The joint employer standard has changed four times in the last decade. Franchise brands have been quietly restructuring their operations around every shift—pulling back franchisee support, shelving HR programs, and waiting for the other shoe to drop.

In this episode, Leighton Healey talks with Haider Murtaza, Senior Director of Federal Government Relations at the International Franchise Association, about what that uncertainty has cost franchising, what the American Franchise Act would change, and why the most powerful voice on this issue isn't a lobbyist; it's a franchise owner in a congressional district.

Franchise culture doesn't scale on its own. Someone has to guard it.

In this episode, Leighton Healey sits down with Tom Gissler of Rolling Suds to unpack what it actually takes to build a franchise system that holds together through rapid growth — why the real innovation is happening at the franchisee level, how technology is freeing leaders to focus on community instead of KPIs, and why the brands that last are the ones treating culture like soil worth tending.

If you're scaling a home or commercial services franchise, this episode will change how you think about what your real job is.

📺 Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/NzG0yoArfBw

What's Next in Franchising is a podcast for leaders scaling service franchises who want to grow without losing their quality, their culture, or their people.

Franchise sales are rising—and so is the legal liability hiding inside that growth. Leighton and Travis break down the FTC disclosure rules that motivated sales teams are quietly bending, why that compliance problem is almost never the root issue, and what the IFA convention in Las Vegas revealed about where franchisors are really feeling squeezed heading into 2026. Plus: why stable interest rates won't save a cautious consumer, and the AI strategy gap that had surprisingly little buzz on the show floor.