Happinest

Happinest Brands, the parent franchisor of Lawn Doctor, Mosquito Hunters and ecomaids, has bolstered its commitment to being a brand that promotes personnel benefits and wellness. The company knows that happy customers come from happy employees, and the higher-ups at Happinest and its subsidiaries have done scores of work internally to ensure their satisfaction.

“Happinest is spearheading a push to build resources for our franchisees to be able to tap into the best practices on how to build the right culture and not only attract but retain employees,” said Sharon Cupach, vice president of franchise development.

Healthcare program rollout

Most recently, Happinest rolled out a new healthcare program for franchisees, their employees and their families. The program allows the brand to offer six different health insurance plans, explained David Newman, vice president of operations. “Each franchisee has the opportunity to develop a program for themselves to participate in, as well as their employees. They can decide which plans they want to offer, and how they may want to help subsidize the cost.”

The health insurance program has officially launched for Lawn Doctor, the 630-plus-unit lawn maintenance franchise, and ecomaids, the 100-plus-unit, environmentally safe home-and-business-cleaning brand, and several franchisees already enrolled. It will be rolling out to the company’s third brand, Mosquito Hunters, soon.

“For each brand, we had kick off webinars to explain the dedicated websites of the program. We made training videos for both owner education on the program and also at the employee level once they sign up, to walk them through getting started, what's available to them, etc. We have customer service available to them to answer questions.”

Not many franchisors have options for benefit programs, so it was a diligent process to orchestrate, but the Happinest team was determined to find a solution. “We're now pushing around 900 locations nationwide across the Happinest Brands system, so it was very important to have a plan that could work in all 50 states,” said Eric Martin, senior vice president of franchise development.

Industry comparison

“I have not seen this before in my time in franchising. It's given us an opportunity that other companies can't pull together. It answers a real concern for a lot of candidates who need to attract and retain good talent,” Martin continued.

Cupach agreed, saying Happinest’s dedication to ensure the wellbeing of Lawn Doctor, ecomaids and Mosquito Hunters employees is superior to anything else she’s seen in her 25 year career. “I'm really proud that Happinest has a program in place during these times in our society when hiring and retention is very difficult. Offering owners those resources is a huge differentiator in the marketplace,” she said.