STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

halleybird · Hermes

Working with family

HeatherLynn · Gucci

First off, congrats on a good opportunity. Secondly, working with family can be very difficult! I would just treat it as any other job and pretend you are not working for your dad, but a true boss. I would leave work and work and home life at home life. Maybe talking over some ground rules and getting his expectations up front will prevent any future issues. Good uck!

-- Edited by HeatherLynn at 19:51, 2007-06-12

jah · Dooney & Bourke

I agree with Heather Lynn's assessment. My dad owns a company and I worked for him a few summers and frankly, it was hell... he was the worst/toughest boss I ever had. That being said, I think because his company has a good number of employees, he wanted to make sure there was absolutely no preferential treatment and he ended up being harder on me.

If you just treat each other with the same respect you would any other employer/employee, I think you will be fine.

In terms of time off, remember to ask for it and schedule it as you would at your school... that is my other two cents...

Kelly · Hermes

I work for the family business. About half of the employees are aunts/uncles/cousins and basically everyone I work with (and definitely all of my bosses) are my aunt, uncle, and dad.

Sometimes it gets hard, I mean, if I have a fight with one of them at home it is really hard to put that aside. Even when I try to remain professional, I get irritated a lot faster at work if there's a problem at home, too. The fact that you can work from home will be good - it doesn't sound like you'll be working really closely with him all day long and that will definitely make it easier. There's a couple and their son who also work for our family business, but they all work in the same area (and actually like within 10 feet of each other) all day. They all three get in HUGE screaming matches and it is absolutely horrible. I have NO IDEA why one of them hasn't been fired yet, and whenever I ask my dad he kind of just shakes his head and mutters something, so I guess there's some reason he doesn't care to share with me. But I guess I'm saying that within my family it works because I just check in with my family members/superiors a couple times a day or a week instead of trying to cooperate with them all day long, so it's much easier to remain professional simply because there isn't a lot of opportunity for a blow-up. I think professionalism generally breeds from unfamiliarity, which you obviously don't have, and it's hard to pretend you're unfamiliar with your own family members.

You have to be prepared for the fact that it might not work out. I don't want to scared you - I've been working at the business since I was 12 and have been full-time every summer since turning 12. Obviously it can work out. But I have discovered that while I'm good at haivng a working relationship with everyone else in my family, my brother and I absolutely cannot work on projects together. I love him to death and in all personal matters we are SO good at overcoming arguments and swallowing pride. Our relationship is better than any other in my life in that respect, that we work so hard to have a respectful and working relationship and settle all fights quickly and amicably. But for some reason, the moment we walk into the office we could just fight all day. After just a few of our big fights we knew it wasn't going to happen and now try to avoid each other at work.

halleybird · Hermes

thank you for the advice, you guys! It's very helpful, and I hadn't even considered some of these things. This should be a fairly temporary gig (1-2 years max), until I can finish grad school and get more editing experience.

Funny story about today: So I filled out all the employment paperwork yesterday and e-mailed it to him. I asked him if he wanted me to come in today, or whether he had any projects for me. He said, "I'll let you know."

I checked my e-mail several times today, and nothing. So I figure he's probably still processing my paperwork. I called him at 5 about something else. He says, "Oh, just letting me know you're done for the day, huh?"
Me: "I am sorry; I didn't hear from you today, so I figured you were waiting to finish my paperwork first."
Him: "You should have checked your e-mail. I sent you an assignment this morning."
Me: "I didn't get it. Really, I checked my e-mail all day."
Him: "Hmm. I am going to have to dock your pay for today."
Me: "OK, I understand. But if you send me an e-mail and I don't respond, call me or send me another one, because I always check my mail."
Him: "I guess I will just re-send you the assignment. You can do it tomorrow."

Five minutes later, he forwards me the e-mail from earlier. (Which I never got.) It's titled "your assignment" and it reads: "Let's go shopping for Black Berrys!" LOL.

Suasoria · Chanel

Funny!

If you already have a decent father/daughter relationship, then there's probably no reason to sweat it. If there's quirks between you, or your relationship isn't great, then those issues can be magnified on the job. But it sounds like you needn't have any fears on this score.

Ttara, this is I guess contrary to your comments about your bro - maybe you guys are so similar, you clash? That's sort of how my brother and I are, though we don't work together. We love each other deeply, we think of ourselves as "war buddies" based on our upbringing, but we're so much alike that we drive each other nuts!