Is it okay to benefit from nepotism?

[Valmy]

Yeah what if you are their one accountant or lawyer or whatever in their small business?

I'm not sure what you are asking.  If this is a family business, then the owners hiring family isn't nepotism at all, in my book.  It may be that we are just defining the concept differently. 

Ah got it.  It is a certain way of hiring family members that crosses an ethical line.

[Jacob]

Ah got it.  It is a certain way of hiring family members that crosses an ethical line.

I don't know where I'd draw the line, but it's there.

I am pleased that our various ex-military members are very down on nepotism. In places like the military and other forms of public service bureaucracies that's exactly as it should be. Letting personal connections and family have an influence there would be corrosive.

On the other hand, giving your cousin or son a job in your own small business seems perfectly reasonable to me as well, even if it can be construed as a kind of nepotism from a certain angle.

Somewhere in between those two extremes there's a line, but like I said I'm not completely sure where to draw it.

[dps]

Ah got it.  It is a certain way of hiring family members that crosses an ethical line.

I don't know where I'd draw the line, but it's there.

I am pleased that our various ex-military members are very down on nepotism. In places like the military and other forms of public service bureaucracies that's exactly as it should be. Letting personal connections and family have an influence there would be corrosive.

On the other hand, giving your cousin or son a job in your own small business seems perfectly reasonable to me as well, even if it can be construed as a kind of nepotism from a certain angle.

Somewhere in between those two extremes there's a line, but like I said I'm not completely sure where to draw it.

IMO, the line is between private enterprise and public service.  In a private business, no matter how large, if the people in charge want to hire their kinfolk, it's not really anybody else's business.

[grumbler]

Ah got it.  It is a certain way of hiring family members that crosses an ethical line.

Nepotism, to my mind, is hiring or promoting someone who would not otherwise be hired or promoted, purely because they belong to some non-job-relevant group like ones family, tribe, clan, fraternity, etc.  Even if one "benefits" from such a hire or promotion, one shouldn't generally take advantage of it in a field where one's reputation is important (even if one thinks of one's cow-workers as just things to be stepped on while climbing the ladder), because once you have established yourself as someone who is "only promoted because his mom slept with the boss," that reputation tends to stick.

If one is otherwise qualified for the job/promotion and just gets it because the hirer knows and is comfortable with one, that isn't nepotism, by my lights; that's just human nature.

[Jacob]

IMO, the line is between private enterprise and public service.  In a private business, no matter how large, if the people in charge want to hire their kinfolk, it's not really anybody else's business.

There's an in between, though - what about a large business, privately owned (possibly publicly traded), but the people helping out "their people" are management but not owners?

[crazy canuck]

If the organization is already nepotistic then don't be a martyr.  If it isn't and this is the exception then following Grumbler's advice may be appropriate with the exception that if it the only gig you have then take it while looking for something better.