Is Your Business Too Family Friendly?

The neighborhood mom and pop shop is an American tradition. But what happens when mom and pop expand beyond their original storefront, and employ others, in addition to family members?

This scenario is common across the United States. Small businesses, in retail and other industries, which start out as family-owned and operated, often grow to include employees who aren’t related.

It’s All Relative

While many of the nation’s approximately 28.8 million small businesses successfully manage this aspect of growth, others struggle with real or perceived differences between family members and other employees. This can prove a hindrance when trying to recruit and retain workers.
The good news is that if you’re cognizant of how the family dynamic impacts your business – and you make adjustments where necessary – the issue isn’t insurmountable.

Best Practices

As with other aspects of your business, you’ll want to establish guidelines related to employment matters.
Make sure every position has a definitive set of tasks and responsibilities. Ideally, every position should have a formal, written job description. A job description lets the employee (family member or otherwise) know what the job entails, and helps alleviate any confusion about expectations. The document also serves as a tool that helps you manage the business from the standpoint of workflow, salary ranges, and more.
Establish a salary structure that treats family members and other employees equally. Speaking of salary ranges, you’ll want to avoid any discrepancies between what you pay family members and what you pay other employees. For example, if you hire your niece for the summer while she’s on break from college, her salary should be in line with other employees doing the same or similar jobs.
Offer the same benefits and perquisites to employees and family members. Benefits should pertain to all employees, equally. This goes for vacation time, paid or otherwise; remote working opportunities (presuming the job allows for it); and training that leads to career advancement.
Extend the same courtesies to employees as you do to family members. Employees often notice the little things, and ironically these are the same things management tends to overlook. If a family member always leaves early on Friday while others work a full day, you’re likely to have a morale problem on your hands unless you address the situation.

Policies and Procedures

These are only a few basics.
In addition, you may want to consider creating written policies and procedures for everything from hiring and firing to performance management and salary increases. This documentation will give you standards to follow—and point to, should a problem arise. There are companies that specialize in creating small business policy manuals, with attention to federal and state laws.
If your company employs a combination of family members and other workers, documentation, with attention to both employee groups, is definitely worth exploring.
While it may seem like common sense, it appears that this important aspect of managing a small business is frequently overlooked. A 2016 survey, conducted by the Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA), finds that only 39 percent of small businesses in Connecticut have written workplace policies that apply to family members in the business; the rest do not.