Family businesses are often as much a venture of love as of money. Over time that can lead to situations where family members are undervalued with no annual pay rises, or additional recognition, and even no formal contract.
You can head off problems at the pass and work through any simmering resentments that this may have caused with a neutral party. Equitable relationships in work lead to better home relationships too.
Action step: Why not take some time out to identify someone to work with on this issue?
COMMENTS
Rashid
June 06, 2013I own a badminton court with my siblings. We have only recently gone into this venture together (2 months) and everything you listed above sounds about right. We do not have any formal contract that states formal recognition, pay raises, etc, only something that basically states how many percent of the company we each own. I suppose it would be a good idea to sort all that stuff out before the business actually takes off. I've heard horror stories about family feuds. We also need to talk about issues such as selling, dissolving the business in the future, etc. Wow, looks like we are going to need the help of a lawyer instead of a coach! :)