Ask the expert: Keeping it in family needs caution

What, if any, are the rules about employing relatives in the same office? Dr MARIE WILSON, head of management and employment relations at the University of Auckland Business School and a veteran of 20 years in corporate management and small business, offers some helpful ideas.

Q. We have an unwritten policy that relatives are not to be hired within the same office, to avoid any accusations of nepotism. Are we on shaky legal ground with our policy?

A. If you are thinking about making this a formal policy, I would definitely refer this to your company solicitor.

Nepotism policies (on hiring family members) are usually focused on how to manage or avoid problems about reporting relationships, and may involve setting up procedures when someone is the supervisor of a family member to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Within the Human Rights Act 1993, a prohibited grounds for discrimination is marital and family status; this might be what is causing your current sense of potential legal problems.

You may also wish to consult the Human Rights Commission directly or request some of its publications. Generally speaking, disagreements between co-workers are not limited to those with family relationships, and so your focus should probably be on how to manage conflict in the workplace, rather than focusing on family matters.

Q. Several more senior positions are coming up at work. I'd like to apply for them, and have started tidying up my CV.

But the more work I do on it, and the more ways I think about how to present myself as a candidate, the more I seem to start suffering from what I've heard described as "imposter syndrome" - those mixed feelings apparently peculiar to women ranging from confidence that I would be a good candidate to fear that I am overselling myself and have a higher opinion of my skills than is warranted.

A. One way to avoid a feeling of oversell in your CV is to focus on your achievements, and let the facts tell the story rather than hunting for adjectives with which you may then feel uncomfortable.

A second way is to get feedback on your CV and your performance from as many people as possible. Ask them whether you are overselling, or underselling, yourself, and what they think are your top two or three abilities that should be highlighted.

Ask for positive and negative feedback - "what are the things I do best?" and "what are the things that I don't do very well?" so you have a balanced view of yourself through the eyes of others.

A third way is to keep in mind that your next job should be 30 to 40 per cent over your head in relationship to where you are now, or you'll get bored quickly and won't find it a satisfying career move.

To get there, you will have to sell the 60 per cent that you do know very well, so there is less concern about the areas that you'll have to learn.

Q. After an accident which has limited what I can do, I've been offered a job swap with someone in a lower-paid position at work.

The HR department says my salary will be protected at current levels for three years, but could be frozen after that until the rate for the new job catches up with my pay. Is this fair?

A. It sounds both fair and very progressive to me. If you can't do your current job any more, then your options are to find more suitable work in or out of your current company.

Employers should make reasonable accommodation for employees with disabilities. Your current employers must value your contribution if they are willing to help you make this transition and effectively "overpay" you for your initial period in the new position.

And it may be just what you need to rebuild after your accident.

* E-mail your questions for Dr Marie Wilson to answer.