Survey: Work-life balance difficult when family business is your life

SPRINGFIELD, MASS.
March 2, 2010 11:41am

Finding a healthy balance between work and home life is tough enough, but when you work for a family business and your colleagues are your kin, it can require a sense of coordination worthy of a high-wire circus act, says a new survey paid for by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Striking a balance is not impossible, and it can make a family business even more enjoyable and fulfilling, according to the study of family business owners.

While a family business has many advantages – such as being your own boss and scheduling flexibility – respondents to the survey also say owning a family business can lead to more stress (44 percent) and can mean that you never take a day off (39 percent).

As a result, 56 percent of owners are constantly trying to improve their work-life balance, according to the survey.

According to the survey, 44 percent of family business owners always or often discuss work at home, and 28 percent always or often discuss home life at work. Nevertheless, surprisingly few find it to be a concern. Sixty percent say their discussions of work at home rarely or never cause problems, while 75 percent say discussing home at work presents no difficulties.

Achieving a healthy balance depends on several factors, according to survey respondents, and three important ones are:

• Good communication;

• Creating time for fun outside of work; and

• Respecting each other.

The blurring of work-life issues in businesses owned by spouses is somewhat unavoidable, according to the survey. When asked to name their single-most trusted advisor, the largest percentage of respondents (38 percent) named their spouses, who far outranked the runners-up, accountants (19 percent) and lawyers (14 percent).

"With some common sense and mutual respect, most family members can strike a healthy balance between work and home life," says Beth Wood, assistant vice president of business market development for MassMutual, and a former family business owner herself.

Methodology

Conclusions are based on a two-part study of focus groups among small business partners, and an online survey. Six focus groups were conducted by Harris Interactive on Jan. 29, 2009 among six separate pairs of family business owners. Participants met the following criteria: all own a business with a spouse, sibling, or immediate family member, have between one and 500 employees, have been in business for at least five years, and earn a total annual revenue of $1 million or more. The survey was conducted online within the United States by Harris Interactive on behalf of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company between March 6-20, 2009 among 518 business owners, among which 330 are involved in a spousal business relationship and 250 are involved in a business relationship with a family member other than a spouse. Results were not weighted. No estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated; a full methodology is available.