Covid-19’s prolonged lock down orders led to a radical restructuring of global workplace environments and corporate structures, which were forced to evolve swiftly to meet the emergent needs of workers and owners alike in accordance with Work from Home (WFH) orders. While remote work was an established format for niche industries in the tech and advising fields, widespread WFH orders posed new and interesting challenges—but were not without notable benefit.

Prior to Covid-19, corporate mores dictated our beliefs (and by extension, our policies) around productivity and engagement standards, favoring in-person over remote work regardless of individual or collective necessity. Our post-Covid world, however, has normalized the WFH model, with widespread adoption across the majority of global businesses and commerce. Acceptance of remote work as an established model of business has led to adjusted standards that are more accommodating of this style of corporate management. As a result, many business owners have followed suit in reassessing if their physical presence is necessary when it comes to running a successful enterprise.

So is WFH a viable option as a franchise owner?

Ultimately, yes!—though there are some caveats.

While day-to-day oversight and management can be delegated to a team of dedicated managers, the success of your business falls on your shoulders alone. General Managers, however trustworthy and dedicated, do not share your same degree of vested interest and financial risk associated with keeping the company afloat. Ensuring the continued profit and stability of your franchise is ultimately your responsibility—one that will likely require you to make periodic trips to your franchise to attend to issues beyond the GM's purview, such as assessing operational function, facilitating transitions in management, making higher-level decisions regarding disciplinary action and chain of command, and addressing other emergent issues for which a GM may not be equipped.

Additionally, maintaining a positive relationship with your management team is of critical importance so as to ensure policies are being enforced and expectations are being met. Having boots on the ground, particularly in the early stages of your franchise’s opening, will offer valuable insight into the day to day machinations of how your business operates, allowing you to maintain smooth operation moving forward, while being mindful of potential areas of risk.

There are myriad benefits to WFH franchise ownership:

1. Removing commuting time from your daily work schedule has several nested benefits you may have not yet considered:
   
   • Working from home frees up valuable time for you to invest in research, outsourcing creative talent from local and remote contractor pools, and exploring options for other cost saving measures you may not have had the dedicated time to do were you working from an office, thereby increasing your productivity and enabling you to focus on these tasks.
   • Additionally, studies have shown that work related stress dramatically decreases in those who transition to working from home.
2. By working from home, you will have lower overhead costs due to being able to rent or purchase a smaller building without worrying about having office space within it for you to operate out of. This also minimizes utility costs, and saves on WiFi costs, as your plan will only need to cover the basic functionality of your Point of Sale (P.O.S.) system, rather than paying for the additional bandwidth necessary to support your personal data needs.
3. Working from home allows for greater flexibility in management style, which appeals greatly to business owners who are high stress, suffer from social anxiety, sensory processing disorders, or who find they are better able to articulate via written communication rather than verbal.