SITUATION 3: Family Business

Jane had just been hired as the head of the payroll department at R&S Electronic Service
Company, a firm of 75 employees. She had been hired by Eddie, the general manager, who
had informed her of the need for maintaining strict confidentiality regarding employee
salaries and pay scales. He had also told her that he had fired the previous payroll
department head for breaking that confidentiality by discussing employee salaries. She had
also been formally introduced to Brad, the owner, who had 4 told her to see him if she had
any questions or problems. Both Brad and Eddie had made her feel welcome. After three
months of employment, Jane began to wonder why Greg, a service technician and Eddie’s
brother, made so much more in commissions than the other service technicians. She
assumed that he must be highly qualified and must work rapidly because she had overheard
Brad commending Greg on his performance on several occasions. She had also noticed
Brad, Eddie, and Greg having lunch together frequently. One day, Eddie gave Jane the
stack of work tickets for the service technicians for the upcoming week. The technicians
were to take whatever ticket was on top when they finished the job they were working on.
After putting the tickets where they belonged, Jane remembered that she had a doctor’s
appointment the next morning and returned to Eddie’s office to tell him she would be
reporting late for work. When she entered Eddie’s office, she saw Eddie give Greg a
separate stack of work tickets. As she stood there, Eddie told her that if she mentioned this
to anyone, he would fire her. Jane was upset, because she understood that Eddie was
giving the easier, high-commission work to his brother. Jane also realized that Eddie had the
authority to hire and fire her. Because she had been at the company for only a short time,
she was still on probation. This was her first job since college. She wondered what she
should do.

3. Solutions / Recommendations

Three (3) solutions / recommendations that Jane could adopt in dealing this matter.

In this case, we obviously know that there is a favouritism or in another form of favouritism
we can called this as nepotism where between the company’s General Manager (Eddie) with
the service technician (Greg) because of they are sibling. Actually, favouritism is described
as when a manager or supervisor offers one employee more opportunities or benefits than
others for reasons other than ability and efficiency. Since it is common to choose one person
over another, the employer's acts are often unintended and the favouritism occurs
subconsciously. Such like how Eddie was giving the easier, high-commission work to his
brother than the other service technicians and give Greg a separate stack of work tickets.
However, Jane knew about these things happened so long between them but still she can’t
take any action because of she is new to this work. So, in our opinion as a head of the
payroll department, Jane should do something to stop this thing from continuing more.

1. Encourage professionalism

Favouritism is unprofessional behaviour at its core. One of the first things that Jane can take
to avoid or to stop it is to promote and encourage professionalism in R&S Electronic Service
Company. Create a professional environment that actively discourages any kind of unfair
treatment helps Jane to protect her company from potential nepotism as especially between
Eddie and Greg.

2. Set up a conversation with her boss