The staffing problem that all franchises face
“Where do we find good people and how do we keep them?” is a question that comes up a lot at franchise conferences these days. Franchisees are always under pressure to keep their margins because of high turnover, extended recruiting cycles, and escalating wages.
But now, artificial intelligence is about to make big changes to how people are hired and kept. The key question isn’t whether AI will change how people are hired, but how fast and wisely franchisors and franchisees will use it [AI Mindshift: Ford Saeks].
Why AI is being used in hiring now
Franchise owners across Canada are struggling to find reliable workers and absorb the costs of high employee turnover. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business confirms that staffing shortages remain a major obstacle for small business growth [CFIB 2025 Report].
For franchises, where delivering a consistent brand experience is crucial, poor hiring decisions and slow onboarding can directly damage customer satisfaction and overall success.
AI tools that were once only available to large corporations are now affordable subscriptions, helping franchisees streamline their hiring processes. For example, platforms like HireVue.com and Harver.com provide AI-driven résumé review and skill assessments, enabling faster candidate screening. Paradox.ai offers conversational chatbots capable of conducting initial interviews, providing consistent, unbiased candidate evaluations.
Beyond simple screening, these systems often incorporate behavioral and cognitive assessments—such as DISC profiles, Predictive Index reports, and emotional intelligence evaluations—that offer deep insights into how candidates are likely to perform and interact within your team.
These assessments can be uploaded into a customGPT or AI platform, which then helps managers and leaders use this data to improve their leadership, communication, coaching, and team-building strategies. This approach supports smarter hiring decisions and can significantly improve long-term retention.
By leveraging AI and these assessments together, franchises gain a powerful toolset to select the right people, fast-track onboarding, and build stronger, more cohesive teams—all while preserving the human touch that builds customer loyalty and franchise growth.
Why it matters for the growth of franchises
The success of a franchise depends on its staff. Individuals choose a brand at first, but they stay loyal to it based on how well they are served by competent individuals.
But hiring people can take a long time for franchisees, and training and keeping them might become less important when resources are limited. AI can help with this: franchisors can create AI-enabled playbooks that make it easier for their franchise networks to hire and train new employees, which makes the business run more smoothly.
Franchisees might expect real benefits like:
• Less time spent going through résumés by hand
• Faster onboarding processes customized to each person’s learning style
• Insights that can help predict employee performance
AI is not a replacement for human judgment; it is a strong tool that makes it easier to make decisions [ACCELERATE: Ford Saeks].
Hiring: faster and fairer screening of candidates
AI-powered hiring tools can swiftly go through hundreds of applications and find applicants that are a good fit for the job and the company culture. Using AI responsibly can help make hiring less biased and more welcoming.
AI chatbots such as Paradox Olivia are being tested in quick-service restaurant franchises for standardized, unbiased first-round interviews that ensure candidates are always judged the same way [AI Mindshift].
How to predict and stop turnover
The main purpose of staffing is to keep people. Advanced AI platforms look at attendance records, surveys of employee engagement, and patterns of communication to find indicators of burnout or disengagement.
Workday People Analytics and UKG Ready are two tools that help managers be proactive by giving employees options for flexible scheduling, recognition programs, or opportunities to learn new skills.
For operators with more than one location, this data can help keep hiring on track and expansion moving forward [AI Mindshift].
The future: finding a balance between AI and people
The future of AI in hiring for franchises is to give people more authority, not take it away. Too much automation could make employees and job seekers who value real ties with other people lose interest.
Trends already in motion include:
• Structured initial interviews conducted by conversational AI
• Dynamic scheduling based on predictive analytics
• Virtual AI coaches who help staff grow continuously
AI can make operations better, but a strong culture and real human contact are still needed. Franchisors who use simple, human-centered AI solutions will help everyone work together, and franchisees who use those tools will save time, money, and keep more customers. Customers will easily notice the difference [AI Mindshift, ACCELERATE: Ford Saeks].
Smart hiring puts people first and AI second. At their core, hiring and keeping people are still very human. But franchises have a big edge over the competition in the talent market because they use AI in a smart way. The victors will be the ones who use AI’s analytical prowess and empathetic leadership to hire smarter, train better, and keep talent longer.
This method turns today’s personnel problems into chances for growth in the future.
