In a family business, it's not uncommon for a parent to hire a child.
Chris and Bob Flor have turned that scenario upside down
Ten years ago, Chris hired his dad, Bob, whose job with a software firm was eliminated in a corporate restructuring. Today, Bob, 66, still works for Peachstate Insurance, a metro Atlanta brokerage that Chris, 40, started with a partner after college.
"When people find out I'm working for my son they think I'm kidding," Bob said. "I tell them it's working out good."
The arrangement wasn't planned but came about when Chris saw an opportunity to tap into his father's expertise, which he lacked, in computers. That gave Peachstate a chance to better use the Internet to grow its business.
"He headed the technology department and got the website going," Chris said. Since then, he noted, his father's role has grown along with the company. Now, he also handles marketing and administrative duties as well as other jobs.
The relationship between parents and adult children can be complex, and having the parent work for a person he or she reared might seem to offer potential for conflict.
But both Flors said they've had few problems, even when business cratered a few years ago.
Asked to explain, Chris said: "Zero ego. My dad has zero ego."
By that, he said, he means that his father doesn't tell him how to run his business.
"It's never been awkward," Chris said. "He always knew it was my company."
Bob agrees, although he says they have disagreed "on conceptual things."
Their professional relationship, they said, is rooted in respect.
"He knows this business like no one I've ever met," said Bob, who lauds his son's "street smarts" and "uncanny instinct."
In turn, Chris gives his father plenty of room to operate.
"He doesn't have a schedule. I don't know where he's going every day," Chris said. "He could go away for a week's vacation and I might not even know it. He has a lot of freedom in certain decisions."
Bob is not an average employee, though. A former entrepreneur himself, he started and ran an interior landscaping firm. When talking about Peachstate, for example, he says "we" rather than discussing it in the third person.
Bob does not have an ownership stake, but his compensation does increase with the company's success.
There never was an unpleasant conversation about salary. Chris attributes that to Bob's willingness to work for less than he'd command on the open market.
According to Bob: "I said you come back to me with a [financial] package and it has to be ridiculous for me to not accept it. I wasn't in it for the money. I was in it for the challenge."
Peachstate, which focuses on auto insurance, has faced serious challenges in the past several years. The firm's client base was largely made up of international drivers, and tighter restrictions on licenses cost it customers. The recession didn't help. Chris said business has rebounded in the past year to where it was before the recession. The firm now has 20 offices.
Bob frequently travels among those offices, so his contact with Chris is generally limited to weekends when they get together with grandchildren.
This Father's Day, for example, they will be in Myrtle Beach, S.C., for a youth baseball tournament.
Bob, who says he often was away from Chris and the rest of his family when he was younger and building his own career, relishes the time together.
"We get along great," he said.
On what people still think of as an odd situation, Chris said, "It didn't take long to get used to it."
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