Unhappy employees can damage the profit of any business. The family enterprise, though, incurs a special risk when nonfamily workers feel neglected and underappreciated. The result, too often, is a dysfunctional workplace.
 
Life can be better. When treated well, nonfamily employees can be vital to a company’s success. That’s the philosophy at Dempsey Linen & Uniform, Jessup, PA. Chairman Patrick Dempsey launched the company with his brother Richard in 1959 as an outgrowth of their father’s towel and coverall supply business founded 32 years earlier. Today Dempsey has two offspring in the business: son Patrick Jr., or ...