Hire Right, Retain, and Experience Growth

By: Kendall Rawls
Published: April 18th, 2017

The cost of turnover is one of the biggest expenses of doing business. So if you are not hiring the right people, or if you are not focused on developing a culture to keep them, you are leaving an abundance of money on the proverbial table.

Often, hiring practices for multi-unit franchisee organizations focus on filling the role as fast as possible versus strategically recruiting talent who portray the behavior and attitude unique to your organization's culture. "Something is better than nothing," and "We will build that bridge when we get to it," are common phrases shared by many franchise owners. However, as Jim Collins expressed at the 2016 Multi Unit Franchising Conference, to position a business to go from good to great, we should be thinking "First Who, Then What." Taking the time to hire the right people, specific to each role in your organization, who have and show the potential to gain skills, knowledge, and experience fuels the engine towards peak performance.

Have you ever considered the larger impact of your recruiting strategies, even as you continue to grow? Better yet, do you have a recruiting and retention strategy to drive performance, or do you just simply hire someone to fill the spot?

If you are not focused on strategies to recruit and retain for the future of your franchise, then your growth could be stunted compared to your competitors. If you can find a secret recipe of employee retention combined with loyalty, you may achieve an advantage that is hard to overcome because you have something that is unique to driving your strategic goals. Stop telling yourself it is a waste of money or a waste of energy. Instead, look at how strategically focusing on recruiting and retaining the right talent can help your franchise in a variety of ways that drive growth through:

• Customer loyalty - As consumers are loyal to their brands, so are they to your franchise location. It is not just brand familiarity that customers enjoy; they enjoy the experience and feeling a part of your business family.
• Future leaders - Continuing to diversify or grow your portfolio means that you are not able to be everywhere all the time and still function at the same level. Committing to hiring the right people, retaining them, and providing them growth in your organization - from the ground up -means you have the foundation for building out your next generation of leaders, which will keep you focused on growth.
• Community loyalty - The more you build your reputation for being the place that people want to work, the more you build your reputation in the community. You are showing your commitment to people, not just for the present but for the future. Oh, and you create hiring power in the community. If you build the reputation for the place to work, you will never go hungry for good applicants.

The workforce dynamics are changing and therefore the dream jobs of yesterday are turning into the "lifestyle I want to live," today. The Generation X, Millennial, and Generation Z workforce embody doing more with less, working smarter not harder, doing more for their communities, and having a well-balanced life-work lifestyle. With the continued growth in the franchise industry, it sounds as if there is a lot of opportunity to take advantage of actively engaging in strategic recruiting and retention programs.

Kendall Rawls knows and understands the challenges that impact the success of an entrepreneurial owned business. Her unique perspective comes not only from her educational background; but, more importantly, from her experience as a second-generation family member employee of The Rawls Group - Business Succession Planners. For more information, visit www.rawlsgroup.com or email info@rawlsgroup.com.

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