Wall Street Journal: Franchisors Plan Growth As Strong Jobs Report Released

Employers in the U.S. added 235,000 jobs in February and in the franchise industry companies like Lansing, Mich.-based TWO MEN AND A TRUCK* are adjusting with the changing hiring climate and gearing up for a busy spring and summer. According to the Wall Street Journal, the unemployment rate also dipped to 4.7% in February.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK is in the midst of their Career Moves Month campaign to hire up for the heavy moving season ahead - but as the workforce changes and the pool of potential employees shifts, the brand has had to be strategic with how they attract qualified workers.

“We have to work harder to find the people we need,” Jeff Wesley, CEO of TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, told the Wall Street Journal. “It is more challenging than it was five years ago.”

With the annual hiring push, TMT is targeting 12,000 applications with at least 1,200 they'd like to hire by the end of March to prepare for the spring and summer moving season.

The Cleaning Authority is also amping up hiring this spring by 10-20% over the 11,488 they hired in 2016.

“We can feel it tightening,” Leanne Stapf, Director of Operations Services for The Cleaning Authority, told the Wall Street Journal. “We’re not just competing with household-cleaning companies. We’re competing with the entire hourly workspace.”

In order to continue attracting high-quality employees across their franchise system, The Cleaning Authority raised pay which has helped secure good workers.