While focusing on getting a new business off the ground, building customers, managing the accounts, the task of hiring employees can seem like a huge added burden. Where do you place advertisements? How do you ensure you are attracting the right type of candidate for the position you want to fill? And once you have your staff, how do you stay on the right side of the increasingly complex UK employment law?

According to the British Franchise Association, a good franchisor should be prepared to offer full support and guidance to their franchisees on all these issues, and that recruitment and staff management processes and procedures should form a standard part of the operations manual. Deputy director of the bfa Simon Wise says: ‘It is in the franchisors best interest to ensure that their franchisees are recruiting the right people and they should therefore be actively involved.’

Other areas of support include the preparation of job advertisement templates, and job descriptions, guidance on salary levels, and if necessary, a list of interview questions. Euan Fraser, a consultant with Glasgow-based bfa affiliate AMO Consulting, says: If you have never hired staff before the process can seem quite daunting, but it does depend on the type of position you are advertising. For example someone being hired to deliver to your customers would need to have a clean driving licence and good interpersonal skills. However, if you are recruiting for senior position, someone from head office should sit in on the interview.’

Location can be a factor in successful staff recruitment. Robert Blake runs a Cash Generator franchise in Yeovil, Somerset, and employs eight members of staff. The franchisor, a full member of the bfa, focuses heavily on recruitment and retention issues during its eight-week franchisee training programme. It offers practical help with recruitment, such as ad templates and salary advice, and also runs a one-day training course for all new staff recruits at their head office in Bolton.

Blake says: ‘Our biggest problem is that being in an area of full employment, where prospective employees are fairly sophisticated and expect to be well paid, it is difficult to find the right type of candidates with retail experience. The majority of applicants tend to be young school leavers but they lack the people skills and product knowledge that is crucial to our business.’

Compliance with employment law can be a major worry for small business employers. Part of the problem is the rate at which new legislation has been introduced, but as Blake discovered, it pays to be covered.

He says: ‘With the masses of red tape and beaurocracy you have to deal with, you do need access to professional legal advice. Having lost an employment tribunal on a minor technicality, I now subscribe to a service that provides 24 hour expert advice on employment issues, and although it is expensive, it is definitely worth it.’

The best advice, particularly for new franchisees with no experience of staff recruitment, is to establish exactly what help and support the franchisor will provide them with before investing in the franchise.