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Hello everyone,
I am a recent graduate (July) and have started work in my family's business. I am curious as to the advantages and disadvantages of such an experience (family businesses in general); any tips and information is highly appreciated!
The only advantage I see in working for a family owned business is they don't have the ridged business structure you would find in a corporate environment. This allows flexibility in scheduling. If you want a day off, you can probably have it although it may not be paid.
The disadvantages are numerous. You probably will not be paid very well compared to similar jobs, you will not have near as many paid days off, lousy health benefits if they are offered at all, no short term or long term disability, no 401k and probably no room for advancement. Even if you think you're his right hand man, what do you think is going to happen when his son/daughter or other family member needs a job? Who do you think is going to get it? This is not even taking into account job security. Most family owned businesses are just a lawsuit away from going out of business.
I've worked for a family owned business before and I've know others that have too so I know what it can be like. I've never had it happen to me but I've known people who have had their checks bounce. I don't know about you but when I get a check, I'd like to think it is going to be good. With a family owned business, you never know.
Having said that, I will say in this economy you got to take what you can get. However, working for a family owned business is never something I would think you can make a career out of. It's more of a stepping stone for when times are better.
I just re-read your post. I see it is you working for your family business. You will probably be alright. Blood is thicker than water. My other post was referring to others that might work for somebody else's family business.
The number one advantage would be you work with family and are helping the success of your family members including yourself instead of filling others pockets.
The number one disadvantage is you will be working with family, some times you just need a bit of space. If you ever decide to work for an alternate employer, it might look odd that you have only worked for a family business. They will question how you got the job, and whether any reference from them is accurate, or if the family business is just in a downturn, if it became successful again, would you leave them?
I have worked for my father for 7 years, and I learned from experience that family and business don't mix. I don't get paid as much as I deserve. I think that my father doesn't pay me as much as he should because I am family and he assumes that I should stay here because of him. I know one employee here who is not related to him, and her paycheck bounced twice. My father also refuses to pay overtime and is behind in paying health insurance. Don't work in a family business.
I worked for my old man and i can tell you from experience. You'll get treated like a slave, worse than any "regular" employees. Expect to work bad hours and do jobs nobody else wants to do and to be paid less than everyone else there because your family and they don't have to pay you as well as well as the others. You may get decent health care benefits out of family if you're lucky but I would only do it as a last resort. You and those family members you work for will be at each others throats in no time and it will be ugly.
I am not the only one who has been down this road. My buddys dad owned a truck dealership (tractor trailers) and they fought like cats and dogs. My buddy used to go beg the old man to give the mechanics a raise because they deserved it and when he did, the old man cut his pay to give them the raises. The dude was a millionaire and it wasn't like he couldn't afford it. The final straw was when the father brought Freightliner trucks in to sell and Freightliner told him the only way they would do the deal was if the son handled their account. The son declined the extra responsibility and quit and the old man lost the account. The son went to work for a competitor for a couple more dollars an hour and was much happier. The old man eventually went under without his son to run the place.
You won't be laid off, fired, downsized, rightsized, reorganized, or outsourced.
Sounds great to me. And they will pay you fairly because, after all, you are family.
Unless they're like my in-laws. Once they got a taste of 'the good life', they got really, really greedy and ended up screwing their oldest son. When we finally got fed up, we found out that our 'non compete' clause was non-binding and struck out on our own.
Their business went under less than 3 months later. Turns out their oldest son wasn't the only one they were trying to screw.
We may have lost the 'family' connection, but at least we can feed our children now and we get paid after we complete work (not given the run around for 4-8 weeks, then paid half). No one is siphoning off funds to pad a trip to Hawaii or cruises and wine tasting tours. And everytime my dh makes a new sale, there's no one standing behind him explaining how he 'owes it all' to his father, and therefore should be happy to do without the commission paid to the other employees. We put up with that for 2 1/2 years - believing and trusting that we were helping to 'build up a family legacy'. Then one day, we opened our eyes, started asking questions and as the saying goes, "and the walls came a tumbling down".
My daughter runs her grandparents' established business (health food and supplement stores), as they are now in their 80's. She started by helping them out when she was a teenager. She's made lots of improvements over the years, and someday, it will be all hers. My husband and I help out, too - he does the bookkeeping and I stock.
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