Your cousin George needs a job, and you have an opening. Can this situation end happily?

Maybe. It depends on how you and George handle the process and the agreements you reach. In an interview with several experts, including the author of the book  “When Your Parents Sign the Paychecks,” the  New York Times took a look at three major hiring problems and how to overcome them.

• Hiring strangers usually involves issues of competence; hiring relatives usually involves issues of loyalty. That is, you tend to judge strangers strictly on how well they produce, and they know it. Relatives tend to think their first order of business is to be loyal — “I’ll stick with you even when things are bad.” That makes it all the more important that relatives understand their standards of performance, on top of loyalty.
• The career path for relatives sometimes gets overlooked. You hired George to fill a spot, and you’re sure that good ol’ George will stick around. Consider that George needs incentives and goals to get ahead, just like anyone else in your organization. It’s not as if you have to guarantee him a clear path to the top, but there should be a path to somewhere.
• It may not be fair, but you’ll have to hold the family member to a higher standard. The reason: Whether or not it’s true, some other employees may perceive that the family member got, and is getting, special treatment and privileges. That’s a dangerous situation. And because of it, you’ll have to make it clear to the family member that the standards are higher than for others, and why. If you can’t reach an agreement about that, you may want to avoid the hire altogether.