The Challenge
The FTE Model: A Tailored Approach
GSS’s full-time equivalent (FTE) model measures an employee’s total workload and can help to determine an organization’s ideal number of full-time employees. This game-changing approach allows franchisors to continue to develop one or multiple concepts while taking steps to outsource services, streamline operations, and optimize growth. By modeling this approach, franchise businesses with over 20 locations can boost their bottom line by strategically managing their overhead through the retention of high-value analytical functions and the outsourcing of more transactional or routine tasks. For those with less than 20 locations, the model can get them savings now while on the road to growth by helping with accounts payable, bookkeeping, and other suitable services.
In 2023, a GSS client with over 600 locations took advantage of the power of FTE approach by offloading its transactional accounting to GSS. Based on the organization’s need, GSS allocated 20 full-time employees to the brand’s hundreds of locations. These employees are employed by GSS but take day-to-day direction from the client’s management team. This partnership integrates the highly skilled client’s managers with GSS’s experienced restaurant accountants. This approach allows the client to focus their human capital investments on high value staff and takes advantage of GSS’s experience in back-office restaurant staff. They no longer have to struggle with the attrition in the junior staff ranks, and most importantly the FTE model has put them on track to save over $300,000 annually.
The Solution
Significant Savings
A significant benefit of our FTE model is the time and money savings. The FTE model is virtually plug-and- play because of our restaurant industry and specialized systems expertise. Our involvement saves the organization time in recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding, and allows clients to focus those efforts on current and future management. The restaurant group gets the benefit of having its own specialized restaurant team, without the day-to-day drag of staffing and managing those employees.
Solves the Attrition
Problem: Full Control
Another advantage of our FTE model is its ability to solve the attrition problem. With a dedicated team from GSS handling their accounting needs, our clients can focus on their core business operations without worrying about staff turnover issues. In today’s evolving workforce, that is a significant benefit for many clients who want to focus more on the business of their restaurants and less on the human resource needs associated with large organizations.
The GSS FTE model enables the client to retain full control of their reporting and data related to their business while relying on experts to guide their accounting and reporting needs. The model also gives the client process design and management control since the teams are integrated between dedicated GSS staff and the client’s senior staff.
The Result
The Future is Here
Larger franchise groups now have a viable alternative to hiring and managing their own in-house accounting teams. The GSS FTE model offers a unique, effective, and proven solution for franchises. It provides significant cost savings, simplifies the hiring process, solves attrition issues, and gives our clients’ expertise typically only accessible to large public, multinational corporations.
