The Survival Guide to Hiring Friends

 As an entrepreneur or small business leader, you are likely to find yourself in the position where you need to contemplate hiring a friend. It’s understandable really; they are a known quantity, you know their skills and competencies, you like them, they are available and you don’t have to spend valuable time and resources searching for a new hire in a very tight candidate market. So, what’s the issue? Full steam ahead? Well, there are inherent risks with hiring a friend (as with all hiring) in that the relationship may breakdown and you end up losing both a friend and an employee.

But, those risks can be mitigated to some degree by taking several actions and preparatory steps that I have shown below.

1. Check that they are competent

It’s easy to put the blinkers on when you hire a friend and gloss over any potential weaknesses he or she may have, because it’s too awkward to broach the subject.  But, don’t neglect doing a proper skills assessment. It’s better to discover these shortcomings before you hire rather than three weeks down the road once you have started paying them. Ask for work samples, a trial and even have an independent person assess or bring a trusted third party into the discussions who can give you a second opinion.

2. Can you work with them?

Being able to socialize with your friends is very different from working with a person five days a week, in a potentially pressurized situation, where the balance of power will shift as you move from being equals to you being their boss. Are you really sure that you and your friends can work together and collaborate together effectively? Will you be comfortable giving instructions to your friend and giving them negative feedback? Will they be comfortable taking instructions from you and receiving negative feedback? How does your friend handle conflict? How does your friend deal with authority? These are all clues as to how they might deal with you in a working situation. Ultimately, the questions are: Can you work with them? Will this risk your personal relationship and does that matter to you?

3. Have a contract

Make sure there is a written contractual agreement, ideally witnessed by a third party, and this will clarify the terms of your engagement and minimize any future misunderstandings. Make sure the contract specifies the terms of your engagement and separation so you have a clear exit strategy if things go wrong.

4. Have a job description

By all means discuss what is required informally over a coffee or a glass of Chianti, but make sure you formally document what was agreed, setting out the duties and responsibilities in writing to your friend so he or she knows what is expected. Confusion and uncertainty could lead to conflict.

5. Consider a freelance arrangement

Ideally, try and engage with your friend in a freelance capacity rather than an employment relationship. Why? A freelance relationship is a business-to-business relationship, which in my experience, follows much more of a balanced negotiation format between two equals—one that may be akin to your actual personal relationship. Whereas an employment relationship creates a power imbalance of boss to worker, which is in conflict with your natural relationship with each other.

6. Have an exit strategy

Typically having a freelance contract means that both parties can part ways with notice and without going through any complicated procedures; so, in many ways that is the perfect exit strategy.

An employment contract means there may be some red tape required; so, why not (at the least) use rolling 3/6 month temporary employment contracts (for as long as is possible)? This means there is effectively a sunset clause in the agreement, which means that should things go wrong, you can simply wait out the contract and quietly bow out of the agreement without having to fire anybody.