One of the greatest assets you’ll have as a franchise owner is your staff. They’re the ones who make sure your business runs smoothly on a daily basis, even when you can’t be there. Your employees are an extension of yourself. That’s why implementing the right recruitment and retention strategies are essential to your business success.
Recruiting and retaining employees is a process that will be ongoing throughout the life of your business. If this is your first business venture, it may feel a little overwhelming, but hiring and managing your workforce need not be a complicated process. You just need to break it down into the following stages:
The Recruitment Process
Hire the best candidate for the job by following a few simple steps:
- Create a compelling job description: Entice high-quality candidates with an engaging job description that includes benefit and salary information, and the qualifications the candidate needs.
- Collect a wide range of résumés: Gather résumés from a variety of different avenues, including the Internet, newspapers, trade journals, and employment agencies. This will provide you with a plethora of candidates, allowing you to create a shortlist of the best.
- Ask relevant questions in the interview: Someone might come across great on paper, but when you meet them face-to-face, they might seem like a different person. Prepare yourself with in-depth questions that will allow you to see whether this candidate has a professional, positive attitude.
- Consider whether they’re the right fit for your business: Even though a candidate may have all the right qualifications, it’s important to consider the business culture too. Will this candidate fit in with its core values? Ask some of your employees or a representative of your franchisor to come along and offer their perspective.
The Retention Process
Once you’ve got employees on the payroll, your next job is to make sure they stay with you for as long as possible. To do this, you’ll need to provide great incentives and a good working environment:
- Offer group incentives: Rather than offering individual incentives, offer the entire group one, e.g. a bonus for hitting the sales target. With each of your employees being involved in the benefits of success, they’re more likely to pull together as a team and drive the business forward. And don’t forget to be flexible with their vacations or time off too.
- Create promotion opportunities: If you can, make sure you offer employees the chance to progress within the company. Hold regular reviews on their performance, telling them what they need to do to progress to the next level. With the opportunity to further their career with your company, they’re more likely to stick around.
- Conduct exit interviews: When an employee leaves your company, It’s important to understand why. Conduct an exit interview to gain valuable insight into your company and its values – you might discover something you hadn’t been aware of before.
These simple steps all go towards creating a stable, rewarding working environment for your employees, and will drive successful results for all of you.
At Neighborly®, we offer regular training programs for managers, which include recruitment and retention techniques. If you’re ready to discover your next franchising opportunity, visit us online today.
