China Companies Crack Down on Nepotism

Several subsidiaries of China’s State Tobacco Monopoly Administration (STMA) have stated that close relatives of employees in leadership positions should not be hired in order to prevent nepotism and ensure fairness, reports China Daily.

A notice from the Shandong Tobacco Monopoly Administration stated that new college graduates who are spouses or immediate family members of company leaders should not be employed. It also stated that relatives within three generations and those related by marriage should not be hired.

Tobacco monopoly administrations in Shanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, Henan and Yunnan released similar notices this year.

As China’s economic recovery loses momentum, more graduates are opting for stable jobs at state-owned enterprises, making competition for such positions more intense. Online citizens said that preventing close relatives of workers at these enterprises from being hired would create a more fair employment environment, and they called for more transparent hiring practices.

The STMA implemented restrictions on nepotism in job hiring in 2020 while the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued requirements in 2019 to prevent nepotism in government institutions.

There have been frequent reports of nepotism in state-owned enterprises in the finance, telecommunications, electric power and tobacco sectors, according to a 2020 Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision release.