Evan Hackell

How to create a great onboarding Plan for Your franchise

The benefits of offering excellent onboarding to new employees are now well documented and well known. Employees who have gone through an effective onboarding process:

• Get up to speed and become productive more quickly, so both franchisee and franchise earn profits faster from the new employee.

• Experience less frustration and enjoy their jobs more. So they stay in their jobs longer and franchisees spend much less money on hiring replacement workers. • Support a broad spectrum of hard-tohit franchisee goals including higher levels of customer service, better brand support, and more repeat business. And yet for reasons I do not completely understand, franchise organizations have been slower than other businesses to embrace effective onboarding. Perhaps those of us in the franchise universe have not yet realized just what we can gain through onboarding, or perhaps we simply haven’t wanted to invest the time to plan and implement onboarding programs for our new owners and the personnel they hire. onboarding program so your franchise can enjoy all the benefits onboarding provides.

First, What are your Goals?

The first step is to identify what you want onboarding to achieve, which could include:

• Enrollment of new employees and owners in retirement and health care plans, if you offer them.

• A set of job-specific expectations, based on job descriptions.

• Training on the skills the new employee needs to know.

• Knowledge about the location they own, or where they will be employed.

• Training on the brand – its history, what it represents, and how it contributes to the company’s success.

• An understanding of customers’ motivations, needs, desires and expectations. • Information about vendors.

• An overview of who the franchise company really is, because employees should be able to explain who they work for. This is important from a legal perspective.

• A comprehensive understanding of the support systems and resources that the franchise has in place to make sure franchisees succeed.

• Information about annual meetings, conventions, and membership in franchise councils.

• Knowledge about your franchise’s marketing and advertising programs.

• Excitement and motivation to succeed.

How to plan and deliver onboarding that hits those objectives

Start by reviewing your employee handbook. The information it contains is important to cover in the first days of onboarding – and you certainly do not want to omit important details such as vacation and sick day policies, parental leave, or participation in your company health plan. But as you dig in and create a comprehensive onboarding program, what other topics should you cover? Instead of making one list on your computer or a sheet of paper, I recommend using sticky notes, because you can move them around freely and establish priorities and order as you plan.

CrEATE onE STICKy noTE for:

• Each of the tasks and activities the person will perform. Some examples could be greeting customers, updating franchise-supplied displays and signage, keeping the premises clean and orderly, and operating cash registers and other equipment.

• Each company policy employees will be expected to know and support. • Each benefit that is provided by the franchise to its customers.

• Each safety and security protocol the franchisee must know and practice.

• Procedures for dealing with product returns, dissatisfied customers, and related issues.

• Key features of the company’s brand.

• Critical technical information and operating knowledge of the franchise’s products and services.

evan Hackel, is a 35-year franchising veteran as both a franchisor and a franchisee. Evan leads both Ingage Consulting and Tortal Training. Evan is also host of the highly successful Training Unleashed podcasts and author of the book Ingaging Leadership Meets the Younger Generation. Evan is a frequent keynote speaker. For more information, visit https://www.evanspeaksfranchising.com and follow him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanhackel/

• required maintenance procedures for the franchise’s location.

• Information and policies about using approved vendors and suppliers.

• Training on the franchise’s systems, including cash registers, payment portals, inventory ordering systems, and more. • Hr policies such as job reviews and termination procedures.

• franchise system rules, such as nondisclosure and non-compete agreements for employees and franchise owners who leave or acquire franchises from other companies.

When you’re done, place your sticky notes on a large white board or piece of paper in a timeline order you will use to cover them in your onboarding training. Also decide how much time you should allot to each of them in your onboarding. The result will be a plan for your onboarding.

Best practices for your onboarding program

But there are still more decisions to make as you plan the best onboarding program you can.

• What is the best modality to deliver the training item on each of your sticky notes? Is it a concept or skill you can teach using a unit that you deliver via learning management system (LMS) on a computer or on mobile devices, does it require in-person training, or can you use blended training that mixes both approaches? Make additional notes about this on each of your sticky notes.

• Where should onboarding be delivered? In an outside training center, a quiet spot inside the franchise space, or at the franchisor training center. “I recommend using sticky notes, because you can move them around freely and establish priorities and order as you plan.”

• Is each skill or concept something that can be taught just once, or should its information be available indefinitely on your company LMS?

Remember that making some concepts and lessons available for the long term can help employees feel supported in the future – and that will improve employee satisfaction and retention.

Support your onboarding with mentoring

Consider matching each new employee with a mentor – someone who is already present and experienced in your franchise system. These mentors could be successful franchise owners, members of your sales team, or other executives at the parent company. The mentors will always be available to answer questions and provide advice and support to your newest franchisees – and if appropriate, to their location managers and other key employees they hire.

In summary . . .

The approach I recommend in this article involves several steps. But the small amount of time you invest in planning will deliver superb results and increased profits for your franchise’s owners, employees and by extension, for your entire franchise company. I wish you great success in your onboarding process and in your franchise’s future.