Keep up to date with the latest news and developments surrounding The Coronavirus situation.
#KeepBusinessMoving
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Become a Chamber member today and access a range of benefits to connect, support and grow your business
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Connections are crucial to the success of any business. Visit our latest news to keep up to date with the latest business news from across the region.
Blogs
Check out our blogs section where Chamber representatives, members and high-profile business figures write about a range of topics. If you are a member and want to submit a blog, please click here.
Working from home – when everyone’s home together
By Gwyneth Box | Tantamount
Working from home can be a challenge at any time, but in the current climate, you aren’t likely to be home alone. So let’s talk about the elephants in the room – the crying baby, the toddler throwing a tantrum, the squabbling tweens, the sulky adolescent, the ever-hungry uni student… and even your spouse, who may well be trying to run their own business from the other side of the kitchen table. It’s all very well turning to the usual recommendations of finding a quiet, dedicated space to work in, keeping to a routine, etc., but even if you are fortunate enough to be able to shut the door on the rest of your family, you can’t guarantee that the door will stay shut or that the familial discord...
Read more
Does your team have the technology to work effectively from home?
By Louisa Turley | EBC Group
Due to COVID-19 many organisations have employees working from home at the moment but do they have the technology in place to work as effectively remotely as they would in the office? For a lot of organisations this may be the first time that they have really had to test whether they have the capacity for their teams to work from home and many are finding their technology is not as resilient as they had expected. This can be as simple as not having enough laptop and mobile devices available and having to rely on unsecure home devices to not having the sort of collaboration tools which make communicating and sharing work easy to achieve. An ideal situation would see your home workers being...
Read more
A guide for leaders how to look after your own wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of your teams
By Next Steps Consulting | Next Steps Consulting
“Your first and foremost job as a leader is to take charge of your own energy and then help orchestrate the energy of those around you” - Peter Drucker In these uncertain, worrying and challenging times, it is more important than ever to look after your own wellbeing and to do all your can as a leader and an organisation to look after the wellbeing of your teams. Next Steps Consulting understand the pressures that you will be under as leaders and have put together the following guidance to help you navigate through the next couple of weeks to support your own wellbeing and the wellbeing of your teams. Looking after your Own Wellbeing as Leaders The below suggestions may seem obvious but...
Read more
GTP20: Can financial wellbeing help you live a happier life?
By Harry Bell | Close Brothers Asset Management
This blog post has been produced for the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce as part of the 2020 Growth Through People campaign. Growth Through People is the Chamber’s annual campaign aiming to help local firms boost productivity and grow through improved leadership and people management skills. In 2020 this involves 8 free workshops taking place between 2nd March and 27th March, culminating in a full-day Growth Through People conference on 2nd April. In addition, throughout the campaign the Chambers will be publishing thought leadership podcasts, videos and blog content such as this. Thanks to our Headline Sponsors – Prime Accountants Group, Aston University, Curium Solutions and CIPD...
Read more
Simple changes to boost your workplace health and wellbeing
By Jason King | Westfield Health
This blog post has been produced for the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce as part of the 2020 Growth Through People campaign. Growth Through People is the Chamber’s annual campaign aiming to help local firms boost productivity and grow through improved leadership and people management skills. In 2020 this involves 8 free workshops taking place between 2nd March and 27th March, culminating in a full-day Growth Through People conference on 2nd April. In addition, throughout the campaign the Chambers will be publishing thought leadership podcasts, videos and blog content such as this. Thanks to our Headline Sponsors – Prime Accountants Group, Aston University, Curium Solutions and CIPD...
Read more
Examining the Government's Coronavirus bill
By David Whincup and Caroline Noblet | Squire Patton Boggs
Clearly they are working some nights at the Department for Health and Social Care even longer than their days, judging by the government’s new Coronavirus Bill. This is 329 pages of close-packed detail on emergency measures on everything from protection of the food supply chain to school closures, and from NHS pensions to video links at criminal hearings. It also contains a number of employment-related provisions of immediate application to employers: Statutory sick pay The Bill and Regulations to be made under it will formally enact provisions which, are scarcely a week from their conception but already such is the pace of development in this area, feel a bit like old news: Anyone self-isolating...
Read more
The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme explained
By Caroline Raybould | The HR Dept North Birmingham
We are certain that most business owners who heard the Chancellor’s announcement on Friday breathed a sigh of relief. He announced an unprecedented and comprehensive list of measures to support firms both large and small. We are also aware that the announcement will have raised many specific questions regarding how, when and to whom the financial aid applies. Our inbox is brimming with such questions. There was some technical employment language in the announcement too, specifically relating to furloughing employees. We know that some employers may not be so familiar with such terms. We feel it important to highlight that government guidance states that the rules applying to the Coronavirus...
Read more
GTP20: The power of mindset and kindness in building resilience
By Asha Berzon | MindAbility Hypnotherapy
Asha Berzon, MindAbility Hypnotherapy This blog post has been produced for the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce as part of the 2020 Growth Through People campaign. Growth Through People is the Chamber’s annual campaign aiming to help local firms boost productivity and grow through improved leadership and people management skills. In 2020 this involves 8 free workshops taking place between 2nd March and 27th March, culminating in a full-day Growth Through People conference on 2nd April. In addition, throughout the campaign the Chambers will be publishing thought leadership podcasts, videos and blog content such as this. Thanks to our Headline Sponsors – Prime Accountants Group, Aston...
Read more
Coronavirus (COVID-19) Data Protection - The keys to securing agile or home working
By Paula Williamson | Stone King
Now that Covid-19 has now been declared a global pandemic, our preparedness for homeworking is being tested. Organisations where agile working is the norm, will already have adopted systems and equipment to maintain business operations and manage the risks of working “beyond the perimeter”. Others will not. Although it may be unplanned, now is the time to look at how you enable your distributed staff to collaborate. Doing this now will pay dividends in the future, long after the current threat of Covid-19 has gone away. Right now, in the midst of Covid-19, GDPR may not feature strongly (or at all) on your list of considerations. But there are 2 big reasons why it should. First, protecting...
Read more
Coronavirus job retention scheme: what employers should do
By Jon Fisher | Pinsent Masons
The UK government last week announced the creation of a package designed to help employers retain staff during the coronavirus pandemic, even if they are forced to temporarily shut their businesses. Chancellor of the exchequer Rishi Sunak said the ‘Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme’ would help pay wages and preserve jobs. Employers will be able to contact HMRC for a grant to cover most of the wages of their workforce who remain on payroll but are temporarily not working during the coronavirus outbreak. Any employer in the country is eligible for the scheme. UK workers for any employer within the scheme will keep their job and the government will pay up to 80% of their wages, up to a total of...
Read more
