How to Calculate Staffing Needs Before Franchising Your Business

The day-to-day running of a successful business may depend on unseen work by its founder. But if an independent franchisee is expected to replicate that operation, it must be clear how many people are needed, when they need to work and what skills they require. For businesses preparing to franchise, staffing plans are not about copying the existing headcount; they are about measuring workloads and establishing a sustainable way of working. This guide focuses on calculating staffing needs before offering your first franchise.

1. Measure the work, not the existing headcount

The first step is to record the work carried out in the business by time slot. Measuring only the time spent serving customers will give an incomplete picture. Opening preparations, receiving goods, cleaning, cashing up and preparing for the following day also take time.

Divide the task list into three groups:

• Fixed tasks: Opening, closing and daily checks carried out regardless of customer numbers.
• Volume-dependent tasks: Activities that increase with demand, such as preparing orders, providing advice, packing or taking payments.
• Periodic tasks: Stocktakes, deep cleaning, maintenance preparations and activities specific to delivery days.

For each task, record its frequency, duration and the skills required. Do not take measurements only on a quiet day; assess weekdays, weekends and busy periods separately. Record waiting time, work that has to be redone and disruptions as well. This will reveal how long a task that looks quick in theory actually takes under real working conditions.

Make a particular effort to capture the founder’s work. If the owner places orders every evening or steps in at the till when the business is short-staffed, that time must not be treated as a free, unlimited resource. Any assumption that the new operator will make the same contribution should be stated explicitly.

2. Convert daily totals into hourly capacity

Total daily working time is not enough on its own. If much of the work falls within a short period, staffing that appears sufficient across the day may fail to maintain service during peak hours. Calculate staffing needs by time slot instead.

A starting calculation is:

Workload within a time slot = number of transactions × working time per transaction + fixed tasks that must be completed within that slot.

Compare this total with the time one employee can actually devote to work during that period. However, do not translate the result directly into a headcount. Tasks that require people to be in different places at the same time, safety requirements and specialist skills must be assessed separately.

For example, taking payments and preparing products might, in total, fit within one person’s available time. Even so, the need to maintain continuous customer service or work in a separate preparation area may require two people at once. Conversely, one person may be able to handle tasks carried out at different times.

Show the number of people and the skills required for each time slot in the resulting table. Describing the requirement as “staff covering customer reception, preparation and shift supervision”, rather than simply “three employees”, will help the new business plan its recruitment more accurately.

3. Include leave and the operator’s own work in shift calculations

The number of people needed on a shift is not the same as the business’s total staffing requirement. Unless weekly rest, annual leave, training, sickness and staff turnover are taken into account, the plan will work only when everyone is available all the time.

Prepare two separate tables: one showing the shift cover required to serve customers, and another showing the total workforce needed to sustain that cover. Do not build a model that relies on routine overtime to cover absences.

Show the operator’s role under two scenarios as well:

• A model in which the operator carries out specified day-to-day operational tasks.
• A model in which a paid manager performs those duties instead.

This distinction is particularly important when discussing the existing business’s profitability with a prospective franchisee. An operation that relies on unpaid work by its founder may produce different results once a manager’s salary is included.

Do not base the staffing budget solely on take-home pay. Assess the employer’s total wage costs, social security obligations, benefits, recruitment costs and training expenses. Have a qualified accountant check the calculations, and do not carry outdated rates into the standard budget.

4. Align staffing standards with legal requirements

Türkiye has no comprehensive franchise-specific law, general mandatory pre-contract disclosure regime or special registration requirement for franchise agreements. Depending on the subject matter, the relationship is governed by the Turkish Code of Obligations No. 6098, the Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, the Law on the Protection of Competition No. 4054 and, for trade mark rights, the Industrial Property Law No. 6769.

Staffing plans must also take account of relevant obligations, particularly those under the Labour Law No. 4857, the Social Insurance and General Health Insurance Law No. 5510 and the Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331. Working hours, rest breaks, leave and workplace safety requirements cannot be left out of capacity calculations.

The franchisor may define the required service capacity and skill standards. However, where the franchisee is a separate employer, recruitment, shift management and instructions to employees must be handled consistently with that structure. Contractual labels alone are not enough; the actual working relationship also matters. Have the proposed model reviewed from an employment law perspective.

5. Give the prospective franchisee a workable staffing plan

The final document should bring together opening hours, projected transaction volumes, shift cover, total headcount and the work contribution expected from the operator. State the operating conditions behind each assumption. Do not simply transfer a small shop’s staffing model to another location with longer opening hours.

Identify the signs that the plan needs updating, too. These include longer waiting times, unfinished closing tasks, persistent overtime or an increase in transaction errors. Staffing levels then become an operational decision based on measurable needs, rather than a fixed instruction.

Practical takeaway: Before franchising your business, measure all the work involved, including the founder’s contribution, calculate hourly capacity and prepare a staffing budget that allows for leave cover. Explain to prospective franchisees not just how many people they need to employ, but the conditions under which that number will be sufficient.