Virtual training academies

Long before the Coronavirus pandemic, some training courses have always been offered as distance learning opportunities. However, in the franchise world, and in particular for ServiceMaster Clean Franchise, we have always held training centrally, at our Franchise Support Centre in Leicester.

Several new territories

Whilst some business operations had no choice but to temporarily pause, our franchise recruitment function continued with many prospective business owners re-evaluating their options due to the current uncertainty. As such, we agreed several new territories across our brands and as a consequence, would need to arrange training academies ahead of their planned opening dates.

Fully virtual

Due to social distancing and limited numbers of staff within the office, we decided to make all training academies fully virtual for the foreseeable. This bold move was an easy decision for us to ensure the maximum safety of both our prospective business owners and our employees at ServiceMaster House.

Latest technology

Fortunately, our IT department made the transition to virtual easy through the use of the very latest in technology and specialist IT systems. Much of the academy is now held through Microsoft Teams calls, using its functionality in screen sharing to keep the sessions interactive and avoid video call fatigue.

Interactive sessions

Prospective franchisees can expect the same level of insight in to their new business, if not more through informative and interactive sessions from all of the key members of the team.

Comfort & Safety

All staff members who would typically be involved in an academy, continued to be involved, but from the comfort and safety of their home office. We even succeeded in holding a graduation with many staff members from around the business to welcome the new business owner in to their retrospective network.

We are looking forward to holding many more virtual training academies throughout the rest of the year in our commitment to swapping physical handshakes for virtual ones.