HR in Franchising: Are You Being Proactive or Reactive?

Last month, Fair Work announced that they will be honing in on the franchise sector this financial year. As an industry fraught with underpayment and sham contracting issues, this doesn’t come as a surprise…

When it comes to HR in a franchise network, the million-dollar question we often get asked is:

 “Whose responsibility does employment land on? The franchisee or the franchisor?” 

Whose responsibility is HR in a franchise network?

Is it the franchisee’s or the franchisor’s responsibility?

In a nutshell, it’s both. This is why getting your ducks in a row is vital for franchisors and franchisees alike. Having organised and detailed human resources systems will save you time, money, and risk!

We know—as a business owner with a busy day-to-day schedule, HR is often an afterthought. On top of this, interpreting the complex world of the Australian employment framework is complicated, sometimes even for the experts!

Just like plugging in a marketing specialist or an accountant, outsourcing HR support can work wonders for business owners. Our HR specialists work proactively, to prevent the issues before they become unmanageable.

Here are some questions to get you thinking about your HR processes in your franchise network:

• Do you have detailed and effective hiring and onboarding processes?
• Are you on top of industry updates? WorkCover, awards, accreditation, penalty rates, etc.
• With these updates in mind, are your legal documents regularly checked to keep on top of new requirements?
• Are your employees classified correctly? (e.g. employee vs. contractor can be a tricky one – and the risk of making a mistake here can be costly)
• How many hours do you spend on administrative tasks per week? Do you have a self-service system in place to manage HR documentation and processes, such as contracts, policies, performance reviews, scheduling, etc.?
• Franchisors, do you provide your franchisees with tools and resources such as contract templates, rates of pay, policies, and Fair Work procedures? Do you regularly audit and monitor your franchisees’ compliance with HR procedures?
• Do you have resources in place for checking your employees’ wellbeing, such as an EAP (Employee Assistance Program)?

How can outsourced HR help franchise networks?

As your HR support, our team can assist in all of these areas. Along with implementing effective systems and processes, our main role is to act as a source of education for both franchisors and franchisees, providing advice and recommendations about Awards and their (not-so-simple) interpretation, how to follow legal processes appropriately (e.g. terminations), how to set up your franchise agreements to ensure Franchisees comply with their legal responsibilities, and much more.

Without an effective HR system, business owners often fall into a ‘reactive’ state of mind: dealing with issues only after they have caused chaos and stress, or have negatively impacted brand reputation, and workplace culture and morale.

If you are keen to up your HR game and prevent future headaches, book a chat with our People & Culture (HR) team now.