For many franchisees, hiring reliable talent is as easy as finding water in an arid desert.
The talent is out there, but it’s scarce. And, to make matters more difficult, your franchisees won’t be the only ones fishing in the pool.
In tricky labor shortages such as these, franchise owners must provide support wherever possible. With an all-hands-on-deck approach, you can ensure your units stay efficient, productive, and, most importantly, well staffed.
Inside the current franchise labor shortages
Before we jump into our practical tips, let’s assess the current employment situation.
According to recent research from the International Franchise Association:
- 70% of franchisors claim their franchisees have difficulties filling job openings.
- Only 25% of franchise executives are able to fill all job openings.
- 48% of franchisors say the availability of qualified talent (or the lack thereof) is their biggest challenge.
The reasons behind these labor shortages can vary from business to business and country to country. However, there are a few universal challenges worth bearing in mind:
- In the midst of our current cost of living crisis, many employees are demanding greater remuneration. Indeed, the IFA reports competitive wage and benefits demands are the second biggest labor challenge for franchisors.
- Global demographic shifts have resulted in “youth scarcity”. This means there will naturally be less people of a working age than in previous generations.
- Rising business costs — such as the UK’s recent spike in National Insurance — are impacting recruitment efforts.
- Rapid technological disruption, particularly in the AI space, is putting digital skills in high demand.
6 ways franchise owners can support recruitment and retention
Armed with this knowledge, you can now work towards strengthening your network’s recruitment and retention efforts.
To get you started, follow these 6 effective tips:
1. Give your franchisees autonomy
Your franchisee owners will have a better understanding of their local community than you do. So trust their judgement and let them find the best talent pools independently.
This might involve partnering with local schools and colleges, where franchisee owners can give career talks and set up work experience schemes. By ingratiating themselves in their local community, they can stand out from the crowd and secure promising talent before your competitors can.
2. Set up apprenticeship schemes
Why not take things a step further and establish a network-wide apprenticeship scheme? This is a sustainable way to bring in young talent, upskill existing hires, and demonstrate a commitment to employee development. Your franchisees may also receive added incentives, such as government funding and reduced tax contributions.
With the right franchise management platform, you can build engaging learning pathways to support these initiatives and give apprentices the skills and training they need to succeed.
3. Strengthen your brand and purpose
Yes, employees want good salaries and stimulating development opportunities… But they also value purpose-driven work.
According to McKinsey, “meaningfulness of work” is one of the highest factors driving employee retention. (A lack of meaningful work is also the reason why 31% of employees leave their organization.)
To attract talent and keep it, you need to refine your purpose and build a strong brand identity. Take pride in your business, and your network of owners, managers, and employees will follow.
Why did you start your business in the first place? How do you make the world a better place? How do you help your customers or clients succeed? Ask the important questions and turn them into compelling values and memorable mission statements.
4. Support employee engagement strategies
Happy, engaged, and motivated employees are more likely to stick around. That’s a universal fact.
But there aren’t enough hours in the day to give every employee 1:1 support. So, to help your franchisees, we’d recommend adopting a franchise software that’s equipped with a comprehensive suite of engagement features.
Motivational badges, self-service learning pathways, public shout outs, and internal communication tools can help owners and managers recognize and reward their top talent. Moreover, platform analytics and surveys can highlight disengagement problems and inform retention initiatives going forward.
5. Ask for sage advice
Your franchisees and franchise advisory council may have recruitment and retention ideas of their own.
To gather and share this feedback, consider:
- Distributing network-wide surveys.
- Creating discussion rooms for franchisees to share tips and resources with each other.
- Scheduling regular in-person events.
As well as overcoming labor shortages, this collaborative effort can also strengthen your franchisor and franchisee relationships.
6. Provide helpful training and resources
Let’s assume you implement some or all of these tips. At some point, you’ll need to communicate these changes with your franchisees. (You can’t expect them to get to grips with your new apprenticeship program or employer branding immediately.)
So, as you progress, make sure to create trackable e-learning courses for your franchisees and their teams using a franchise training LMS.
We’d also recommend distributing brand-aligned resources to support their recruitment initiatives, such as messaging for job descriptions, tag lines for social media, templates for job ads, and any logos for your employment schemes (if applicable). This is essential for building brand consistency and streamlining your network-wide recruitment efforts.
Overcome the talent drought with Claromentis
No amount of wishful thinking can make a qualified candidate appear out of thin air. Equally, you can’t sit around hoping that talent will come knocking at your franchisees’ doors. It’s an employee market, after all. The onus is on you.
To ensure your franchise is the pick of the bunch, you need to support your franchisees with a blend of internal communications, training, branding collateral, and engagement tools.
Seems like a lot to manage, doesn’t it? We hear you.
That’s why the best way to distribute this information in a consistent and engaging manner is with a franchise management software like Claromentis. Using our 3-in-1 solution — comprising a franchise intranet, learning management system, and automation platform — you can unify your network and get everyone on the same page.
With all hands on deck, you’ll be better equipped to reel-in and retain great talent.
Interested in learning more? To find out how Claromentis can solve your labor challenges and strengthen your franchise network, book a quick discussion call with one of our experts.
