Relatives Can Be Invaluable in the Office
Erik Hammarlund says he wouldn’t have it any other way. Since bringing his wife, Karena, a former accountant, on board as office manager about a year ago, the Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., solo says he has more harmony in both his professional and personal lives.
“We realized it was the perfect solution for us,” says Hammarlund, who handles corporate work, litigation, real estate and trusts. “There’s no way in a million years that I could hire someone as trustworthy as my wife or who shares my interests to the same degree. It gets to a whole concept of team that would be impossible to do with someone else.”
It helps that Hammarlund and his wife spent time early on in their 12-year marriage living on a sailboat in confined quarters, where they often saw only each other for days at a stretch. That was good training for today, as they again are a constant presence in each other’s lives.
“It’s true, we’re around each other all the time,” says Hammarlund, who admits that the first six months of the arrangement presented a “weird power differential.” But the couple got through it, each staking out distinct roles during the workday. And they have since set ground rules to keep office discussions out of their home life.
“I don’t think it’s for everybody,” adds Hammarlund, whose wife takes no salary for services he estimates would cost around $75,000 a year on the open market. “You have to be willing to deal with an initial feeling of discomfort.”
Continue reading “Family Ties” online in the August ABA Journal.
