If you are an H-2A or H-2B employer who prefers to hire the same workers season after season, you may have encountered the following situation: your current or former employees will request that you hire some of their family members or friends for the next season or contract.
Brothers, sisters, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, cousins, friends, elementary school pals...you name it.
Your bottom line is simple: get the job done while hiring the best people.
Nonetheless, bringing family members does not always work out well: they turn out to be inexperienced, they feel "secure" because a long-term employee vouched for them, and so on.
The end result? You stop bringing back some of them, and you'll get complaints (some employers said they felt more like demands) from your good performing team members about why "you didn't help their family member," and they'll tell you stories about how good said family member is, how much they need the job, and how whatever mistake they made before "won't happen again."
So, what are you going to do? Should you give in to their demands or stand firm? Some employers prefer to hire family members, while others do not.
It is true that having family members on a team fosters positive camaraderie, builds trust, and makes employees feel as if "they owe you." You might end up with a long-term, very loyal, and high-performing employee; someone who is invested in your company.
On the other hand, I've seen cases where the new recommended workers simply slack off, putting the burden on the rest of the team to finish the work. Others simply took advantage of the opportunity to visit the United States and "see what it's like." Furthermore, other employees may perceive it as favoritism, resulting in lower morale.
Now what? It's difficult to answer because every firm has their own policies, internal rules that permit (or do not allow) the hiring of extended relatives, etc.
How can we assist? You'll be "out of it" if you let us handle the hiring: Only YOU will decide who to hire with our assistance because we will work closely with you on this. Additionally, you can always let them know that you and us collaborated on the hiring choice and encourage them to get in touch with us.
Therefore, whatever complaints or demands you receive from them regarding the employment or non-hiring of someone will be directed at us, leaving you blameless and giving you peace of mind that someone else is taking care of this for you.
Let us assist you! Let us take care of this for you! Pay attention to your company, not the drama or complaints of the staff!