Family-owned businesses not necessarily family-friendly

A family-owned business might seem to be the best workplace for employees who care about
balancing work and family life, but it isn’t necessarily so, says Dan Moshavi, assistant professor
of management at Montana State University.

By Evelyn Boswell MSU Research Office

Moshavi studied the policies of 138 small businesses in Montana, Wyoming, Idaho,
Washington and Oregon and found that family-owned businesses tended to be less supportive
of work/family conflict than other businesses were.

One explanation is that work/family tension may influence the way family business owners view
similar conflicts facing non-family employees. Because family business owners are used to
making family sacrifices for the good of the business, they may expect the same of their
employees, Moshavi said. Another possibility is that family businesses tend to be less formal
than other businesses, and owners don’t see the need to create official policies.

"It’s an interesting issue to me," Moshavi commented. "Family firms are often held up as being
very value-driven and employee-centered, but they seem to have fewer family-friendly policies
than non-family-owned firms."

If small businesses knew the value of family-friendly policies, perhaps they would do more to
implement them, Moshavi added. Practices that address work/family conflicts go a long way to
relieving employee stress, without costing a lot of money, he said. They also benefit the
company by reducing absenteeism, improving morale and increasing employee retention.
Family-friendly policies may deal with child-care and elder-care issues. They can refer to
flexible hours, tele-commuting and a variety of other practices that help employees handle the
demands of life.

ILX Lightwave Corp. of Bozeman, for example, abandoned its traditional vacation and sick
leave policies to offer a new benefit called Paid Time Off, says human resources manager
Annette Cyr. Knowing its employees wanted to take advantage of living in Bozeman or
Boulder, Colo., the private company decided employees could use their Paid Time Off any
way they wanted. The policy also gives employees credit for prior experience directly related to
their ILX jobs. In Cyr’s case, 10 years of human resource experience at another company gave
her 25 days of Paid Time Off at ILX instead of the 15 she would normally have received as a
new employee. In two years time, she can accrue 50 days off before she has to start using it.

"People love that benefit, that option," Cyr commented.

Moshavi said he’s a "firm believer that while firms should always try to do well by their
employees, what’s really going to drive that decision is its effect on the bottom line."

Moshavi’s study — done in collaboration with Marianne Koch of the Oregon Graduate Institute —
looked at small businesses that belonged to the northwest region of the Society for Human
Resource Management (SHRM). Small businesses are defined as having 500 or fewer
employees. His research differed from other such studies because he concentrated on small
businesses instead of large Fortune 500 companies, Moshavi said.

In future studies, Moshavi said he would like to follow a policy all the way through a company.
He would look first to see if a firm had family/work policies in place. Then he would study their
effect on employees and, finally, on customers.

Research has shown a definite relationship between the way a company treats its employees
and the way a customer is treated, but few studies have put it all together, Moshavi said.

MSU expert offers tips for more family-friendly businesses

Small companies can stand out as good places to work without spending a lot of money, says
Dan Moshavi, assistant professor of management at Montana State University.

The secret is offering benefits that help employees deal with the conflict between work and
family life. Many of those benefits are not only inexpensive, but they help a company attract
and retain good employees, Moshavi said.

"Particularly in Montana, people are very salary conscious," Moshavi continued. "The wages
here are low, 48th in the nation. But work/family practices are a way to differentiate from your
competitor in a way that doesn’t really cost you much."

Some low-cost benefits he has seen are:

* Flexible work schedules.

* Tele-commuting, or working from home, a couple days a week. Some businesses are reluctant
to offer this because of control issues ("How do I know my employee isn’t watching a rerun of
‘Bewitched?’"), but this is a popular benefit, Moshavi said.

* Flexible spending accounts. Some companies allow employees to use pre-tax dollars to pay
for day care.

* Resource referral services. Companies might compile a list of all the day care centers in a
five-mile radius of work or an employee’s home. Some collect names of area counselors who
deal in stress, for example, and make them available to their employees.

* Help a new employee’s spouse find work in the area.

* Job sharing. Instead of filling a position with one person, hire two people who want to work
half-time.

* Lactation programs. Some companies have room set aside for new mothers to pump breast
milk during work.

Other family-friendly practices that attract employees, but cost more are:

* Concierge services. Some companies provide people to perform such services as shopping for
employee’s groceries or running their errands.

* Adoption assistance. Companies that provide this may give $3,000 to $10,000 to defray the
cost of adoption.

* Fertility treatments. Some companies offer medical insurance policies that pay 50 percent of
the cost of fertility treatments.

* On-site or near-site day care centers. Some companies set up a day care center for their
employees’ children. Others band together with nearby businesses to pool resources and set up
day care centers. Some companies combine child care and elder care in one facility.

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