Most people do not know the office manager at my practice is my mother (I guess they do now, HA!).  She has been the office manager since I opened my practice in 2010.  Some clients find out that we are a family business when they are trying to see if I will be the right therapist for them. For example, some clients have asked her, “How long have you known Camille McDaniel?  What do you think of her as a therapist?”.  I try to imagine how that conversation goes because sometimes she responds with, “I’ve known her all of her life, she’s my daughter.  I think she is a good therapist.”  For many of the clients that find out, it seems to create a sense of comfort.  They like knowing that we have a family run practice. 

Now when my colleagues hear that my office manager is my mother, I get a range of responses.  Some think it is great to work with someone you trust and who has your best interest at heart.  While others think it is business suicide.  I have had colleagues say they really wouldn’t try to have family working for them because it might cause too many problems.  

About 80 percent of the world’s businesses are family owned, according to research from the Kennesaw State University Coles College of Business.  I think having your family work for you can be a reward and a challenge.  There definitely has to be some ground rules.  

Let’s take a look at how to hire family while keeping your family relationships and business intact!

• Discuss what the job entails before you ever agree to hire a family member.  This includes the mission of your practice, goals to be achieved by the person that holds the position, and pay.  This would be done for any non-family member wanting a job at your organization and it should apply to family too. 

• Make sure your family member has the skills and desire needed to do the job.  Don’t hire them just because they are family.  You may be setting them up for failure.

• Have a written contract explaining what you both agree to. It will include items mentioned in the first bullet point (mission of your practice, goals to be achieved by the person that holds the position, and pay).  It should also include ways of handling conflict and ways either party may terminate the contract if desired.   

• Discuss roles and power changes in the beginning.  As the director, I am in a role that makes me the lead. Usually, a daughter does not lead her mother, unless the mother is older in years and now needs the daughters help. If, for example, the office manager, aka “my mother”, had trouble coming to work on time I would have to say something about it.  It may be hard at first but you would do it if it wasn’t family, so there should be no difference.  At the counseling practice, sometimes we laugh about our role changes but off the clock we go back to our regularly scheduled program.

• Keep strong boundaries around business and family conversations.  At the practice, we really only talk about family and personal life at lunch or if we both decide to take a break from business.  Otherwise, we converse about business during the work day and talk about personal life when the work day is done.  It’s so easy for business to spill over into family time.  Scheduling regular business meetings really helps to keep work related topics at work. 

Do have experience working with family members? 

How did it go?  Are you thinking about hiring a family member?

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