A growing franchise network brings more locations, franchisees, customers and opportunities. It also creates more work behind the scenes.
While franchisees manage their individual locations, franchisors must support an expanding network. As the business grows, so do the requirements for administration, reporting, recruitment, franchisee support and coordination.
Hiring more people is often the natural response. Additional employees can relieve pressure, introduce specialist expertise and help maintain service quality. Local hiring remains essential for many functions.
But as the network expands, franchisors also need to consider how they can increase capacity without creating unnecessary operational complexity.
When more people create more complexity
A central support team serving 20 franchise locations faces different demands when the network expands to 50, 100 or more.
Each new hire brings additional capacity, but also requires onboarding, supervision, training and ongoing support. Larger teams require more coordination and communication, while managers and leadership become increasingly involved in managing the workforce.
Over time, a straightforward hiring decision can create another layer of operational responsibility.
This does not mean franchisors should stop hiring locally. It means workforce planning needs to evolve alongside business growth.
The focus should be on identifying which capabilities are needed and determining the most effective way to build them.
Building capacity differently
Different business functions require different workforce arrangements.
Some roles benefit from remaining close to the franchisor, franchisees and customers. Others can be supported through distributed teams, allowing businesses to access additional capabilities without expanding local infrastructure at the same rate.
Offshoring is one possible approach, although relocating work alone does not guarantee better operations.
Without appropriate employment arrangements, management support and operational visibility, an offshore workforce can introduce its own complications.
A distributed team still needs the right operating structure.
A distributed team still needs the right operating structure
One way to add capacity without building every new capability inside the local operation is to use a distributed team for functions that do not require employees to be physically based alongside the franchisor.
An Australian digital business provides a useful example of how this can work, and what can happen when the operating structure behind a distributed team does not keep pace with the workforce.
The company first explored distributed talent when a talented employee was returning to his home country. Although the initial remote arrangement was unsuccessful, the experience encouraged the business to explore distributed talent further, eventually leading it to the Philippines.
Initially, the company engaged local operators to manage recruitment, employment, administration and workplace facilities.
As the team expanded, the company discovered problems involving employment arrangements, employee compensation and working conditions. The business needed greater visibility into how its offshore workforce was being managed.
The company changed its operating model.
Shore360 took responsibility for the local infrastructure, including employment, payroll, HR, facilities, technology and operational support. The client continued to manage its employees directly, including performance, recognition and workplace culture.
More than 12 years later, members of the original Philippine team remain with the company.
During that time, they have developed valuable skills, accumulated organisational knowledge and become established members of the wider workforce.
The example demonstrates an important consideration when building distributed capacity: the structure supporting the team matters. Employment arrangements, operational support and management visibility all play a role in how effectively a distributed workforce can become part of the wider business.
Building capacity without automatically building complexity
For growing franchisors, the objective is to develop a workforce model that can support expansion without introducing unnecessary operational demands.
Local hiring will remain appropriate for many positions. Distributed teams may provide additional capacity for functions that do not require employees to be physically located alongside the franchisor.
The right combination depends on the company’s operational requirements, existing capabilities and plans for future growth.
Rather than automatically expanding local headcount whenever demand increases, franchisors can consider which capabilities they need and how those capabilities can be developed sustainably.
A well-supported distributed workforce offers another way to expand while maintaining operational visibility, performance and workplace culture.
Ultimately, sustainable franchise growth requires a workforce structure that can evolve alongside the business.
That is the thinking behind Shore360’s approach: we manage the complexity, so you can build the team.
