Opening a Franchise Location – Your HR Checklist

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You’re a new franchisee – congratulations! Among the many positive things going on at this moment, is the sense of security, knowing that you’ve invested in a proven template for business and an established brand.

Beyond your brand, you may also have established guidelines for customer service, product offerings, and operations. But, wait a minute – did anyone mention HR?! Corporations don’t always provide new franchisees with best practices and how-to’s for HR and employee management – that may be the one area of business you’ll need to explore on your own.

Don’t panic. Fortunately for you and your employees there are plenty of resources available, including the team at Employer Solutions Plus who are willing to help you navigate “everything HR.”

Let’s review 10 areas of HR that every business owner should be up to speed on:

  1. Hiring & Firing: Do you know where to recruit the best employees? How to retain them? How do you appropriately terminate an employee while staying in compliance?
  2. Employee Training: Will you provide on-site training or virtual classroom training? What do employees need to be adequately trained on?
  3. Employee Handbooks: Your Company’s employee handbook serves as an important communication tool between you and your employees. A handbook sets forth your expectations for your employees, and lets new hires know what they should expect too! Who will write your handbook? Who will keep it up to date?
  4. Benefits: Robust benefits packages help make you an employer of choice, and help retain your top talent!
  5. Compliance: There are hundreds upon hundreds of pages of fine print surrounding employment law and regulation. Who will ensure your workplace stays in compliance at all times?
  6. Payroll: Whether you’re a small, medium or large business, efficient and accurate payroll processing services keep your business obstacle-free and promote better cash flow.
  7. Tax filings: Withholding, FICA, Federal & State Unemployment … Do you have a designated tax person or is your payroll/office manager managing it all?
  8. Risk Management: Accidents happen, and when they do, you’ll want to make sure that you have a great workers compensation policy.
  9. Communication: Communicating with employees isn’t always easy. Are you prepared to conduct interviews, employee reviews, training and exit interviews?
  10. Wages, Hours, and Technology: Tracking workers’ hours, and calculating time and a half is a lot easier when you’ve got technology on your side!

For some franchisees, a Professional Employer Organization (PEO) makes perfect sense. They’re able to bundle the 10 aforementioned HR responsibilities under one cost effective umbrella. For others, a PEO may not be the perfect solution. Corporate may already offer you resources for payroll and taxes, but may not be able to assist you in the other 8 areas. For these particular clients, partnering up with a company that represents multiple providers in each product category will allow you the flexibility to customize a cost effective solution that meets your individual needs.

For more information on PEO services, or customized HR support packages, contact Employer Solutions Plus.