New Members Welcome | Special Announcement | Supporting Businesses Find Staff
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Kia ora .
Wow, we are already heading towards the end of January. I hope that all of you have enjoyed a break and are hitting the ground running in 2022. The team at the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce certainly has been.
We love welcoming new members and are looking forward to working with them over the coming year. You can read all about their businesses along with other news, including:
- A Big Welcome To All Of Our New Members
- Story - Connecting Local Businesses With Talent To Support Their Growth
- Life At Red – useful information
- Vacancies From Our Members And For Students
- Exclusive Member Offer
- Upcoming Events
As a business, it must feel a bit like ‘here we go again!’ when the announcement about the Red setting was made on Sunday. The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce is here to support you in any way we can.
If you have a question, concern, issue or just need some support, please give us a call at any time on 021 248 1203 or email at Patrick@hvchamber.org.nz
A Big Welcome To All Our New Members
As we start the year we would like to acknowledge and give a big warm welcome to 10 of our newest Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce members, including 1 rejoining member.
The Chamber would not be the same without our incredible members that make our network what it is. We look forward to seeing you at one of our events and working alongside you to support your continued growth and journey.
Gilmours - NZ Owned and operated food and beverage distributor with over 18,000 products and 6 locations, including Petone.
Hype Fitness - 24-hour full access fitness facility offering 6-week challenges and personal or small group training based in Petone.
Innovative Young Minds - Programme designed to encourage young women in Lower Hutt to explore the STEMM sector.
IT Works - A Lower Hutt based Managed IT, Cloud and Voice provider offering IT consultancy.
JMDR Engineering - Global specialists in railway engineering, design, construction, maintenance and training. Located in Upper Hutt.
Lane Street Studios - A new purpose-built professional film studio based in Upper Hutt.
MEVO - Mevo is a Wellington-based on-demand 24/7 car-sharing service. It is the world's first climate positive car share.
Silverstream Retreat - A unique venue for weddings, functions and conferences located in Stokes Valley.
Start Sport NZ - Hutt based charitable trust set up to break down any barriers stopping children from learning how to lead an active lifestyle.
Woolchemy - Transforms crossbred wool into multi-use products and ecological solutions. Headquartered in Upper Hutt
Connecting Local Businesses With Talent To Support Their Growth
Our team have been busy supporting businesses across the Hutt Valley to find great staff and provide students with work experience. Read about how we helped Hui Kitchens find the right person below.
Vivian Zhou, Director of Hui Kitchens and Heretaunga College student, AJ
With a skills shortage in the manufacturing industry when Upper Hutt business, Hui Kitchens, were experiencing growth and needed more staff, they were encouraged by the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce to consider giving a Year 13 student some real-world experience through the Gateway programme. Vivian Zhou, Director at Hui Kitchens wanted to provide the opportunity for someone to join her team if they were the right fit for each other.
Amanda, the Employment Coordinator at the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce said, “Giving students the opportunity to discover, explore and connect to a possible future by gaining work experience through a Gateway experience can be great for both the employer and the student. The employer gets to give some experience to the student whilst seeing if they are a fit for their business.”
Working with the local schools Amanda found AJ, from Heretaunga College, a student with an interest in joinery. She matched him to Hui Kitchens. From the first day, AJ quickly integrated into the Hui Kitchens team and was able to be hands-on, find out about the way the business operates, and speak with customers on-site.
Vivian was impressed with the Chamber’s process in finding the right person for them. This included matching the skills, cultural fit and time availability of both parties.
Vivian commented “I really recommend working with the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce if you are looking to secure staff or provide work experience for students. They make the process easy, ensure the student is matched to your business, and follow up at regular intervals to ensure everything is going well. It was certainly easier for me to transition a student into employment than to find a new staff member.”
AJ recommends work experience to any school student unsure about their future career pathway. He was interested in both early childcare and joinery and earned experience in both. He is now loving his full-time role with Hut Kitchens and is continuing to learn every day.
Amanda commented “It is worthwhile to work with students looking for work experience. Training and teaching them new skills allows them the ability to slot straight into employment once they leave school.”
If you would like to talk about giving a student an opportunity to gain some work experience or are looking for a new staff member and are prepared to give a student a go give Amanda a call on 049399821 or email at amanda@hvchamber.org.nz .
Life at RED: Business As Usual With A Twist
While we acknowledge the change to framework level RED will come with its challenges for business including further complications to supply chains and further pressure on staffing levels, we're grateful not to be in a lockdown and that business can continue to operate and we can go about daily life relatively normally.
Most businesses will remain open and operational. If possible working from home and virtual meetings could be the best choice for your team as the Omicron variant is circulating within the community.
COVID-19 Protection Framework Summary Table
Below are some helpful links:
Financial support is available to businesses if an employee is required to isolate or is absent from work due to Covid 19.
To find out what financial support is available for you, click here.
IF YOUR EMPLOYEE OR CUSTOMER TESTS POSITIVE FOR COVID-19
Your business requirements may vary, based on:
- The type of contact the person has, and
- If they were on your premises while infectious.
If a customer or employee tests positive you contact the Ministry of Health if they do not contact you and follow the guidelines provided.
To view the guidelines and get more information click here.
Help and advice for businesses can be found at https://bit.ly/3r2kiwM
The Chamber team are here to help you. If there's anything we can assist with, send us an email info@hvchamber.org.nz or call us on 049399821.
Vacancies From Our Members
Are you a member and have a role that you would like to get filled?
Contact comms@hvchamber.org.nz with the job title, description of the job role, application deadline date (optional) and any image you would like to use (optional).
Vacancies For Students
The following positions are suitable for students or school leavers.
Have suitable role for a student?
Email Amanda on:
amanda@hvchamber.org.nz or call her on 049399821.
Exclusive Member Offer
Upcoming Events
Women in Sport: How brands can unleash the Power of Women’s Sport (NEW DATE)
Hurricanes Business Club Event, hosted by the Trans Tasman Business Circle & Sports Connect.
Hear from a fantastic panel including;
- Netball Central CEO - Fran Scholey
- Ex-Rugby Player, Founder of Playmaker PR and 2021 RWC Comms Manager - Maryke Penman
- Ex-Football Fern, NZ Women of Influence Finalist and Founder of Team Heroine - Rebecca Sowden
The MC for the evening is ex-Basketballer, inaugural WNBA player and 2 time Olympian Megan Compain. We would love to invite you to join us for what’s going to be an enlightening and fascinating evening.
When: 10 March 2022 (NEW DATE)
Where: Rydges Wellington
Time: 7.30pm
We have several more events coming up throughout the year. These will include:
- Business After Five networking events
- Gibson Sheat's Political Series
- BNZ Technology & Innovation Series
- Business Safaris
- Women in Business Events
- Learning & Development workshops from our partners
Plus many more!
To stay up to date with all our events, keep an eye out on future newsletters of the Hutt Valley Business Weekly. You can also follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook to see these events as they come up.
Membership
Are you or your business a member yet?
Your membership includes exclusive offers, members-only events, networking opportunities with local council and other businesses, promotion across our social media channels, website, email and network, FREE employer services, FREE weekly meeting room hire, plus many other benefits.
For more information on our memberships or how you can become a member email annette@hvchamber.org.nz or call 04 939 9821.
Thank you to all our Partners
As always, special thanks to all our Members and Partners for your ongoing support.
