It’s always nice to get good feedback from any business you deal with, but when it’s a charity that feeling is even better. We’ve supportedThe Timber Projectfor the past 4 months now, and since their campaign went live on our digital screens theresbeen a large increase in donations.
Chris Moore, co-Founder of The Timber Project said “Thank you so much for your continued support! We have had a lot of donations on the back of this so we really appreciate your help”
The teamare out in Greece and along the Balkan route devoted to providing basic shelter and hygiene facilities for refugees stranded. Chris also said “The temperature here is well below freezing and many people are still living in tents. The more we can do provide warm spaces for people really makes a difference”
The team haveraised over £10,000 so far,but still need help to continue the building of shelters for the thousands of refugees. Please help support their amazing work by donating what you can, everything helps! You can donate here –https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/thetimberproject
Briar Chemicals welcomed Clive Lewis, MP for Norwich South, to their manufacturingsite to find out more about how the Company generates substantial added value for the UK and global economy.
Briar Chemicals delivers contract and custom manufacturing solutions to world-leading companies in the crop protection, fine and speciality chemical sectors. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry is the UK’s number one manufacturing export earner.
The products made onbehalf of our customers help to protecta wide range of crops, increase farmers’ yields in challenging climates, prevent diseases in cattle and sheep, and are key building blocks in the leather, textile and plastics sectors.
Whilst touring the site, Clive Lewis MP visited one of the production plant control rooms,monitored 24 hours a day by a team of operators.
This year, Briar Chemicals celebrates 60 years’ of production on the site. In 1956 by May and Baker established a new manufacturing plant in Norwich, on the46 hectares (114 acres) site that Briar Chemicals occupies today.
Tim Green, Briar Chemicals site manager, said: “We are delighted to welcome Mr Lewis to our site to show him around the facility. It is important for us, as a established business in the local area, to know that we are receiving support from our local MP. We are proud of our heritage, our staff and the positive work we do in the community.”
Briar Chemicals plays a pivotal role within the community, employing 220 people, supporting local schools with its education programme, sponsoring the local arts and science festivals and offering careers advice to the future generation of scientists.
As Briar Chemicals reached its fourth anniversary of operating as an independent business earlier in the year, it looks to the future. TimGreen added: “We are focused on continued investment in our employees and manufacturing assets to support growth through new business opportunities”.
With businesses suddenly having to manage a considerably more remote workforce due to the impact of coronavirus, we asked ourselves, how can we at Safepoint help?
To help support businesses in these tough times we’ve put together some free resources, as well as providing Safepoint completely free to anyone that needs the extra support.
Did you know that staff who work from home are considered ‘lone workers’ by the government? If self-isolation is your first experience with hiring lone workers, it’s recommended that you create a ‘lone worker policy’. Don’t worry, you can make one using our free document builder here: https://www.safepointapp.com/lone-working-policy-builder
We also know that, despite Covid-19, some essential services can’t operate from home. To help, we’re offering a completely free month of Safepoint for anyone who needs it. Sign up at https://www.safepointapp.com/ and use the code PROTECTMYSTAFF at checkout.
The scheme will be available for all employees currently paid via PAYE and will be backdated to 1 March 2020. he scheme will be open initially for three months but the period may be extended if needed
As a business, the guidance states that you will need to:
Designate affected employees as ‘furloughed workers,’ and notify your employees of this change. We consider that ‘furloughed workers’ means keeping the employees on the payroll rather than laying them off or making them redundant. Changing the status of employees to ‘furloughed workers’ is subject to existing employment law, therefore, you would need to agree to any changes with your workforce (unless you have set lay off, etc provisions in your contract of employment). The workforce would be likely to agree to any changes if the alternative is redundancy or lay off. If you have more than 20 employees affected by any changes to terms and conditions or proposed redundancies, our team would be happy to speak to you about collective consultation obligations.
Submit information to HMRC about the employees that have been furloughed and their earnings through a new online portal (HMRC will set out further details on the information required).
HMRC will then reimburse 80% of furloughed workers wage costs, up to a cap of £2,500 per month. HMRC is working urgently to set up a system for reimbursement. Although it is not clear yet, it is likely that the £2, 500 per month will be a net figure to be placed into the hands of employees and include pension etc. However, we will need clarity on this point.
Please note that it will be the employer’s decision on whether to designate employees as ‘furloughed workers’ therefore employees cannot just be given this status without the agreement of the employer.
Further information
For specific advice for your business, please get in touch with our specialist Employment Law team through this website or by calling 0330 404 0778.
I have been so touched at the level of #coronakindness over all socials and the kind offers of support in our region – it is heart warming at such a difficult time.
We would like to extend our support to colleagues and and are in a great position as a business to help you reach out to your most important asset – your teams. We have designed a bespoke team survey for your use (free of charge) which has been written following conversations with businesses across many sectors to ascertain the type of insight that will be of use. Questions such as how you are communicating with teams and your customers and do they have the right tools for their roles in the current circumstances requiring new ways of working for some. The survey is anonymous for participants.
Understanding how your teams feel at this current time will be crucial in making sure you are making the right decisions for them and your business, as we ride out the pandemic. Having vital colleague insight at this time will enable you to make decisions quickly.
It is totally FREE of charge including the outputs from the report. To sign up and receive your unique link please follow this one.
Help Please is a new LinkedIn Group, created by Brian Bush, that is dedicated to connecting businesses who have a need or problem with people/businesses who can help.
It’s simple, if you need help with something post it onto the group, and if you can help with something or direct to an introduction please do likewise.
You can find the group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12385978/
Business masterclasses and workshops are planned for February and March in Cromer and Fakenham, organised by business support organisation, Genix.
Alex Till, chief executive of Genix said, “Business owners their staff and the self-employed need to keep up to date with knowledge and information to ensure they prosper and that’s why we’re holding these effective and great value, masterclasses in North Norfolk.
“Our trainers are experts in their field and course titles include, Book Keeping and Financial Control for Business, The Essentials of Email Marketing and Understanding Balance Sheets and Profit & Loss.”
Holly Stibbon of marketing company, 101 Smart is the tutor for Genix’s email marketing course and aims to help delegates write effective emails which will be opened, read and actioned upon. The workshop is well suited to non-technical people who wish to improve their knowledge and get better results.
Genix’s masterclasses are subsidised and cost just £30 per person, per course, due to the support of the European Regional Development Fund.
Genix also works in partnership with eAlliance Learning Technology providing over 600 online, off-the-shelf e-learning courses, ideal for business owners and their staff.
For dates, content and to book Genix’s masterclasses go to www.genix.org.uk or telephone 0800 096 3013. For more details of its online training email genix@ea-learningtech.com.
CMI Management Qualifications with Distance Learning
Did you know that holding a professional Qualification can boost your earnings by an estimated £81,000 during your working lifetime?
CMI qualifications provide a progressive framework that enables you to develop and broaden your management skills. Each qualification leads on from the next, delivering professional learning that equips you with the skills, knowledge and confidence to take your career further.
Start a CMI Management Qualification today with us at TIPS for Good management and benefit from:
– Distance learning supported by a personal coach
– More cost effective than a classroom based course
– Recognised Qualifications
– fitting your learning around your work and home life
We’re proud to announce that Swarm Training has been approved as a Level 1 Disability Confident employer. This marks an exciting step in our ongoing commitment to creating inclusive, supportive workplaces for everyone, regardless of their circumstances.
If you want to work, we want to help make that possible by removing barriers, fostering potential, and encouraging high performance. Inclusion isn’t just a policy for us, it’s central to our mission in apprenticeship training and embedded in everything we do.
Joining the Disability Confident programme enables us to keep learning and evolving with expert guidance in this field.
Every member of our team contributes to our culture of continuous improvement, not just through their own commitment to developing themselves professionally, but by supporting one another, our learners and our clients with empathy, understanding and the tools they need to succeed. That includes recognising neurodiversity, physical disabilities, and health conditions. It means embracing the impactful practices of flexible working, AI tools, specific hardware and software, or just enabling people to receive written communications in a different format.
That doesn’t mean we are happy to accept lower standards.On the contrary, our standards are high and we expect commitment, but we also know how much potential is unlocked through the right support which so often enables people to exceed even their own expectations. Disability Confident actually means we can enable someone to do higher quality work through making appropriate adjustments for genuine health conditions. It has such a positive effect on someone’s mental health, job satisfaction and drive when they see what they can do and not what they can’t do!
While our official Disability Confident status is new, our approach isn’t. We’ve long supported learners and clients in creating the right balance for their teams. This in turn has brought huge value to individuals and businesses. We believe in it because we have been privileged to see it happen so many times!
It doesn’t matter if you have 10 employees or 1000, with your team working remotely your business is more at risk.
Sadly, cyberattacks preying on Coronavirus fear seem to be spreading just as fast as the illness and with your staff working remotely you are more vulnerable. Scams being sent worldwide are offering cures, tax refunds, safety advice and asking for donations.
Now is the time to act because prevention is much easier than cure and you need to adapt now that working situations have changed.
SpamTitan, our email filtering service, has a market leading 99.99% Spam Catch Rate with a 0.003% false positive rate.
SpamTitan is normally £2.50 per mailbox per month. But, to help protect you in this turbulent time we’re offering SpamTitan to you for FREE for the first 3 months.
If you would like to discuss our advanced level of protection email us at quack@greenduck.co.uk or call us on 01284 700015.
During the current Coronavirus situation, Norfolk Chamber of Commerce Strategic Partner, LV Shipping Ltd, remains operational with a mix of office and home working, throughout all their ten UK bases including their Great Yarmouth facility; given the nature of their business (freight and transport) the company comes under the government’s “key workers” system.
For more information on the services LV Shipping Ltd can offer, visit their website: https://www.lvshipping.com/
Big C, Norfolk and Waveney’s cancer charity, has launched a new fundraising campaign due to many of the charity’s planned events being postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Big C’s ‘Challenge 40’ is calling for local people to raise money for the charity by exercising either at home or by using their ‘once a day’ exercise outside in line with government advice.
2020 is Big C’s 40th anniversary year, so from April 1st until May 31st the charity is asking local people who are able, to complete 40 minutes of exercise or activity, every day for forty days. This could be a run, cycle, walk, an exercise routine at home or some gardening.
Carole Slaughter, Head of Fundraising at Big C, said, “We are all living in uncertain and changing times and many of our spring and summer fundraising events have had to be postponed.
We have therefore launched a new fundraising initiative which reflects the current situation and we’re asking our army of amazing supporters to raise funds for us in a different way. This is important now, more than ever, for those with a cancer diagnosis already facing enormously challenging circumstances and now experiencing increased anxiety and worry due to coronavirus.
We also hope it might be a fun focus for people spending much more time than usual at home! We do however know that times are tough for many currently and therefore we are asking for a £10 donation, with the option of also enlisting the support of friends and family to raise a little more. Any amount will make a big difference to those locally affected by cancer.”
Carole Slaughter continues, “We’d urge everyone to take part and focus on keeping fit, while supporting Big C to continue providing vital care and support for those people affected by cancer during these challenging times.” Big C is committed to everyone’s safety and health during the Coronavirus outbreak. Please follow government guidelines around social distancing and specific advice if you are in a vulnerable group. Please only go out once a day to do your 40 minutes exercise.
For the latest government advice on coronavirus please visit www.gov.uk/coronavirus
To sign up for Big C’s Challenge 40, please visit https://fundraise.big-c.co.uk/event/challenge40-for-big-c/ to pledge your support and a £10 donation.
To learn more about the work Big C does to improve the lives of those affected by cancer in Norfolk and Waveney, please visit www.big-c.co.uk