AtWork Personnel Services

Founded: 1990 Franchising since: 1992
Bob Smith, founder of a full-time placement service in Knoxville, Tennessee, was interested in starting a temporary help business. He approached John Hall about developing the concept, and together the two started AtWork Personnel Service in 1986.

Over the next five years, the company added 11 locations. The following year, those locations were offered to managers as franchises. AtWork began selling franchises to the general public in 1994.

3215 John Sevier Hwy. Knoxville, Tennessee 37920

Phone: (800)383-0804

Franchisor is a privately-held company with 20 employee(s); 20 employee(s) in franchise department.

Franchise Growth

Year	U.S. Franchises	Canadian Franchises	Foreign Franchises	Company Owned
2009	36	0	0	0
2008	48	0	0	0
2007	46	0	0	0
2006	46	0	0	0
2005	47	0	0	0

Where Seeking Franchisees
In the U.S. Alaska, Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, North carolina, North dakota, New hampshire, New jersey, New mexico, Nevada, New york, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode island, South carolina, South dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, West virginia, Wyoming

Exclusive territories available.
Territory size: 150,000 employmee base

Special Programs
AtWork Personnel Service rewards franchisees with reduced royalty and service fees for account volume. AtWork locations donate excess computer equipment to local schools.

Total investment: $143K-226K Franchise fee: $25K

Ongoing royalty fee: 6.1-1.6% Term of agreement: 10 years, renewable

Type of Financing Available

	In-House	Third Party
Franchise Fee	No	No
Startup Costs	No	No
Equipment	No	No
Inventory	No	No
Accounts Receivable	Yes	No
Payroll	Yes	No

Qualifications
Cash liquidity requirement: $100K
Business Experience:

• Industry experience
• General business experience
• Marketing skills
• Collections experience; human resources experience; sales experience

Operations

• 32% of all franchisees own more than one unit
• Number of employees needed to run franchised unit: 2 - 4
• Absentee ownership of franchise is NOT allowed. (100% of current franchisees are owner/operators)

Training

• Available at headquarters: 5 days minimum
• At franchisee's location: 3-5 days minimum
• Meetings : 2 days

Ongoing Support

• Newsletter
• Meetings
• Toll-free phone line
• Internet
• Security/safety procedures
• Field operations/evaluations

Marketing Support

• Co-op advertising
• Ad slicks
• Regional advertising

Other marketing support

• Direct sales support

Franchise 500® rank:
#374 (2007); #495 (2006); #487 (2005);