Technology

LOOKING OUT FOR OTHERS WHILE WORKING REMOTELY With many businesses working remotely, Ian Snow, MD at CT, takes a look at the importance of maintaining your workforce’s mental health – and CT partners Champion Health share the signs to spot in employees and colleagues

Over the past few months we have looked at what measures and processes business owners should consider to ensure business continuity and improve the security of their new hybrid working environment. While it is imperative that this is a key priority, we are also looking to the health of our team and supporting any employees that may be struggling with uncertainty and change as a result of COVID-19.

We are aware as a business we need adapt and implement a range of measures to support employees experiencing poor mental health. We know we need to support employees to regain an effective work-life balance, address fears about return to work, right through to support for severe mental health conditions. Through the work we have done we have previously done with Champion Health, we know that spotting the warning signs of mental health problems in our friends and colleagues is already pretty difficult. When we’re socially distancing and working remotely, this might feel nearly impossible – but there are things we can all look out for and pick up on. Champion Health have highlighted four key areas in which you may notice changes in your friend or colleague, which include behaviour, emotions, thoughts/cognition and physical sensations.

1 Your colleague’s actions (i.e. behaviour)

Your colleague might have stopped replying to your messages, or maybe you’ve noticed they aren’t keeping up with their work. A slight change in behaviour is to be expected given the adjustment to lockdown, but keep an eye out for those who don’t seem to be adjusting well. We communicate a lot about how we feel through our actions.

2 What they are feeling (i.e. emotions)

If your colleague feels able to talk to you and share their emotions directly, take time to listen without judgement and don’t try to solve the problem straight away. Being there for them in that moment will be enough. If your colleague isn’t as forthcoming, there are more subtle changes to look out for, such as appearing quieter or more irritable than usual.

3 How they are thinking (i.e. cognition)

Mental health problems often affect the way we think. If your colleague is struggling, they might be more preoccupied by their thoughts, experiencing ‘brain fog’ and finding it difficult to concentrate – all signs you might notice during a conversation or in a meeting.

4 How they feel it in their body (i.e. physical sensations)

This is harder to tell from an outside perspective, but have they mentioned feeling more tired or run down than usual or they’re having trouble sleeping? These could all be signs their mental health is taking a toll on their physical health.

Noticing these difficulties in isolation doesn’t mean your colleague has a mental health problem. Instead, it can simply encourage us to start a conversation about mental wellbeing and check in with how they are feeling. You never know, you might be the lifeline they’ve been waiting for.

At CT we ensure our employees take regular assessments and are involved with webinars the team at Champion Health recommend. We would strongly recommend Harry and his team to every business and so to explore warning signs further, and build confidence in supporting someone who is struggling, get in touch with Harry at Champion Health directly by emailing: harry.bliss@ championhealth.co.uk

Access £2bn of funding from a provider you can trust

Remember that first holiday without your parents? A week in Magaluf. A weekend on the Costas. The nights out with your mates. Walking up and down the endless line of bars figuring out where to go for your first fishbowl or pint of watered-down lager. Of course, you do. You’ll also remember all of the people shouting at you with promises of 2-4-1 deals and free drinks. They tell you their bar is amazing. You get suckered in. Once inside it’s dead, the drinks are overpriced, and you realise you have been conned.

Most of us might not have had a summer holiday this year but the same too-goodto-be-true deals are on offer as the government looks to give out £2bn of funding to help local companies create sixmonth work placements.

Confused? Carry on reading…

The £2bn Kickstart scheme is designed to create hundreds of thousands of six-month work placements for young people at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding for employers is available for 100 per cent of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions. There is also £1,500 per job placement available for setup costs, support and training.

Large companies, wanting to create more than 30 work placements, can apply for funding directly. However, smaller organisations, with fewer positions, need to use an intermediary organisation to make a funding application.

The challenge is who do you pick to be your intermediary. Who do you trust? Some are offering all the help you need. As long as they keep the £1,500 funding for themselves…

Thankfully there is a service you can trust. Sheffield Chamber and other leading support organisations have come together to form the ‘The Sheffield Partnership for Jobs and Skills’.

We are leading the way, pooling our expertise and supporting Covid-19 business recovery by making it as easy as possible for local companies to apply for Kickstart funding.

We will manage the grant for you, but you decide how you spend your £1,500. You can spend it on your internal costs or pick from a whole range of support services that The Sheffield Partnership for Jobs and Skills provide.

Alternatively, you can use an intermediary but it should only get paid a maximum of £300 for processing your grant

application and managing payments.

Don’t be fooled by intermediaries telling you they can support you but only if you give them the £1,500 automatically. You might want to but that is your choice.

By working with Sheffield Chamber you get to decide. You stay in control and you can be reassured that all of the partners involved are not going to sell you the equivalent of watered-down lager.

For more information on the scheme and to get started, call 0114 201 8888 or email kickstart@scci.org.uk. A representative from the partnership will be in touch.

The Sheffield Partnership for Jobs and Skills is made up of:

Developing young people of the future: Do schemes like Kickstart work?

In short, the answer is yes, they can.

Jenna Selwood, operations manager at Sheffield Chamber, is testament to this.

Jenna started her career via a similar scheme to Kickstart in 2010, Jenna joined the Chamber on a six-month work placement, going on to be offered a full-time position as an administration assistant.

Over 10 years on, Jenna has developed and progressed in her role and now holds the position of operations manager, responsible for many of the Chamber’s daily operations including managing the main administration duties for the Kickstart scheme for the consortium.

Jenna said: “I am really pleased to be involved with the scheme on behalf of the Chamber, particularly as it is a similar initiative that began my career. I am proof that schemes like this can really work and with the right support and job development opportunities, candidates can grow and become a greaat asset to a business.

“The Kickstart scheme is a fantastic opportunity for businesses to really support our younger generation, which is more important than ever as young people are finding it difficult to access work due to the economic impact of Covid-19.

“Sheffield Chamber, along with all organisations in the partnership, are encouraging any business that can, to offer a placement (or placements). Provide young people a literal ‘Kickstart’ onto a career path and an opportunity to gain the much-needed confidence and experience to progress.”

The Kickstart scheme is not just an opportunity to develop and grow your workforce – it is an opportunity to support young people in our city to access employment.

Make a difference and provide a placement now.

After winning a major industry award for their City Taxis marketing campaign, Ola Tambor and Gemma Curry from digital agency Fishtank share the secrets of success when it comes to re-branding – and tell unLTD’s Jill Theobald why now could actually be the best time for other companies to raise their profile

“If we’re saying anything to the businesses out there it’s – embrace everything you’re doing, shout about it!”

A great quote to open any feature on marketing and re-branding, from Fishtank’s head of digital Ola Tambor, and not a bad motto for businesses as a general rule, either.

And as my chat with Ola and her colleague head of client services Gemma Curry continues, it turns out it could be worth bearing in mind during and despite the current pandemic, too.

But first we talk about how it turned out to be an award-winning theme for their recent campaign with City Taxis.

In fact, a big re-brand wasn’t initially on the cards – but the complete overhaul of the company’s visual identity and digital presence won them ‘B2C Campaign of the Year (under £50k)’ award at the Prolific North Awards, with judges commenting: “Not only did Fishtank deliver it (the campaign) beautifully with numbers to back it up, they did so by not settling with the old and going the extra mile of creating a new brand and other sub brands.”

“From the moment we came for the first meeting we felt inspired by City Taxis,” CITY TAXIS’ WEBSITE RE-DESIGN

says Ola. “It was supposed to be an introductory meeting, but we went in with a full brand proposition as we believed in it so strongly.”

“It was definitely something unusual for us,” agrees Gemma, “as we

wouldn’t normally do that in that type of scenario, but we just felt it was the right thing for them.”

“They are basically like a family,” says Ola. “They work well together and like to spend a lot of time together

RE-BRANDING – THE TIME IS NOW

– which is very similar to the Fishtank culture – and it was very much a partnership between us, never a superior/ inferior relationship dynamic when we worked together. It was a great experience as you could see they trusted in us, our skills and ideas.”

Described by Fishtank MD Damien Fisher as a ‘crown jewel of our work portfolio’, Gemma says the project was all about ‘reintroducing the renowned South Yorkshire brand, City Taxis, and breathing life into their marketing with a new, vibrant identity. After learning about the wide scope of their activities, we knew we had to be very strategic.’

Among several objectives in that strategy were the re-brand and new website, a marketing strategy and roll out for City Taxi’s food delivery sub-brand City Grab

Is a global pandemic the right time for a re-brand? Many business owners might have it pretty far down their To Do list, for sure.

“Nobody ever imagined we would be where we are now, and obviously for some businesses it has been really hard and they have taken financial hits and are continuing to,” explains Gemma. “It depends on the industry – some are thriving at the moment and others are struggling so businesses might be thinking the last thing we want is a rebrand or a website. “But if businesses are looking at their goals then the longer-term gain of investment could mean that now actually IS the time.

“We have clients doing exactly that, looking at where they are now and where they want to be – they want to come out of the pandemic a step ahead from their competitors whatever market they are in, whether its retail or B2B, so now is an opportune time. It is difficult, we appreciate, and it’s an expense as a business, but it’s also an investment in your future.”

Ola agrees.

“I think it is the perfect time from a client’s perspective for three reasons. They know that businesses can be more flexible with payment terms and with solutions – we can suggest available grants so that puts a bit more power on their side.

“You do have to keep branding awareness out there and if businesses are not as busy as they would perhaps ordinarily be, the most crucial people have that availability to get together and hone in on what their brand is all about.

“And thirdly user behaviour has changed through the pandemic – we see that in our e-commerce clients and how people are browsing websites and interacting with content. The market has

THE FISHTANK TEAM

changed, and the way people use products and content has, too.” and assisting with strategy, roll-out and publicity of the Electric Vehicles initiative – successfully launched at last year’s Sheffield Business Awards.

“Being able to represent the versatility of the company by promoting innovative campaigns like their revolutionary Electric Vehicle project and highlighting their engagement in the local community helped us unearth the culture of Team City,” says Gemma.

Adds Ola: “Helping them develop exciting brands like food and retail delivery app City Grab – which has raised over £58k for key workers and the NHS during COVID-19 – was amazing. That name came up in the very first meeting as they wanted to call it something separate to their brand entirely, but we explained it didn’t fit their

identity. The City name was already there and Grab was about reaching out – you can grab anything! And they really bought into that idea.

“That’s one of the great rewarded with such successful results and fantastic feedback from City’s community,” says Ola.

And, of course, the award win.

Says Gemma: “The award is amazing in itself, but it also reinforces what we do, why we do it and our expertise and success.

This campaign has gone above and beyond and that is our focus going forward – things about City – you can see that one of their goals is to make Sheffield better which is awesome.”

Multiple elements had to come together for the strategy, ensuring there was no confusion for the loyal customer base, while Fishtank and City worked together to promote the new initiatives with campaign activities Hub launch event in the city centre.

“The level of integrated strategy and depth we created for this campaign was

such as the guerrilla Electric CITY ELECTRIC LAUNCH, BRANDING DESIGNED BY FISHTANK

Amy Tingle, HR and business manager at City Taxis, said: “Working with Ola, Damien and the team at Fishtank has been an absolute breath of fresh air for us all.

“We first started our conversations around social media, and they have taken what was initially a small project to a whole new level which has been an amazing journey for City Taxis and City Grab.

“We are so proud of what we have created together and so pleased we decided to work with Fishtank. They have now become part of the team and they continue to help support us to build, grow and fulfil all the ideas and make them come to life exactly how we had envisioned them.” our integrated and succinct

approach enables us to provide tailored solutions for our clients creating longstanding partnerships. We’re working on other creative marketing collateral for City and I can see us working together long into the future.

“They are going from strength to strength and they have great objectives they want to achieve over the years and we are more than happy to support them on that journey – that is something

we’re really proud of.”

OLA TAMBOR, HEAD OF DIGITAL, FISHTANK