Up to $10k Funding for Employers | New Members Welcome | Weekly News and Information From The Hutt Valley Chamber Of Commerce
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Kia ora and welcome to 2022 . I hope you are well rested and ready for a busy year ahead. I am very sure it’s going to be another big year here in the Hutt Valley, and across New Zealand. However, I expect challenges such as COVID-19, finding talent, and international supply chains will continue to be a factor in doing business.
In this issue we have some useful stories and information to share including:
- Supporting Hutt Valley Businesses To Find Staff
- COVID-19 Business Updates
- Employer Support - includes funding options available from government
- Vacancies From Our Members
- Vacancies For Students
- Riverlink Update
- Exclusive Member Offer
- Upcoming Events
The Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce is looking forward to supporting you and your business in any way we can in 2022. If we can be of any assistance, at any time, please let me know by contacting me on 021 248 1203 or email at patrick@hvchamber.org.nz. I am also very happy to come and meet you at your place of work.
Ngā mihi nui
Patrick McKibbin
Chief Executive
Supporting Hutt Valley Businesses To Find Staff
Over the past couple of weeks, our team have been busy supporting some businesses across the Hutt Valley to find some great staff. You can read how we helped 360 Logistics and Build a Birthday get the right people below.
360 Logistics
Congratulations to Stacey Mather, a recent graduate from Hutt Valley High School, who has started paid work experience at 360 Logistics NZ.
Blair Morgan, Wellington Branch Manager, reached out to us to coordinate this excellent opportunity for a school leaver to gain some mentoring and support within their organisation.
Stacey will be studying Commerce at Te Herenga Waka—Wellington Uni this year, with this employment continuing throughout her studies.
Another successful local business stepping up and offering a young person an employment and learning opportunity.
Build a Birthday
We were pleased to have the opportunity to visit and talk with Kelly Truong, who has recently started as Marketer and Administrator at Build-a-Birthday in Petone.
Kelly has been supported by our Education to Employment Coordinator, Amanda Walters, in her job search, which she says helped to prepare her for the interview and boost her confidence.
Fay Drysdale, the owner of Build a Birthday, has worked closely with Amanda, to offer students part-time and casual roles.
As a busy business owner, managing five websites as well as the Jackson St shop, Fay found the process of working with the Hutt Valley Chamber of Commerce, saved her valuable time and provided her with students that have been of a high calibre and exceeded her expectations.
To find out more about our employment programmes and how you can get your business involved for FREE, email Amanda at amanda@hvchamber.org.nz, Andrew at andrew@hvchamber.org.nz or call us on 04 939 9821.
COVID-19 Business Updates
We are pleased to provide the following information, advice and links regarding COVID-19.
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.
RAPID ANTIGEN COVID 19 TESTS FOR BUSINESSES
Rapid antigen tests (RATs) can be a useful and quick COVID-19 surveillance tool for businesses to prevent shutdowns. To find out more about:
- The benefits of RATs for your business
- How to prepare your workplace for RATs
- What to do if a worker gets a positive RAT result
- Where to get RAT's from
View the news article from the official business.govt.nz website here.
Download Ministry of Health's RAT: Guide for Businesses here.
There are some very practical solutions to consider that could help limit transmission within your team and allow you to keep your business running.
These may include changes to shift patterns, teams working bubbles, limiting travel where possible, accurate contact tracing, use of PPE, regular cleaning & disinfection, encouraging vaccination.
For cleaning & disinfection advice click here.
Want to find out more about the differences between the types of contacts & contact tracing? Click here.
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.
Vaccination is one of the Governments' key tools in managing an outbreak of COVID-19 in New Zealand. Booster rollout has been accelerated to try to protect against variants of COVID-19 for anyone over 18 and vaccinations are now available for 5 to 11-year-olds.
Click here to book, update and manage vaccinations.
Do you have processes in place to allow staff to continue to work should there be a local breakout?
This could include social distancing, good ventilation, requiring face coverings, robust cleaning schedules within your premises and a culture that promotes employees taking personable responsibility for their own health, those of their colleagues and isolating if required.
Do you have a clear process for when and if employees need to work from home?
Your business may have a contingency plan in place to work from home, however, you may want to consider checking that your online systems and security are robust and up to date if this is required.
Other essential tools include: Ensuring that key personnel have cover, there are documented processes to follow and delegations in the event of absence.
We have a wide range of Chamber Partners and Members that offer a number of services that could help you plan and prepare. Whether it involves financial advice, legal advice, navigating employment relations, assistance with implementing systems and procedures, or encouraging health & wellbeing we can assist with connecting you to the right people.
Feel free to reach us at support@hvchamber.org.nz or on 04 939 9821.
Employer Support
FUNDING TO SUPPORT CURRENT AND FUTURE EMPLOYEES
The Ministry For Social Development and Te Puni Kokiri have some funding support options for businesses. These funding options provide for wage support and training for some existing staff.
These opportunities include:
- Cadetships funding that supports employers to develop, mentor and train their permanent Māori staff. Funding is to the value of up to $10,000
- Flexi wage subsidy - a wage contribution to help employers take on new staff that may have had difficulty finding a job.
- Te Heke Mai – a coaching programme that provides wrap around support to people who are looking for work, in training or starting new jobs
To view more information about these funding options click here.
With numerous public holidays coming up it is important that businesses are aware of their obligations under the Holidays Act (2003).
Public holiday entitlements can become confusing especially with mondayisation.
For an introduction to holidays and leave click here.
Find out more about your employees rights on public holidays here.
PAYROLL, HOLIDAY ENTITLEMENTS & PAYE ADVICE
There are some great cloud-based programs available to help you pay your employees correctly and keep accurate records. These programs can streamline your processes and save you time.
For further advice on how to manage your payroll, holiday entitlements and PAYE, talk to our Bronze Partner iPayroll.
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.
Riverlink Updates
RiverLink - Making Hutt City More Resilient Connected, and Vibrant
The flooding of the river bank carpark in Lower Hutt last month and the alert of possible flooding since then has highlighted the importance of the work to make Hutt City more resilient.
RiverLink is more than this though with three separate but interdependent projects that will help to transform Lower Hutt.
Progress is happening and the project is a step closer to construction. You can read more in the latest newsletter from the RiverLink team.
You can read the latest newsletter here.
Exclusive Member Offer
Upcoming Events
Women in Sport: How brands can unleash the Power of Women’s Sport
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: 27th January 2022
Where: Rydges Wellington
Time: 7.30pm
For more information and to register for this FREE event click here.
We have several more events coming up throughout the year, kicking off in February. 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.
