Depending on the state that your franchise is located within, your rules and regulations can vary greatly. You might already be back open and running, albeit with certain safety and health regulations in play. Or your state might have you closed for weeks, if not months to come, with a long-term rollout in which you can return to “normal.” Whatever your situation, however, you can tailor work regulations that can help your franchise thrive. Whether you’re offsetting appointments, wearing a mask, or simply working from home, smart planning can help you stay within safety regulations, and still in business.
First things first, check out your state and industry. What regulations are in place? What guidelines do you need to be following? And how can you keep your franchise thriving, even in a time of uncertainty?
Obviously you need to follow state guidelines. Sign for updates on state announcements and be sure to follow them closely for your franchise’s safety, and to remain in good legal standing with the state government. (Yes, those who haven’t been complying have lost licenses and had to close.)
Creative Fixes To Remain Compliant with Your Franchise
Next, consider new and innovative ways in which you can use to remain compliant. Many businesses have implemented a kiosk or outdoor station at which customers can check in. Hair salons, restaurants, tax offices, and more are using this setup so they can still host X number of employees (and/or guests) within their building. The kiosk essentially offers a work around so you can still use your business system as per usual, but without cutting out an extra worker slot.
Another change still is working split shifts, even overnight, so that franchises can fit in all their services. Employees can offset when they work in order to get in their hours and tasks completed, but while remaining distant from one another and meeting limitation guidelines.
Meanwhile, franchise owners are running services from home and allowing remote employees to thrive. They’re installing separation between customers and/or workers (plastic curtains, plastic shields, etc.), and they’re opting for regular deep cleaning sessions that help sanitize their franchise location for everyone’s safety.
Personal protection equipment, or PPE, can also come into play, such as wearing masks or the safe use of gloves. Hand sanitizer and regular washing at the ready can also help greatly.
Finally, while closed or limiting one’s hours has called for a number of backlogged tasks to be done. Filing, construction or design upgrades, organizing, and more have all been marked off of to-do lists. Franchise owners often put their own work on the back burner, but with fewer hours in which they can be open, many of these “I’ll get to it later” tasks have been completed – and helped to improve a business’s look and production level!
New Tactics Arising From the Pandemic
While some changes in the way we work might come as an inconvenience, others are proving to be helpful and exciting. For instance, creating a night shift in which bookwork or in-office tasks can be completed. Finding new ways to draw income or how to offer a new level of convenience to customers. How to talk with customers on a personal level, and more.
When the stakes have been changed, franchise owners have found new ways to make their business work. Many of those updates will be an improvement to how things have gone in the past. Don’t be afraid to make them a permanent addition to your brand’s protocol. As a franchisee, it’s important to update what isn’t working, and to find new ways to succeed on all fronts. A pandemic might not have been the way we wanted to find said tactics, but we got them all the same. Repeat what works and nix what doesn’t. This is an important lesson for new franchisees, and repeating it often can leave you as an efficient, successful machine.
As a franchisee – or future business owner – you can easily look toward changes that will allow you to profit, even through new laws that have been brought on by COVID-19. Update your brand’s protocol and stay up to date on state changes to keep the profits rolling, without breaking these temporary laws.