How to fight nepotism?

[Jacob]

Before his awesome analogy.

Your analogy was awesome.

[Admiral Yi]

[DGuller]

Yi must feel like that guy at the end of It's a Wonderful Life, when the whole town offers charitable donations to him.

[Jacob]

As to the subject at hand:

Public sector and political nepotism is generally pretty bad and should be avoided as much as possible. If it can't be avoided due to the political process, nepotism appointments should be limited as much as possible to harmless ceremonial positions (like the Canadian Senate) rather than to positions of real responsibility (like being the head of disaster relief or regulatory agencies or whatever). Technocrats should be subject to review by politicians and the public will, but let them do their technocratic duties in peace.

In private companies... well, I've worked in companies where nepotism and cliques carried the day and it sucked. I don't think it's a particularly efficient way to do business. But I don't see why it should be the business of any kind of law unless it gets to the point where it significantly hinders social mobility. Has it gotten to that point?

[Jacob]

I liked your analogy. It was a perfectly fine analogy, made awesome by the fact that involved getting into chicks pants.

[Admiral Yi]

I liked your analogy. It was a perfectly fine analogy, made awesome by the fact that involved getting into chicks pants.

Tears of joy. 

[CountDeMoney]

made awesome by the fact that involved getting into chicks pants.

Getting into chicks pant by federal law, no less. HAWT

[Sheilbh]

Fair enough.

Now show us why private sector nepotism is anywhere near as bad as any of the problems you have mentioned.

As I say, if it becomes so systemic as to undermine social mobility.  Then it becomes a public problem.

[Zanza]

I am working for a huge multinational company and nepotism happens. The company is so big that individual cases of nepotism don't matter as virtually no employee is important enough to singlehandedly change the fortune of the company. Despite it being a privately-owned company, I consider that a problem for two reasons:

1) The actual owners of the company, the shareholders, have zero influence on these decisions so even if they harm their interests, they have no way to realistically stop it. The shareholders elect the supervisory board and thus have indirect influence on the CEO and other corporate officers. But the management level below that is beyond their reach.
2) It is not good for employee satisfaction if promotions are based on nepotism and that harms the company as a whole.

[garbon]

I am working for a huge multinational company and nepotism happens. The company is so big that individual cases of nepotism don't matter as virtually no employee is important enough to singlehandedly change the fortune of the company. Despite it being a privately-owned company, I consider that a problem for two reasons:

1) The actual owners of the company, the shareholders, have zero influence on these decisions so even if they harm their interests, they have no way to realistically stop it. The shareholders elect the supervisory board and thus have indirect influence on the CEO and other corporate officers. But the management level below that is beyond their reach.
2) It is not good for employee satisfaction if promotions are based on nepotism and that harms the company as a whole.

That's a far cry from making it illegal though.

[Zanza]

In private companies... well, I've worked in companies where nepotism and cliques carried the day and it sucked. I don't think it's a particularly efficient way to do business. But I don't see why it should be the business of any kind of law unless it gets to the point where it significantly hinders social mobility. Has it gotten to that point?

I think it should not be regulated by law. However, it could be part of the private regulations a corporation gives itself (not sure how these are called in English? Articles of association? Operating Agreement?) as it is in the interests of the shareholders.

[Zanza]

That's a far cry from making it illegal though.

Yes. See my answer to Jacob which I wrote before I saw your post.

[crazy canuck]

In private companies... well, I've worked in companies where nepotism and cliques carried the day and it sucked. I don't think it's a particularly efficient way to do business. But I don't see why it should be the business of any kind of law unless it gets to the point where it significantly hinders social mobility. Has it gotten to that point?

I think it should not be regulated by law. However, it could be part of the private regulations a corporation gives itself (not sure how these are called in English? Articles of association? Operating Agreement?) as it is in the interests of the shareholders.

It is definitely a part of the wider problem of corporate governance.

But in this jurisdiction and IIRC others as well there are regulations against nepotism.  They are contained within Human Rights Codes which prohibit discrimination on the basis of family status.  If someone does not get a job/promotion because of nepotism a complaint of discrimination is a viable option.  Of course the defence will always be the other person was the better candidate but it at least provides a remedy where there is proof to the contrary.

[Barrister]

But in this jurisdiction and IIRC others as well there are regulations against nepotism.  They are contained within Human Rights Codes which prohibit discrimination on the basis of family status.  If someone does not get a job/promotion because of nepotism a complaint of discrimination is a viable option.  Of course the defence will always be the other person was the better candidate but it at least provides a remedy where there is proof to the contrary.

There's probably one hundred ways you can game the system.

Government jobs are all supposed to be open competitions - you can not create a position with one specific person in mind (no matter how well qualified that person may be).  But when you see a job posting that has some weird super-specific requirements and an absurdly short closing date...

[Zanza]

But in this jurisdiction and IIRC others as well there are regulations against nepotism.  They are contained within Human Rights Codes which prohibit discrimination on the basis of family status.  If someone does not get a job/promotion because of nepotism a complaint of discrimination is a viable option.  Of course the defence will always be the other person was the better candidate but it at least provides a remedy where there is proof to the contrary.

Okay. As far as I can tell the relevant EU directive on job discrimination does not prohibit discrimination based on family status. Only disability, gender, sexual orientation, religion and age are excluded. However it does stipulate that the burden of proof is with the party sued for discrimination.