Congratulations! As a franchise owner, you’re ready to expand into a new geographic market. Financing is ready. The prime location is secured. Everything is falling into place. One major piece of the puzzle is still missing, however — you need a local team to run the daily operations.
When it comes to franchise hiring, laying a strong foundation for human capital and talent management is critical to long-term success. It allows franchise owners to make smart hiring decisions as they move into new geographic markets.
Recruiting, hiring and building sound franchise compensation plans are major (and related) components of a human resources process that makes it possible for a franchise to break into new markets. Without these key HR elements, your ability to expand and scale your franchise business will be severely curtailed.
Let’s take a look at the first parts of this effort — recruiting and hiring — and then we’ll offer tips to manage cross-market compensation in a separate post.
Franchise Recruiting and Hiring in New Geographic Markets
Your first hire in the new market will likely be a local site manager or director of operations, and this critical hire will set the stage for continued recruiting success.
Hiring locally gives the franchise people who know the “lay of the land” and can help navigate local considerations or identify pitfalls that only someone with knowledge of the local area would know.
For example, they might have insight into commuting times, information about travel considerations and local public transportation or the key demographics of the area.
Speaking of demographics, it is also important to become familiar with the pool of talent available in the new area, so you know what kind of applicants your franchise job postings are likely to attract.
Try to gain an understanding of:
- The size of the area’s workforce. Is it large enough to meet the staffing needs of your new location?
- The complexities of specific population segments. For example, does the labor pool consist mainly of college students who’ll have classes or other obligations that could impact scheduling?
Outsourced HR Might Help
It might be helpful to outsource some HR support in this area, like a local staffing agency or recruiter. Alternatively, technology like a Human Capital Management (HCM) platform could aid your staffing process. Particularly in the beginning, this kind of assistance can help land someone to fill that first all-too-important managerial position.
While an HCM platform allows you to create a job posting and push it out to multiple job sites throughout your search area, a local staffing agency that knows your new market well will also probably know about sources of talent that you may not.
It’s also important to know (or hire someone who knows) the rules and regulations in your new location. Federal regulations won’t be any different, of course, but there may be state and/or local rules or laws that are different from what you’re used to seeing. Pay transparency, for example, might be an area where specific protocols and precedents aren’t widely known to those outside the region or state but are highly respected and adhered to within the local community.
Bottom line: make sure your job postings comply with state and local requirements, not just federal ones.
Get Help from the Experts at RKL
Did you know that our Workforce Strategies team can assist franchise owners when it comes to managing team growth across new markets? We can help ensure you’re competitive and well-positioned to attract and retain the kind of top talent that’s going to help you grow and scale. Contact your RKL professional or use the form below to contact us today to see how we can help.
