Yes, it should. But on some issues, franchisors and franchisees need to work together, such as joint-employer. Other times, they'll be at odds. Until about 20 years ago, the IFA was franchisor only; franchisees were persona non grata. Eventually, franchisees were allowed to join. .
Nobody wants McDonald’s to be found to be a joint employer, it will lead to franchisees effectively becoming employees of the company. Every hiring or HR decision, every employment policy, every action taken will be scrutinized and/or must gain approval from “MHQ” and everyone knows how helpful and efficient they are. It’s nothing more than a gaggle of 20-something’s who are 100% compliance driven, their job is to actively look for a reason to say “NO”.
No disrespect intended, I’m sure that there are some leftovers who actually know what they’re doing. That said, there is no doubt that every decision is fear-based, one misstep and you’re fired.
While joint employer status is a nightmare, even worse is removing the THREAT of joint employer.
Imagine ifl it was illegal to consider franchisors as joint employers under most or any circumstances. This opens the floodgates- that effectively allows McDonald’s to mandate whatever goofy employment requirements that they want. They would be free to set wages, to force quotas ranging from racial/ethnic minimums to sexual preference requirements, to force paid time off, to force franchisees to be compliant from an ESG standpoint…there would be absolutely nothing keeping them from mandating anything around employment because they would be indemnified from legal recourse.
It’s an incredibly important distinction, we do NOT want the company to be found as a joint employer however the threat of a finding of joint employer status is our best friend.
Imagine the fun they could have. Marketing would have a ball bragging about the wages we are forced to pay, that employees are free to do about anything that they want and they’d always have a website and toll free number to call to make up whatever story they want to and the company would ALWAYS side with them, rendering franchisees completely powerless as employers.
Even worse, there is virtually nobody left on their side who has ever worked in our restaurants therefore their view of employees are victims gets even more traction and eventually is just accepted as a known, a given. Owner Operators are the bad guy, the company and employees are the good guys. One can easily imagine the cascading effect of the inmates running the asylum, with our keepers/minders at MHQ always ready to stand by the employee who never did anything wrong- just another set of hooks to keep us in line..
This would completely invalidate and annihilate our ability to form/mold employees to successful careers.
A MD who started in my restaurant at 16 once told me, “You provided the best first job I could have ever asked for. I learned what is required to be a success, and it’s not easy.”
With no autonomy there is no power and with no power there are no limits as to the ways in which employees and MHQ will destroy our businesses. They’ll start with employment matters and before long we will be running a not-for-profit enterprise.
Nobody wants McDonald’s to be found to be a joint employer, it will lead to franchisees effectively becoming employees of the company. Every hiring or HR decision, every employment policy, every action taken will be scrutinized and/or must gain approval from “MHQ” and everyone knows how helpful and efficient they are. It’s nothing more than a gaggle of 20-something’s who are 100% compliance driven, their job is to actively look for a reason to say “NO”.
No disrespect intended, I’m sure that there are some leftovers who actually know what they’re doing. That said, there is no doubt that every decision is fear-based, one misstep and you’re fired.
While joint employer status is a nightmare, even worse is removing the THREAT of joint employer.
Imagine ifl it was illegal to consider franchisors as joint employers under most or any circumstances. This opens the floodgates- that effectively allows McDonald’s to mandate whatever goofy employment requirements that they want. They would be free to set wages, to force quotas ranging from racial/ethnic minimums to sexual preference requirements, to force paid time off, to force franchisees to be compliant from an ESG standpoint…there would be absolutely nothing keeping them from mandating anything around employment because they would be indemnified from legal recourse.
It’s an incredibly important distinction, we do NOT want the company to be found as a joint employer however the threat of a finding of joint employer status is our best friend.
Imagine the fun they could have. Marketing would have a ball bragging about the wages we are forced to pay, that employees are free to do about anything that they want and they’d always have a website and toll free number to call to make up whatever story they want to and the company would ALWAYS side with them, rendering franchisees completely powerless as employers.
Even worse, there is virtually nobody left on their side who has ever worked in our restaurants therefore their view of employees are victims gets even more traction and eventually is just accepted as a known, a given. Owner Operators are the bad guy, the company and employees are the good guys. One can easily imagine the cascading effect of the inmates running the asylum, with our keepers/minders at MHQ always ready to stand by the employee who never did anything wrong- just another set of hooks to keep us in line..
This would completely invalidate and annihilate our ability to form/mold employees to successful careers.
A MD who started in my restaurant at 16 once told me, “You provided the best first job I could have ever asked for. I learned what is required to be a success, and it’s not easy.”
With no autonomy there is no power and with no power there are no limits as to the ways in which employees and MHQ will destroy our businesses. They’ll start with employment matters and before long we will be running a not-for-profit enterprise.
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5 comments:
The IFA membership also includes FRANCHISORS, like McD Corp. Anything they support should be viewed with suspicion.
Yes, it should. But on some issues, franchisors and franchisees need to work together, such as joint-employer. Other times, they'll be at odds.
Until about 20 years ago, the IFA was franchisor only; franchisees were persona non grata. Eventually, franchisees were allowed to join.
.
One must be VERY careful with this topic.
Nobody wants McDonald’s to be found to be a joint employer, it will lead to franchisees effectively becoming employees of the company. Every hiring or HR decision, every employment policy, every action taken will be scrutinized and/or must gain approval from “MHQ” and everyone knows how helpful and efficient they are. It’s nothing more than a gaggle of 20-something’s who are 100% compliance driven, their job is to actively look for a reason to say “NO”.
No disrespect intended, I’m sure that there are some leftovers who actually know what they’re doing. That said, there is no doubt that every decision is fear-based, one misstep and you’re fired.
While joint employer status is a nightmare, even worse is removing the THREAT of joint employer.
Imagine ifl it was illegal to consider franchisors as joint employers under most or any circumstances. This opens the floodgates- that effectively allows McDonald’s to mandate whatever goofy employment requirements that they want. They would be free to set wages, to force quotas ranging from racial/ethnic minimums to sexual preference requirements, to force paid time off, to force franchisees to be compliant from an ESG standpoint…there would be absolutely nothing keeping them from mandating anything around employment because they would be indemnified from legal recourse.
It’s an incredibly important distinction, we do NOT want the company to be found as a joint employer however the threat of a finding of joint employer status is our best friend.
Imagine the fun they could have. Marketing would have a ball bragging about the wages we are forced to pay, that employees are free to do about anything that they want and they’d always have a website and toll free number to call to make up whatever story they want to and the company would ALWAYS side with them, rendering franchisees completely powerless as employers.
Even worse, there is virtually nobody left on their side who has ever worked in our restaurants therefore their view of employees are victims gets even more traction and eventually is just accepted as a known, a given. Owner Operators are the bad guy, the company and employees are the good guys. One can easily imagine the cascading effect of the inmates running the asylum, with our keepers/minders at MHQ always ready to stand by the employee who never did anything wrong- just another set of hooks to keep us in line..
This would completely invalidate and annihilate our ability to form/mold employees to successful careers.
A MD who started in my restaurant at 16 once told me, “You provided the best first job I could have ever asked for. I learned what is required to be a success, and it’s not easy.”
With no autonomy there is no power and with no power there are no limits as to the ways in which employees and MHQ will destroy our businesses. They’ll start with employment matters and before long we will be running a not-for-profit enterprise.
One must be VERY careful with this topic.
Nobody wants McDonald’s to be found to be a joint employer, it will lead to franchisees effectively becoming employees of the company. Every hiring or HR decision, every employment policy, every action taken will be scrutinized and/or must gain approval from “MHQ” and everyone knows how helpful and efficient they are. It’s nothing more than a gaggle of 20-something’s who are 100% compliance driven, their job is to actively look for a reason to say “NO”.
No disrespect intended, I’m sure that there are some leftovers who actually know what they’re doing. That said, there is no doubt that every decision is fear-based, one misstep and you’re fired.
While joint employer status is a nightmare, even worse is removing the THREAT of joint employer.
Imagine ifl it was illegal to consider franchisors as joint employers under most or any circumstances. This opens the floodgates- that effectively allows McDonald’s to mandate whatever goofy employment requirements that they want. They would be free to set wages, to force quotas ranging from racial/ethnic minimums to sexual preference requirements, to force paid time off, to force franchisees to be compliant from an ESG standpoint…there would be absolutely nothing keeping them from mandating anything around employment because they would be indemnified from legal recourse.
It’s an incredibly important distinction, we do NOT want the company to be found as a joint employer however the threat of a finding of joint employer status is our best friend.
Imagine the fun they could have. Marketing would have a ball bragging about the wages we are forced to pay, that employees are free to do about anything that they want and they’d always have a website and toll free number to call to make up whatever story they want to and the company would ALWAYS side with them, rendering franchisees completely powerless as employers.
Even worse, there is virtually nobody left on their side who has ever worked in our restaurants therefore their view of employees are victims gets even more traction and eventually is just accepted as a known, a given. Owner Operators are the bad guy, the company and employees are the good guys. One can easily imagine the cascading effect of the inmates running the asylum, with our keepers/minders at MHQ always ready to stand by the employee who never did anything wrong- just another set of hooks to keep us in line..
This would completely invalidate and annihilate our ability to form/mold employees to successful careers.
A MD who started in my restaurant at 16 once told me, “You provided the best first job I could have ever asked for. I learned what is required to be a success, and it’s not easy.”
With no autonomy there is no power and with no power there are no limits as to the ways in which employees and MHQ will destroy our businesses. They’ll start with employment matters and before long we will be running a not-for-profit enterprise.
The above comment is absolutely, unequivocally SPOT ON!
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