15 minute read
Hertfordshire Growth Hub
Peer Networks, a Hertfordshire Growth Hub service delivered by the Chamber, creates diverse cohorts of business leaders who collaboratively work through common business issues. Covering topics ranging from finance and HR to sales and marketing, the programme provides the opportunity to share experiences and improve business performance. Laura shared PR and marketing tips during the monthly calls between eight local business leaders.
Chamber’s Peer Networks programme
helps to ‘Connect Herts’ as two firms partner up
The Chamber’s high-profile ‘Let’s Keep the Heart in Hertfordshire’ campaign led to a match made in heaven for two businesses which joined the Peer Networks programme. The programme creates diverse cohort groups of local businesses to collaboratively work through common business issues.
Kevin Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Omega Commercial Solutions
When Strand PR’s Managing Director, Laura Pearce, volunteered her expertise in all things marketing as part of the Chamber’s Peer Networks programme, little did she know that it would lead to a blossoming working relationship with another Hertfordshire company.
It was her depth of knowledge and a flair for the creative that impressed Kevin Jones, Chief Operating Officer at Omega Commercial Solutions, who invited Laura to handle the company’s PR and digital media. Strand PR has been helping businesses communicate their key messages to target audiences since its inception in 2012, delivering PR, marketing strategies and digital campaigns for companies nationally and internationally. Laura said. “As a local business, I’m passionate about the future of Hertfordshire, joining Peer Networks allowed me to do my bit to support other local businesses.” Kevin said: “As well as bags of experience, she brought a flexible, personalised approach to each company. It was never a case of one size fits all – Laura would tailor her advice according to the needs of each individual business.” Omega Commercial Solutions specialises in commercial and specialist finance and, since its formation in 1992, has built one of the UK’s most experienced teams of commercial brokers. The successful partnering of Omega and Strand PR reflects the ambition behind the Chamber’s ‘Let’s Keep the Heart in Hertfordshire’ campaign, which was launched to support the county’s economic recovery by creating connections and highlighting business opportunities for Herts-based companies.
To find out more information about the Peer Networks programme, visit https://www.hertschamber.com/ business-support
HERTFORDSHIRE GROWTH HUB
Building Business Resilience
Over the past few years we’ve all become painfully aware of how quickly the business environment can change. For some businesses this has delivered a positive impact, but for many the opposite is true. EU Transition and COVID-19 have led to higher costs, supply chain disruption, and accelerated digitisation in businesses. As businesses strive to return to a pre COVID-19 sales level and/or grow, it is still important to build resilience.
What does it mean to be a resilient business?
A resilient business is one that can withstand, adapt, and thrive in the face of shocks that are internal and external. It’s all about building strength within each of the business functions and developing the business to be equipped for dealing with the unknown and unidentified risks. This also involves crisis management and business continuity planning.
Resilience starts with you
Many SMEs are led by a small number of people, commonly only one business owner. What happens to the business if those people are unavailable for any length of time? Building resilience into your organisational structure is an increasingly important part of risk management. Have a defined layer of middle management - staff who can take on critical responsibilities and service oversight (should the need arise). This provides the dual benefit of ensuring business continuity but also aids in identifying those in your team able to step up and take on key duties as your business grows.
Looking after and developing your workforce
Your workforce is the cornerstone of building resilience. Supporting employees with their personal wellbeing is just as vital as addressing their training and development needs. As your business faces new challenges so to does your employees. Creating a workplace culture with communication around mental health and physical health and facilitating access to further support will help to build a stronger workforce and ultimately a more robust business. Upskilling employees ensures your workforce continue to develop, their skills remain relevant, and that they are better equipped to meet demands and challenges.
Collaboration
One positive effect of the current pandemic crisis has been a renewed commitment to business partnerships. As a small or medium sized business, you may not always have the resources or specialisms in-house to work through every situation or take advantage of new opportunities. By establishing new relationships and strengthening existing ones businesses can collectively share resources and knowledge. Networking and connecting with peers has also never been so important in order to gain a new perspective and share best practice.
Financial management
Financial planning is essential to ensure that your business has the means to withstand any further shocks and maintain the ability to grow. Planning and budgeting for these financial needs is crucial in highlighting opportunities and risks as well as helping you understand your market better. It’s important for business owners and leaders to understand the financial position of the business and to regularly review this against plans and budgets so that any areas of concern are quickly identified and addressed.
Technology
There is no doubt that the pandemic accelerated our move to adopting technology further in our businesses. Many businesses from all sectors have turned to technology to eliminate the physical barriers brought about by COVID-19 so they can continue to trade as well as bringing about business growth. This has included communication and collaboration tools to enable a remote or hybrid workforce to operate successfully as well as many businesses moving their sales to online.
Be ready for opportunities
Getting your business in shape not only sustains it but puts you in a position to take advantage of new opportunities. These new opportunities could be arising from climate change or new market needs leading to market expansion or new/service product developments. Ensure you know your target market and its needs, and that they are aware of your products and services. Changing business environments can result in increased competition and changing needs of your customers. Review marketing activity and ensure this delivers the required impact and results. Our Growth Account Managers can help you to build up your business’ resilience as well as navigate your way to any additional support, enabling your business to focus on what really matters - getting back on track for future growth.
Grow with us hertsgrowthhub.com
Herts based Micro SME Businesses can access NEW tailor-made support from Ashbourne Ashbourne Insurance has introduced a NEW dedicated advisory service especially to meet the needs and growing demands of Hertfordshire based micro SME (small and medium enterprises) businesses. With an increase in new business reflected in incoming inquiries to Ashbourne, the new micro SME support service is ideally suited to help: • Tradesman seeking liability coverage for five individuals or less • Property owners, residential or mixed occupancy (shops with flats above) up to three units • Small business owners with single unit shops / offices • Mini-fleet (five vehicles or less) • Motor-trade road-risks only Commenting on the new service, Peter Smits Managing Director at Ashbourne said,” I am pleased that Rico has taken on a new role within the retail team, dedicated to dealing with Micro SME business. Rico is both a product champion and insurance professional with many years of experience to share with our local business community. He offers expert advice to commercial SME new and existing customers within the retail team. Congratulations to Rico and I encourage any small business with commercial insurance requirements to call Rico for an informal chat.” Rico’s offered his commitment to the role by saying, “I am absolutely delighted to be given additional responsibilities to specifically support small business owners, tradesmen, property owners and the like. I am 100% committed to
What are your post lockdown return to work plans? RICO MESSAM, Retail Sales Advisor has been with Ashbourne since 2015 and is now the go-to specialist, insurance professional at Ashbourne to help support the growing number of small business owners who need independent advice about a range of insurance policies to keep them compliant and enabling growth in 2021 and beyond.
As businesses prepare to return offering a personal service with customer to the workplace, Herts Chamber Patron Ashbourne Insurance highlight some important items satisfaction as my number one priority. At Ashbourne we search the market so for business owners to consider to busy business owners can dedicate their help avoid potential claims upon valuable time to growing their business. returning to work, post lockdown. Looking forward to meeting many new • Start with your existing risk local firms. Please do pop in to our assessments and update them Hoddesdon office, call or email me.” accordingly • Think about items removed or Multi award-winning, third generation, misplaced during lockdown and family-run Ashbourne Insurance offers give some thought to machinery a wide range of business and personal start-up where lain dormant for insurance along with a claims advisory an extended period of time • Check on the structure and integrity of the premises before service. It is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). you return to work For more information call Rico on • Don’t assume statutory controls are to be relaxed and does the 01992 471001 changing environment aff ect the integrity or security of staff and the premises? • Think about your supply chain, are there any hidden suppliers and what impact does their inactivity have on your business • Most importantly think about the health and well-being of all stakeholders; your customers, suppliers and staff Ashbourne are celebrating their 40th year in business in 2021 and take the health and wellbeing of their team members as a top priority. Here they share a selection of their own guidelines for coming to work, leaving work and managing Covid 19 risk in the workplace.
1. Arrival and departure to the offi ce
• Stagger arrival and leaving times • Storage for clothes and bags; limited to unique workspace • Individual hand sanitizer for each workspace
2. Maintain social distancing wherever possible while people travel through the workplace.
• Reducing movement by discouraging non-essential trips within buildings and sites • Discouraging visitors to the offi ce unless necessary and deemed safe
3. Individuals at their workstations.
• Review layouts and processes to allow people to work further apart from each other • Using fl oor tape or paint to mark areas to help workers keep to a 2m distance • Using screen to separate counter visitors and staff from each other • Avoiding use of hot desks and ensure regular cleaning and sanitising workstations including shared equipment
4. Reduce transmission due to face-to-face meetings and maintain social distancing in meetings.
• Using remote working tools/ technology to avoid in-person meetings • Only necessary participants should attend meetings and should maintain 2m separation throughout • Avoiding sharing pens and other objects • Providing hand sanitiser in meeting rooms
5. Maintain social distancing while using common areas.
• Staggering break times to reduce pressure on break rooms or canteens • Using safe outside areas for breaks. • Installing screens to protect staff in receptions or similar areas • Encouraging staff to bring their own food • Regulating use of shared facilities to reduce concurrent usage • Encouraging storage of personal items at your workstation
6. Minimise the number of unnecessary visits to offi ces.
• Encouraging visits via remote connection/working • Where site visits are required, site guidance on social distancing and hygiene should be before arrival • Limiting the number of visitors at any one time • Determining if schedules for essential services and contractor visits can be revised to reduce interaction, for example, carrying out services at night • Maintaining a record of all visitors
7. Keeping the workplace clean
• Frequent cleaning of: work areas, equipment, door handles and keyboards, and making sure there are adequate disposal arrangements • Clearing workspaces and removing waste and belongings from the work area at the end of a shift • Limiting or restricting use of high-touch items and equipment, for example, printers or whiteboards
8. Help everyone keep good hygiene through the working day.
• Using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique • Reminders and signage to maintain personal hygiene standards • Providing hand sanitiser in multiple locations in addition to washrooms • Setting clear use and cleaning guidance for toilets to ensure they are kept clean and social distancing is achieved • Providing more waste facilities and more frequent rubbish collection • Provide paper towels as an alternative to hand dryers And remember the government guidelines of: Hands, Face & Space. Always take a common-sense approach and do ask your insurance provider for risk management tools to help you. Finally, think people, premises, activities, IT, machinery and supply chain. More information can be found on
www.ashbourneinsurance.co.uk
or call 01992 471001Follow on twitter @AshInsServices and LinkedIn for help and advice. https://www.linkedin.com/company/ashbourne-insurance-services-ltd
Celebrating 40 years of supporting the local community Talk to a person, not a computer – we make sure we fi nd you the right insurance every time
50 Amwell Street, Hoddesdon EN11 8UA 01992 471001 • www.ashbourneinsurance.co.uk
Following a survey of businesses over summer 2021, demand for such a service was witnessed with businesses in the engineering and construction trades especially receptive to an alternative to skip hire or commercial recycling centres. All businesses will be permitted to use the service, including small and medium sized enterprises, landlords, retailers, representatives of the business and construction industry and any other organisations wishing to dispose of their waste.
Survey responses confirmed that, as expected, cost is a key consideration when choosing a disposal route. Time taken to dispose, location and ability to dispose of different waste types at the same time were also important considerations. The new service offers a clear pricing structure, with costs available to see at booking. The research undertaken in planning the new scheme shows that costs are comparable to other councils who offer a similar service, and when compared to private companies the service offers a highly competitive price for many materials. The online booking service enables businesses to choose a 30 minute booking slot, which allows for booking in upon arrival,
Businesses in Hertfordshire will soon be able to use the Ware Recycling Centre to deposit business waste in a new drop off service launching this autumn
paperwork, weighing in and unloading. Businesses can book online to deliver waste and recycling materials between 10am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday. The site can be accessed via a newly created internal road to keep centre users off the main road. The facility also features a designated area for the removal of full containers so disruption during opening hours is minimised.
The service will see nine different material types accepted for recycling, covering wood, hardcore, clean cardboard, scrap metal / ferrous metal, green garden waste, rigid plastic, glass, paper and plasterboard. General waste will be accepted for disposal with companies asked to note this excludes mattresses and hardcore. Each waste type will be weighed in separately, with multiple waste types requiring the weighbridge to be used to determine the weight for each waste type. A quicker ‘mixed load’ option will be available for those wishing to use the weighbridge just once. The service sets a 20kg minimum weight limit, although smaller tonnages will be accepted and charged as if it is a 20kg load. Please note a vehicle restriction of 3.5 tonnes maximum weight applies.
Full details are provided on the website at https://www.wasteaware.org.uk including price per material, booking fee and how to book. Card payment will be taken onsite (cash is not accepted).
Registered waste carriers will be requested to show their license and all customers will be asked to complete a waste transfer note. Further details about managing and transporting your waste can be seen here: https://www.gov.uk/ managing-your-waste-an-overview. Those using a commercial vehicle for disposal or recycling of household waste can continue to do so for free with a valid van permit. These can be applied for online at https://www.wasteaware.org.uk Hertfordshire County Council are launching this new service at the Ware ‘supersite’ in Westmill Road, SG12 0EL following the opening of the newly refurbished and extended site in October 2020. The site is the first of its kind in Hertfordshire, measuring in at four times larger than its predecessor and designed to handle up to 300,000 visits of up to 10,000 tonnes of waste a year. With the council committed to sustainability, the construction saw more than 1,500 new trees planted at a nearby site, and a new wildflower meadow created, to offset the environmental impact of the construction work. The council is working in partnership with Biffa Waste Services, who manage the neighbouring landfill site to use extracted methane gas to power the electrical generators at the Recycling Centre. This renewable source of electricity means a significantly reduced reliance on the use of fossil fuels and enables the recycling centre to be powered by waste produced by Hertfordshire’s residents and businesses.
Featuring a split-level design, the facility allows the majority of waste to be deposited without the need for lifting or carrying up steps. There are 38 spaces available for parking and unloading, and businesses will be requested to deposit their material in the relevant household containers after weighting in, which will allow the tonnages to be allocated to the relevant material type for accurate data management. The centre also contains a purpose-built Reuse Centre offering residents the opportunity to deposit, browse and buy reusable items that would have otherwise been thrown away.
