Why a company is not a family — and how companies can bond with their employees instead

When companies or team leaders overemphasize the family metaphor, the next step is asking for a family-level commitment from employees. And this creates a lot of opportunities for leaders to take advantage of employees. 

One project after another gets taken on, without considering existing workloads and making it difficult for employees to say no.

If employees decide they don’t like blurry boundaries around work and life or around ethics and choose to move on — that can create a whole new issue. 

In organizations that overemphasize family, it becomes easy for leaders to label to departures as a form of betrayal.

The intention behind labeling a company as a family might have been positive — organizations and leaders desire a strong culture made up of employees who are bonded to each other and who push each other to new levels of performance.

But what’s wrong with just calling that a team? Strong teams deliver exactly that. And whether you’re in a company that’s abusing the family metaphor or not, here are a few actions you can take to build a stronger team.

One of the reasons for companies choosing the family metaphor was a poor attempt to bond together people, teams and organizations. But just saying you’re a family doesn’t build bonds.

Instead, research suggests that one of the most potent ways to bond a team is by pointing to their so-called “superordinate” goals — goals that are so big they require collaboration.

In a modern economy, work is never done. The only way to ensure that people stay productive in a way that’s sustainable is to make sure every employee enjoys downtime as well. 

More and more companies are experimenting with ways to reinforce boundaries such as forbidding email after-hours, moving to four-day workweeks or even paying people to take their vacation time.

No matter how committed a company’s employees are, most of them will eventually move on. New opportunities present themselves, life changes happen, and so do plenty of other reasons for employees to look elsewhere. In the face of this inevitability, treating departures like betrayals doesn’t make sense.

Instead, departures ought to be celebrated. Employees who leave on good terms ought to be seen as alumni who represent the organization even in their new endeavors. Departing employees are also a powerful new source of referrals for new hires.