‘I’ve been in business now for 40 years and I still have many of the people who started with me at my side. I feel obligated to them and need to protect them.’
Businesses are built on people and after you have been in business for many years there are many who have come and gone, some who wished were never there, and a handful who have journeyed with you through the darkest of days.
These are the employees who in some cases are closer than family and with whom you have shared the gravest of failures and greatest of successes. You trust them and they know how you think and what you want.
Now welcome to the time of business transition where the next generation, family and non-family, come onto the scene and often want a clean sweep. These long-serving employees can be seen as part of the past, part of your old ways and not part of the future.
Failure to address this issue openly and frankly in the succession process can quickly lead to a stalled process and conflict.
The starting point for the discussion about where these long-serving employees fit into the future of the business should be principles and values. As a family business, how do you treat employees who have worked with the family for most of their life? What guarantees for life-long employment may have been expressed? What obligations does the family believe exist and how do your principles and values as a family business apply to them? Answer these questions before you consider the future of individual employees.
Often these employees do not really wish to remain after the founder, with whom they have worked their entire life, retires. But financially that may not be an option for them and termination may cause serve financial hardship.
Also, the wishes of the founder, the incumbent leadership team, must be listened to carefully by the next generation. Especially if they desire a quick transition and support of the founder.
Being generous and/or finding productive roles for long-serving employees in the ‘new business’ is not necessarily impossible. And often is the most sensible and desirable outcome for all concerned. Consider this succession issue with care and not callousness.
Active Knowledge Question:
- What’s your family policy toward the reward and tenure of long-serving employees? Is it consistent with your family principles and values?
Act Now
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All the best in the success of your business,
Richard Shrapnel
