By Joyce M. Rosenberg
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - When Susie Carder gave her daughter Amanda a summer job in her business coaching company, the teenager knew office gossip was forbidden. On Amanda's second day, Carder caught her in the break room, complaining - Carder describes it as talking smack - about how little her mother was paying her.
"I said, 'excuse me, you're not happy with the amount of money you're making?' She said no. I said, 'OK, well I guess you should find somewhere else to work that will pay you what you deserve!'" says Carder, whose company that bears her name is based in San Diego.
With that, Amanda was fired.
Business owners often hire their teenagers to get work experience, earn some money and add to their resumes. But the presence of an owner's child can require a balancing act, not only for parent and teen, but also everyone else in the company.
Owners have to be bosses, not parents. Staffers may be unsure about how to treat the owner's child and hesitate to report problems. That means owners need to give extra encouragement to employees to ensure the teens are held to the same standards as every other worker.
Carder didn't doubt her decision to fire her daughter; she was resolute about standing by her company's values. As a mother, though, Carder was fuming. But when she got home, Amanda said, "Mom before you say anything, I apologize. I was disrespectful. You were giving me an opportunity and support and I was wrong."
Carder hugged her daughter but the dismissal stood. The experience may have helped in the long run; after attending Harvard University and the Wharton School of business at the University of Pennsylvania, Amanda went to work for an investment banking firm.
Jim Skinner found that memories of working in his father's company helped him be understanding even as he had to be a tough boss to his three sons. On several occasions, Skinner's oldest son, James, got upset when he had to stay late at Skinner's firm, A&C Pest Management; James had plans and in the moment, they were more important than the job. Skinner says he learned to stay calm when there was friction.
"We would talk about it and I would try to explain that sometimes, it is what it is. After college, he started to take life and business a lot more seriously," says Skinner, co-owner of the East Meadow, New York-based business. All three of his sons worked at the company while in school and after graduation.
A common problem occurs when employees are afraid to tell the boss a child's work or behavior falls short. Laura Smith brought her 15-year-old son Jordan into her company, All-Star Cleaning Services, and over the course of two months, he worked with many employees. Then Smith learned from the general manager that her son's work wasn't good; he was trying hard but his idea of what was clean really wasn't clean. Co-workers were re-cleaning what he had done.
Smith, who says giving feedback is an integral part of her Fort Collins, Colorado-based business, was shocked that no one talked to her, or to her son. That was a hard lesson for her.
"I think that everyone wanted working here to not be a negative experience" for Jordan, Smith says. "My mistake was not checking in with the people who were working with him."
Before an owner's child starts work, the boss must set expectations for everyone in the business, and also let them know that there won't be any repercussions if they have to write up or report the teen, says David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, a human resources provider based in Norwalk, Connecticut.
"An owner needs to say, 'you have to make sure that if there are any issues or concerns that you come to me," says Lewis. He's a veteran of being an owner/boss/parent; both his children worked in his company.
Although Mike Young encouraged managers of his Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers stores in Iowa to hold his children accountable, staffers still felt that "this is the owner's kid. I'm not going to write them up."
Young recalls a morning when he knew his daughter Katie had arrived late to work. The store manager shrugged it off. When Young asked, "what would you have done if she weren't my kid?" the manager admitted he would have disciplined her.
Owners often have to deal with typical parent/teen issues on the job, and work issues when they're home. Alex Boatman's daughter, Victoria, sometimes found it hard to stop talking to other co-workers and instead clear the tables at Boatman's Hwy 55 Burgers, Shakes & Fries restaurant in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. It was a situation not unlike her lingering in front of the family room TV when there were chores to be done.
"I would occasionally have to remind her that the way she could act or talk around the house wouldn't fly at the restaurant," Boatman says.
Sometimes, there were hurt feelings on both sides, and Victoria, still angry at her dad when they got home, would ask her mother to intervene. At one point, Boatman explained to Victoria that this wasn't just a job; he had given up a salary and savings to start the restaurant and he wanted it to succeed.
"I was able to communicate what was at stake. I think that helped," he says.
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Three things business owners should do when hiring their teens
By Joyce M. Rosenberg
AP Business Writer
NEW YORK (AP) - When small business owners hire their teenagers, they should be ready to treat their new staffers like any other employees - and be ready for some additional parent/child friction when problems arise.
Here are three things owners should do when their teen comes to work:
-Create a plan. Just as owners should do when they hire interns, they should have a plan for what their teens are going to be doing. It needs to be communicated to the teen, and to managers and co-workers who will be working with the young staffer.
-Set expectations. Owners need to speak with their children so they know what to expect, and what's expected of them. Mike Young, owner of seven Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburger stores in Iowa, told his teens, "their last name would not be helpful to them, and in fact would make their jobs harder." And, that co-workers would be looking to see if the bosses' kids had to follow the same rules and standards as employees did. "If they were not, then our kids, the managers, and my wife and I would all lose credibility," Young says. Teens also need to know that at work, their mothers and fathers are first and foremost their bosses.
Owners also need to prepare managers and other employees, informing them that the bosses' children shouldn't get special treatment, and that if there are problems, the owner needs to be told, says David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc, a human resources provider based in Norwalk, Connecticut. "There needs to be a level of communication up front that explains what the expectations are," Lewis says.
-Check in with your teen's supervisors and co-workers. When Laura Smith didn't ask her employees how her son Jordan was doing, she didn't know that he wasn't able to do the work as well as she expected. Smith, owner of All Star Cleaning Services in Fort Collins, Colorado, trusted that staffers would tell her, but they didn't. Even when employees have been told to inform the boss about any problems, some may not want to get the young person in trouble. They may also be worried that they'll be blamed for the teen's shortcomings.
Published: Wed, May 08, 2019
