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.
It’s not nepotism unless you pass over a chance for a good employee to advance, because you promote family.
Overall hiring family and friends has its negatives - you can’t really seperate work from personal life. As a business owner, you may need to have “a tough talk” with the employee, or even fire them. Doing that to a family member brings up emotional baggage and can result in broken connections. Overall it’s rarely worth the trouble, maybe a part time position that’s not critical would be.
The advantages to hiring family members would be trust - if you work out of your home, with family you know who you are dealing with. With a rando off the street, who knows if your console goes missing, or an expensive machine gets stolen.