Lots of businesses say that they're like a family -- but they don't really mean it. Calling your business a family may sound warm and fuzzy, but are you really ready to take on the obligations of a family?
Sure, there are plenty of family businesses out there, and I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with "regular" businesses who claim to be "like a family." It's almost always a manipulative lie.
All kinds of companies do this. Heck, I've worked at several of them. And to be generous, most of them probably have good intentions and are trying to position the organization as warmer and friendlier than other companies. I have nothing against warm and friendly. In fact, I typically prefer it to cold and nasty. And smaller outfits often foster that kind of closeness, which is one reason bMighty.com champions small and midsized companies.
But saying your business is like a family raises expectations that most companies are unwilling to meet. As former New York Knicks coach and basketball commentator Jeff Van Gundy told the New York Times concerning the rash of NBA coaches already fired this season: "It's always intriguing to me that everyone preaches we're all in this together, we're a family. The difference is we are in this together only when it's going good."
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That's the key here. Real families don't fire or lay off people when times get hard. They don't disown cousins to "dump salary" for a better-looking balance sheet. (OK, they do sometimes, but it's typically for the child's own good, or when the alternative is starvation for all.)
For companies, not so much.
In fact, in the current recession, many companies who claim to be "family" are undergoing layoffs not just in reaction to hard times, but in anticipation of hard times!
I don't want to pick on online shoe retailer Zappos, because they've actually been a fairly innovative operation that bMighty has lauded -- more than once.
Nevertheless, Zappos's layoffs earlier this fall are a perfect example of this phenomenon. As this memo from CEO Tony Hsieh lays out, the company is "still growing and already profitable and cash flow positive."
And yet: "We've decided the right thing to do for the company is to be proactive instead of reactive. We are proactively cutting back some of our expenses today so that we can take care of our employees properly, instead of being reactive and waiting until we are forced to cut expenses."
So, the company shed 8% of its staff -- contributing to the overall economic malaise Hseih says Zappos is trying to confront. Bad enough, but not uncommon these days. But here's the kicker that drove me into a tizzy:
I know that many tears were shed today, both by laid-off and non-laid-off employees alike. Given our family culture, our layoffs are much tougher emotionally than they would be at many other companies.
Aaaaarrrrggggghhhhh! If you had a real family culture you wouldn't have caved to your venture investors at the first hint of not making budget projections -- even though you're still making a profit. When did wringing the last dollar out the company become a family value?
Hseih tried to sugarcoat the bitter pill with the following questionable assertion: "Because we are being proactive instead of reactive about it, we are able to take care of our employees and offer them more than the standard 2 weeks severance (or no severance) that most other companies are giving."
Is that really what most other companies are giving? Does that really make up for booting workers from a company that made its rep on customer service? Family culture indeed.
Seriously, though, God knows that hard choices are sometimes necessary and that layoffs and force reductions may become unavoidable. After all, a company that goes out of business no longer employs anyone.
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We also know that many businesses genuinely care for their workers. And we even know that corporate values like "Loyalty" and "family-like atmosphere" can sometimes go too far and turn into paternalism that actually saps employee initiative, responsibility, and creativity.
There's always a place for a business run like a business, on a cash-and-carry basis. Do your job and get paid -- end of story. If you want warm and fuzzy, get a dog. As long as everyone involved knows the score, it doesn't have to be exploitation, it's just a contract.
But here's the thing: If you're gonna call yourself a "family" and take advantage of the employee loyalty engendered by that implied promise, you also gotta be loyal to them in return. You've gotta hold yourself to a much higher standard.
Bronwyn Fryer at Harvard Business Review recently told the story of Ultimate Software's response to the dot-com bust:
Despite a loss of millions, [CEO and founder Scott] Scherr didn't fire anyone and assured that the company's very generous benefits remained intact. "Everyone outside thought we were a loser, but I just told our people, 'Stay in the bubble. Keep loving clients. We'll take care of you.' Those were dark days, but we returned to profitability and haven't looked back since."
That's a real family business, but admittedly not that easy to emulate. So here's a suggestion. If you can't go that far, your company might want to try supporting its employees as much as it can without claiming to be something it's not. To paraphrase a comment on the story about Ultimate Software: Don't talk family, do family.
See more columns by Fredric Paul
Fredric Paul is publisher/editor-in-chief of bMighty.com and SmallBizResource.com.
