Time to go home

A recent decision by Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer to place a ban on all staff from working from home has sparked a debate amongst business leaders about the pros and cons of working remotely. Richard Branson commented that: “This seems a backwards step in an age when remote working is easier and more effective than ever.”

In a society dominated by new technology, social media and the internet, working remotely has become commonplace and is particularly welcomed by working parents with young families that are seeking a better work-life balance. However, whilst some businesses encourage teleworking to help cut office costs, others think that the best ideas come when employees are all together in one central office space – something Mayer pointed out to her own staff when delivering her news.

But for those who are seeking to bring greater flexibility in their working life rather than be subject to whichever side of the current debate their employee is on, the option to go into franchising should be a serious consideration.

The choice to work from home is something that most franchises can offer and many that are home-based, with flexible working hours, allow you to earn a good living around family commitments. Franchisees are very much in control of their own time and where they choose to spend it – whether that’s in an office, retail premises, or from the comfort of their own home.

Louise Bruce, owner of Big Red Box PR and co-chair of EWIF (Encouraging Women into Franchising), says that franchising is a dream-come-true for families seeking a better work-life balance.

She comments: “When deciding which franchise is best for you, look at your commitments and try to find a business that will fit around them. If one of the reasons you’re moving away from nine-to-five employment is because you want the flexibility to pick up the kids from school at 3pm there’s no point looking at a kids’ swimming class, because you’re going to be in the pool when they’re coming out of the gates; however if you chose a bookkeeping or a cleaning business you could easily make sure you’re free by the end of the school day.”

Helan Graham is joint director of a Caremark franchise in Oldham, and, in spite of having a young family, she was able to launch her business in September 2011 and since then has seen it go from strength to strength. She says: “Running a business and having a young family presents lots of challenges and having to juggle the many different aspects of each day can be difficult. Some days I feel like I’ve done a full day’s work before I get to the office. On other days I feel like I go to the office for a rest! Having a good work-life balance is very important to me, but it’s also something I have to work at to get the balance right.”

And it isn’t just women that have to think about juggling work with family life – men are increasingly factoring in spending more time with their children when deciding on their career choices. Having spent the previous 20 years working 80-hour weeks and spending a considerable amount of time away from home, Mike Anderson realised that his lifestyle had to change. “I wanted to be able to do simple things, such as collect my children from school,” he says. “I felt that if I didn’t get off the corporate merry-go-round and actively pursue a different route, then I would just be existing, rather than enjoying life, and my family wouldn’t get the best of me either. That’s when I came to the conclusion that starting my own business would give me more freedom. Given that I’d also realised property was a viable option, I decided to combine the two.”

Mike took the plunge and invested in a Platinum Property Partners franchise. He says that he now has the lifestyle he could never have achieved previously: “My wife and I now have the time to nip for a coffee whenever we want, and if the family want to go on holiday, these days it’s a question of ‘how long would we like to be away?’, rather than ‘can I get the time off?’”

Mark Sullivan turned his sights on a Wilkins Chimney Sweep franchise, after retiring from the police force in 2011. He and his wife Justine had two young children and were looking for something to fit around the needs of their family. Mark says: “At the time I was due to retire, we were looking at options for life after the job, ranging from doing little or nothing, a steady job for one or both of us, or setting up in business on our own. “Going back into the world of paid employment during a deep recession was challenging enough, but also didn’t really meet our needs in terms of the flexibility for us in childcare. As two adults we had worked for most of our adult lives and struggled at times with childcare – we saw this is an opportunity to balance home and work life and have a joint interest or project we could share which also provided the flexibility we needed.

“We didn’t want to do the ships-passing-in-the-night lifestyle and preferred a joint interest we could share, rather than compete for whose job was the most challenging or stressful.”

Many franchisees that have come from corporate backgrounds, working long hours with little opportunity to escape the office, have chosen to go into franchising for the very reason that it allows the flexibility and autonomy to manage your own time and workload, as well as work remotely. And, contrary to the popular belief of many employers, working from home can make franchisees even more productive. Louise Harris, director of the Wilkins Chimney Sweep franchise, finds this to be the case. She says: “Generally, people working for themselves from home work harder because they’re able to juggle commitments, such as the school run, making up the time when they need to and all without a boss breathing down their necks.”

You may also be interested in...