There’s a shocking amount of small companies where a sizable proportion of the workers are family of the owner. The most perplexing example was a tax consultant whose 4 employees were his wife, his daughter, his son-in-law and his sister.
I’ve often looked down upon this and have been quick to label it as nepotism, but if I was in a position to hire someone, wouldn’t I prioritize someone I care about who was suffering to find acceptable working conditions in the labor market? Then again, this attitude generates a self-perpetuating problem where people can’t access to job openings through their own merits and meritocracy, because the family members of the company owner can’t find a job through their own merits and meritocracy.
Nepotism is nepotism, regardless of the scenario or spin. It can be done well and it can be done poorly. Nepotism isn’t illegal so it doesn’t matter what anyone thinks on the subject.
The last company I worked for did it all the time and my current employer has rules strictly forbidding it.