Working with the family...

“We must take care of our families wherever we find them.” said Elizabeth Gilbert once. Now, what if our family worked at the same place we do? Would that be normal or difficult? The way I see it, it would depend on how we managed the situation, then, we might get good or bad results just like the ones I am about to list.

First, by having a family member working with us would make sharing time with them easier since we would be seeing them almost the whole day. For example; my parents work at the same school and they spend time together at breakfast and lunch which is very important when it comes to improving our relationship and communication with someone.

Second, we would have someone to rely on if anything bad happened, who better than a relative to take care of us? My aunt and dad used to work together in a store and there was one time when my aunt did not feel very well and fainted, my father did everything he could, he took her to the hospital and stayed with her until she got better. I am pretty sure a normal co-worker would not go that far, but family would.

However, we have to be aware that having a relative working with us has disadvantages as well. One of them is that the work-related issues between them might affect the relationship or vice versa. Let’s think about it, if they have a work-related argument they will probably be in a bad mood at home and if they have their own family issues, it might affect their performance at their jobs.

Another inconvenience is the well-known favoritism. I had a friend whose boss was his own uncle. When my friend got a salary raise everyone at the office thought it was just because he was the boss’ nephew. Even if that was not the reason, he still felt uncomfortable and did not want to be discriminated by anyone.

To conclude, working with a family member is not good neither bad, it depends on how we see the situation and handle it. It might be the best or the worst that we might experience, it is up to us! But something that we have to keep in mind is that whether a relative is working with us or not we have to take care of them, we should not forget what Elizabeth Gilbert said that easily