Is hiring your fiance as a receptionist in a cold start a smart move?

[spectacles_tx123]

The fiance is a nursing undergrad student and no prior experience working as a receptionist. When starting cold what are the guidelines in choosing the right staff? Any responses and opinions will be appreciated. Thank you!

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[optsuker]

The fiance is a nursing undergrad student and no prior experience working as a receptionist. When starting cold what are the guidelines in choosing the right staff? Any responses and opinions will be appreciated. Thank you!

If she's a nursing student, it's most likely a temporary gig, so shouldn't be a big deal.

1. Set up some ground rules about how you interact at the office.
2. Can't favor her over your other staff (even the appearance will cause an uprising)
3. Hope you have a strong relationship because a break-up could be costly at the office (unemployment, lawsuit possibility, having to rehire).
4. You'll both want off at the same time, so have a gameplan for how to handle it.

 

[spectacles_tx123]

If she's a nursing student, it's most likely a temporary gig, so shouldn't be a big deal.

1. Set up some ground rules about how you interact at the office.
2. Can't favor her over your other staff (even the appearance will cause an uprising)
3. Hope you have a strong relationship because a break-up could be costly at the office (unemployment, lawsuit possibility, having to rehire).
4. You'll both want off at the same time, so have a gameplan for how to handle it.

Thank you for your response! Those are very good points. But I think what I am trying to get at is that when starting cold you are basically starting from scratch and still trying to earn patients' trust therefore hiring the best (experienced) front liner worker is a must or it doesn't matter at all? Does an undergrad student have the capability to handle a cold start-up business and eventually contribute to its growth? Does hiring your 21 year old fiance for the sake of wanting to be together as much as possible have no negative effects on the cold start-up business? Does putting your personal relationship over your professional goal won't have any negative consequences? I hope you can give me your insight on these, thank you!

 

[optsuker]

Thank you for your response! Those are very good points. But I think what I am trying to get at is that when starting cold you are basically starting from scratch and still trying to earn patients' trust therefore hiring the best (experienced) front liner worker is a must or it doesn't matter at all? Does an undergrad student have the capability to handle a cold start-up business and eventually contribute to its growth? Does hiring your 21 year old fiance for the sake of wanting to be together as much as possible have no negative effects on the cold start-up business? Does putting your personal relationship over your professional goal won't have any negative consequences? I hope you can give me your insight on these, thank you!

IMO, spending that much time together, especially under the pressure of a cold start, is not healthy for a relationship.
The downside is much bigger than the upside.
Just being in authority over your GF is going to be weird. A little easier if its a spouse.

MY wife has been an employee of my practice since day 1, working as needed and just enough that I can double-fund our 401k.

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

My wife helped me in the summer of 2008 when she was pregnant with our first child. She usually helped 3 to 4 days a week that summer and it was a great experience. Long term I don't think I would want my wife working for me all the time, and I love her just as much now as I did then. In the office you are the boss and it can divide some couples. My wife still fills in some days but mostly for new CL fits or in the extremely busy month of March (always my busiest).