview process.
  2. No spouse reports to their spouse, directly or indirectly.
  3. Spouses should be separated from each other as far as practical, both organizationally and physically.

Irene Lopez
by Irene Lopez , Administration Coordinator , dnata

It's perfectly alright if the spouse meets the criteria for the role and is the best candidate for the position, however I don't believe they should be working together in the same department/section/team as even amongst the most professional of associates it can cause conflicts of interest.

Saiful Islam Hiron
by Saiful Islam Hiron , Site HR Manager , Handicap International

Professionally it is a conflict of Interest. In my organization, we do not have spouse hiring policy.

A profesional recruiter should exclude him/her self from the process and let another one lead it.

Suhail Azeez
by Suhail Azeez , HR Business Partner , Emirates Flight Catering

There are some very valid points in the answer by Mr. Anselme Venceslas Nkondog. It shares good knowledge & is really enlightening. 

 

Conflict of interest statement by Mr. Saiful Islam is also very true.

 

However my organization doesn't have any policy against hiring spouses but they strictly make sure that both of them doesnt share any reporting relationship directly or indirectly. i.e, they can be put in mutually exclusive teams.

 

In my opinion, spouses can be allowed by considering the actual & impartial hiring process followed for all others. It should be neutral.

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