This article uses small and mediumsized businesses to observe the consequences of social proximity and distance on employment relations between employer and employee over a period of time. Employment relations in this case are characterized by personalized relationships of domination and may activate the feeling of sharing a common manual labor experience with the employer. The personalized domination in employment relations assures employee fidelity and expands the employer’s dominant position in the local space. But there are tensions between this management, based on an occupational logic, and a class logic reproducing the employer tradition. The article is based on a study of a small forestry business that was part of a localized field study.