Family Run Businesses 

 

As Christmas is a time for family, we have been considering the great number of family businesses in the UK.

Family businesses make up around two thirds of UK SMEs and provide more than 9 million jobs.

We were interested in the reasons why business owners did or didn’t employ family members, so we ran a survey.

When we asked why businesses took on family members, aside from some more comical responses such as ‘nepotism’ and ‘[they] wouldn’t take liberties’, we received some promising comments ranging from ‘ease of communication’ to ‘implicit trust, efficient communication’.

It wasn’t surprising that trust was given the utmost importance within a family run business. Does this mean that we more likely to trust family members in the business than external employees?

We also wondered whether family businesses found it harder to separate work and family life. Some respondents said it wasn’t too difficult, although we enjoyed reading ‘the challenge is maintaining the desire to see them out of work!’

Is this always the case though? Unfortunately, probably not. Family rifts were cited as one of the biggest challenges in family run businesses.

Respondents said it was sometimes difficult for family members who weren’t involved in the business when work was discussed at home.

Family run businesses have their advantages but also come with their disadvantages. What happens if a family business employee’s performance slips? If the business is run by a married couple, what happens if the partners divorce?

It was really interesting running the survey and thank you to those who took part.

For more information on the HR Dept., please visit their website via the link below.