There's one thing on which most, if not all franchisors agree on - and that is that the franchise manual is the cornerstone of the franchised business model. This is the one document that is worth its weight in gold. Within its pages, whether the manual is in hard copy format, online, or both as tends to be the norm nowadays, it lays down word for word, chapter by chapter the secrets of the successful business model that the franchisor has established. Company mission statement, company history and structure, ordering, accounting and record-keeping processes all have their designated chapters - with marketing and sales usually taking the lion's share of the manual.

However, there often tends to be a part of the franchise manual that is either very slender or in a worst-case scenario non-existent. What is it?

HR and Health and Safety

With the best will in the world, unless a franchisor has brought in HR specialists to write these sections of the manual, they tend to be a few pages of basic information that more often than not are out of date, only partially accurate or, lacking in even the basics.

If your franchisees are going to end up employing temporary, full-time, or part-time staff, or even develop business arrangements with associates, then they have to know exactly what the law is with regards to making these arrangements. And that means they need clear HR guidance, together with up-to-date and legally watertight document templates that they can use when they are interviewing and when they actually employ staff.

Get it right from the word go with a HR and health and safety section in your manual that will defy even the sternest critics, and the chances are that your franchisees won't fall foul of the law and your brand will continue to grow with you focusing on business development rather than fire fighting.

Ignorance is no defence and if your franchisees fall foul of the current legislation that surrounds the whole area of recruitment, employment and health and safety then they could find themselves facing legal action plus a big fine. Neither of which is of benefit to you or to them. In my experience, franchisors get enough unjustified brickbats from franchisees without bringing in legal disputes around the subject of HR!

So, going back to your franchise operations manual and in particular, the section on HR and health and safety, what should you be including? Some examples are:

• Water tight employment contracts and subcontractor agreements
• Legally required policies and procedures
• Recruiting within the law and getting the best candidate
• Health and Safety policy and risk assessments
• Requirements on leave; annual holiday, sick and family leave e.g. maternity and paternity
• Discipline, dismissal and redundancy etc

In next month's email bulletin I'm going to go into more detail on why it is so important to have legally watertight employment contracts.

In the meantime, if you have any questions whatsoever, please don't hesitate to contact me on 01403 734455. You can also e-mail me eve@edenhrconsulting.com. If you are interested in a complimentary 90 minute Ask the HR Expert Session where you will get bags of HR advice that’s relevant to your franchise, please mention this when you get in touch.