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Balancing Conflicts of Interest when Employing Spouses

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Abstract

Employees can be put in situations where they are required to make decisions on behalf of the organization as part of their job duties. In these situations, organizations desire that employees make these decisions in the organization’s best interest. In an attempt to ensure that decisions are made in the best interest of the organization, some organizations implement anti-nepotism policies and no spouse rules. While the intent is to minimize conflicts of interest among employees, these policies exact costs to organizations. The present paper examines the costs and benefits of these types of policies, as well as the effects of family-friendly benefits, on organizations. The examination is further laid out in terms of four examples of how these policies and rules can be reframed into conflict of interest policies, allowing organizations to fully experience the benefits of increasing the size of the labor pool by being able to consider spouses and family members as potential applicants, while minimizing conflicts of interest. Finally, recommendations concerning the use of focused conflict of interest policies are made.

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Notes

  1. See employment characteristics of families in 2004, found at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/famee.pdf.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MQM Department, Illinois State University, Campus Box 5580, Normal, IL, 61790-5580, USA

    Jack L. Howard

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  1. Jack L. Howard
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Correspondence to Jack L. Howard.

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Howard, J.L. Balancing Conflicts of Interest when Employing Spouses. Employ Respons Rights J 20, 29–43 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10672-007-9058-7

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