Are franchises bad employers?

Franchise jobs are described as representing the epitome of the "low road" approach to managing employees. High turnover, little training, deskilled jobs, and little employee involvement, practices often seen as unsophisticated. Research on franchise operations suggests that their basic operating principles and practices tend to be more professional and advanced than those of equivalent independent operators. We might therefore expect their employee management practices to be more advanced as well, challenging the stereotype of franchise jobs. We use data from a national probability sample of establishments to examine the relationship between franchise status and employment practices.