During my almost 20 years of working from home, I’ve never hired friends to work for me. Although now I consider the freelancers I’ve worked with throughout the years including a graphic artist, an editor, web designer and CPA, friends.
Unlike Duff Goldman and the Charm City Cakes team of friends I described in another post, not every business works when you hire friends. Before you hire a friend to join your business team, consider these comments from business owners who no longer hire friends.
When I started my home-based business, I hired friends to help me. Doing this was a huge mistake. You do not get the quality of work or respect from friends that you do from hiring previously unknown employees or contractors to work for you. It is very difficult to work with a friend when there is now a boss/employee relationship. I had to fire my friends who worked with me due to poor performance. This of course led to me losing my friendship with those people.
—Peter Geisheker, CEO, The Geisheker Group Marketing Firm
I have learned that friendship has little to do with whether someone is a good employee. Regardless of being friends, someone either has what it takes to be successful in their role or not. I have been sued by a friend that worked with me and I have established a long-term, trusting work partnership with another. I have hired one friend into a role where they were highly successful and another into the same role that failed. Being friends had little to do with their success or failure.
—Randy Mitchelson, Owner, National Web Leads, LLC
Several of my friends are in the PR business, as am I. Having seen some of their work and work habits, I would not hire my friends. In one case, the writing skills are less than optimal. In another, the attention to detail is so meticulous, deadlines may be missed.
—Reese A. Nank, APR, Reputations PR and Marketing
The decision of whether or not to hire friends may boil down to a choice between your business and your friendship. Would you hire a friend to work for you?
