Continuing staff shortages, escalating interest rates and inflationary pressures are causing major concern for Australian small businessd according to the latest national survey of franchised businesses.
The June Quarter 2022 Franchise Business “Pulse Check” survey included responses from 119 brands covering 20,928 individual business outlets (19,291 franchised and 1,637 company operated) employing 231,123 Australians. 80 per cent of franchisees identified their greatest concern or challenge as a shortage of suitable employees for franchisees – a sharp increase from the 64 per cent reported in the March quarter survey. 61 per cent expressed concern about a shortage of suitable staff for support office, up from 40 per cent the previous quarter.
Rising interest rates and inflationary pressures were identified as a significant challenge for the first time since the surveys began in March 2020. 31 per cent thought the pressure was high, 23 per cent very high. Supply chain issues at 54 per cent and franchisee recruitment at 40 per cent were also among the top concerns.
Performance by state
46 per cent of respondents rated Queensland as their strongest performing state or territory for franchises over the past 12 months – up slightly from the March figure of 38 per cent. This was followed by Western Australia (23 per cent), New South Wales (17 per cent) and Victoria (10 per cent). South Australia and the ACT trailed at 4 per cent each.
The percentage of respondents feeling optimistic about business conditions in the next six months fell from 72 per cent in the last quarterly survey to 57 per cent. However, respondents expect to open 805 new franchised outlets in the next 12 months across their respective networks. They said they were most likely to expand their business in New South Wales (39 per cent) followed by Victoria (38 per cent), Queensland (15 per cent) and Western Australia (8 per cent).
”This latest survey shows that although pandemic trading restrictions are gone, significant new challenges are hindering Australian business recovery”, said Franchise Council of Australia CEO Mary Aldred. “Urgent action is needed at the national level to ensure opening up of new streams of potential workers, both local and from overseas, with the skills and capacity needed to fill the diverse workforce gaps appearing across the Australian economy.”
