Member News

According to an academic study carried out by Dr Lisa Ackerley, the Hygiene Doctor, the main cause of germs at the desk and keyboard is poor personal hygiene, with nearly 50 per cent of office workers responding to her survey admitting they do not wash their hands after going to the toilet. Bacteria and viruses that people bring back from the washroom multiply on the hard work surfaces of the desk and chair and remain infectious for 24 hours. There are a staggering 21,000 germs per square inch on chairs, desks and keyboards. In fact, the average office desk harbours 10 million bacteria. That’s 100 times more germs than a kitchen table and 400 times more than the average toilet seat. Stats that are scary enough in themselves, but when you add the current ‘hot-desking’ culture to the mix, it becomes even more alarming.

Not washing their hands after going to the loo isn’t the only disgusting habits our colleagues have; a recent survey conducted by a global hygiene company, SCA, examined 1000 UK workers and their attitudes towards hygiene in the workplace. The results revealed that almost two-thirds of Brits wished their place of work was cleaner and more hygienic, with only one-quarter of workers rating it as very hygienic. The worst habits included:

• Sneezing without using a tissue – 42%
• Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen or sink – 36%
• Not washing hands after using the bathroom – 36%
• People not flushing the loo – 33%
• Messy desks covered in rubbish – 23%
• Not emptying full bins – 18%
• Eating at a desk – 14%
• Leaving empty toilet tissue rolls in the washroom – 14%
• People not disposing of sanitary protection products properly – 13%
• Biting nails – 12%

Whilst education on hygiene could help to combat some of the problems, employing the services of a contract cleaning company is paramount to maintaining a healthy working environment. When you consider the loss of revenue a bout of norovirus could cause, the excellent ROI of handing over the responsibility of keeping your premises clean and germ-free becomes much clearer.

Reminding staff to flush the toilet and wash their hands with strategically placed signage, having a clear desk policy and providing employees with breakout areas to eat their snacks and lunch are all simple, yet proactive ways to tackle poor hygiene. Perhaps even a ‘tidiest team’ competition with a prize awarded monthly. Some habits are difficult to challenge, such as nail-biting and sneezing without a tissue, but could be mentioned in hygiene training sessions and damage limitation increased through a good cleaning regime.

Leaving dirty dishes in the kitchen or sink is often resolved through a washing-up rota, with a dash of peer pressure to ensure everyone takes their turn.

If you are looking to reduce hygiene related staff sickness absences and improve the cleanliness of your business premises, contact us for more details of our contract cleaning services and one-off deep cleans.

Funding is available to support UK video games development, aimed at helping smaller companies get concepts off the drawing board and into production.

The UK Games Fund is intended to support UK video games development. Aimed at helping smaller companies get concepts into production, the Fund provides additional support to the video games sector, helping to maximise the contribution to economic growth this sector is already delivering.

The Fund offers grants to support video games projects, as well as creating jobs, nurturing talent and furthering the growth of games clusters all around the UK.

Round 5 differs from previous rounds as it is targeted at applicants with early-stage projects, with funding provided to refine and improve pitching skills, whilst also developing a playable demo for showcasing at a consumer games show.

An initial support package will be provided to the value of £10,000, comprising:

• an award of £5,000 paid in two £2,500 instalments (the first in July, the second in September);
• involvement in a community of funded companies, along with pitch guidance and informative web-cast sessions;
• invitation to a Pitch Preparation Event in September to test and improve pitches in front of the UK Games Fund team (plus invited publishers, platform holders, and investors); and
• an opportunity to showcase projects at a large-scale consumer games show in the autumn.

Applicants selected to participate in the compulsory showcasing at the consumer games show will also be required to pitch for further funding from the UK Games Fund, where grants of up to £20,000 will be available. The money can be used to help create working prototype games and raise the private investment necessary to see a concept turned into a finished product.

The provider will normally accept applications from UK registered, early-stage games development companies employing fewer than 50 people.

The deadline for submission of Expressions of Interest is midday on Monday 28 January 2019.

For more information please click here

Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich & Central Norfolk Mind and Mid & North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50

Money raised through ticket sales to the Best Employers Eastern Region 2018 events has resulted in a donation of £5,250 to Mind, split equally between four regional offices of the mental health charity.

141 organisations and 15,000 people across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk took park in Best Employers Eastern Region 2018, co-founded by Pure and eras ltd and sponsored by Birketts and Archant. The charity donation was raised from 50% of the ticket sales for the employee engagement initiative’s launch event in January and awards event in October, attended by 298 local employers and HR professionals in total. The money will be split equally between four regional offices of Mind. Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind and Mid and North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50.  

Lynn Walters, Executive Director at Pure and founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, said: “Best Employers Eastern Region supports and celebrates the organisations which are committed to creating workplaces which bring out the best in their people to achieve business success. We chose Mind as the charity to benefit from the 2018 events because supporting employees’ mental wellbeing is a key element of maintaining employee engagement, creating an inclusive workplace culture and being recognised as a best employer. Mind’s own research shows that work is the biggest cause of stress in people’s lives and that at least one in six workers experience common mental health problems, including anxiety and depression. Not only have we been able to come together to celebrate our region’s most inspiring employers and to discuss creative ways of increasing engagement,  we have also been able to raise a fantastic amount for a charity which has offices across our region providing dedicated support to people within our local communities.”

Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem as well as campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and to promote understanding; including through its Mental Health at Work initiative. The local Mind offices support people in the community with services including supported housing, crisis helplines, drop-in centres, employment and training schemes, counselling and befriending.

Since it was first founded by professional recruitment specialists Pure and psychometrics experts eras ltd in 2012, the biennial Best Employers Eastern Region initiative has given organisations the opportunity to actively evolve workplace culture as well as the chance to be crowned one of the region’s best employers.

For more information about Best Employers Eastern Region visit www.best-employers.co.uk or for more information on Mind’s Mental Health in the Workplace gateway visit www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

MARKETING & ADMIN ASSISTANT

(Closing Date 4th Feb 2019)

JOB TYPE:

Permanent Full-time / Part-time

SALARY:

Dependent on experience and hours

THE ROLE:

You will assist our MD and external consultants in driving-forward the next-generation marketing strategy of this respected, national TV Commercials Production Company, and work alongside our Production Manager in the daily operations of the Production Department. Our marketing effectiveness depends on you acquiring a full and detailed understanding of the TV production process, so you will become an integral part of our creative team, and your activities will go well beyond telesales or database management.

Primarily office-based at the JMS group in Hethersett just outside Norwich. Hours Monday to Friday 09.00 – 17.30 but part-time will be considered.

MARKETING:

• Carry out market research, monitor marketing performance, maintain CRM database and report progress.
• Maintain the MD’s marketing diary, contacts list, and organise calls, pitches, and events.
• Manage news stories, blogs and PR releases.
• Collaborate in creating innovative high quality business proposals.
• Make direct contact with existing and prospective clients.

PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT:

• Assist Production Manager in scheduling, casting, crewing or budgeting productions.
• Schedule projects into the video edit or sound suites.
• Provide progress reports to clients, freelancers or suppliers
• Upload or traffic completed projects to broadcasters.

KEY SKILLS:

• Organisation, forward planning, calmness under pressure, clear communication.
• Experienced with Microsoft Office, CRM systems.
• Able to represent the company authoritatively and deal confidently with prospective clients, suppliers and colleagues.
• Experience in telemarketing, events management or ad agency useful.
• Please state your preferred working hours and salary expectations when applying.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, please email your CV to francesca.delacey@jms-group.com by Monday 4th February 2019.

Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich & Central Norfolk Mind and Mid & North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50 –

Money raised through ticket sales to the Best Employers Eastern Region 2018 events has resulted in a donation of £5,250 to Mind, split equally between four regional offices of the mental health charity.

141 organisations and 15,000 people across Cambridgeshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk took park in Best Employers Eastern Region 2018, co-founded by Pure and eras ltd and sponsored by Birketts and Archant.

The charity donation was raised from 50% of the ticket sales for the employee engagement initiative’s launch event in January and awards event in October, attended by 298 local employers and HR professionals in total.

They money will be split equally between four regional offices of Mind. Suffolk Mind, Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and South Lincolnshire Mind, Norwich and Central Norfolk Mind and Mid and North Essex Mind will each receive £1,312.50.  

Lynn Walters, Executive Director at Pure and founder of Best Employers Eastern Region, said: “Best Employers Eastern Region supports and celebrates the organisations which are committed to creating workplaces which bring out the best in their people to achieve business success.

We chose Mind as the charity to benefit from the 2018 events because supporting employees’ mental wellbeing is a key element of maintaining employee engagement, creating an inclusive workplace culture and being recognised as a best employer.

Mind’s own research shows that work is the biggest cause of stress in people’s lives and that at least one in six workers experience common mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.

Not only have we been able to come together to celebrate our region’s most inspiring employers and to discuss creative ways of increasing engagement, we have also been able to raise a fantastic amount for a charity which has offices across our region providing dedicated support to people within our local communities.”

Mind provides advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem as well as campaigning to improve services, raise awareness and to promote understanding; including through its Mental Health at Work initiative. The local Mind offices support people in the community with services including supported housing, crisis helplines, drop-in centres, employment and training schemes, counselling and befriending.

Since it was first founded by professional recruitment specialists Pure and psychometrics experts eras ltd in 2012, the biennial Best Employers Eastern Region initiative has given organisations the opportunity to actively evolve workplace culture as well as the chance to be crowned one of the region’s best employers.

For more information about Best Employers Eastern Region visit www.best-employers.co.uk or for more information on Mind’s Mental Health in the Workplace gateway visit www.mentalhealthatwork.org.uk

MENTA has announced that its charity partner for 2019 is Break, a children’s charity which has been supporting children, young people and families across Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire for over 50 years. The charity works to help children in care and moving on, children with disabilities and families who need support. During the summer of 2018, Break in partnership with Wild in Art delivered the hugely popular GoGoHares trail in Norfolk. The trail attracted more than one million visitors and consisted of 50 city hares in Norwich with a further 18 county hares displayed in towns across Norfolk. MENTA has invited Break to its networking events, Coffee Means Business in Woodbridge, Bury St Edmunds and Haverhill during the year and the charity will exhibit at the MENTA Business Show on Tuesday 1st October at The Apex, Bury St Edmunds. CEO of MENTA, Alex Till said, “I’m delighted MENTA will be partnering with Break during 2019. They are providing vital services and support to those who really need it.” Michael Rooney, Head of Commercial Services at Break said, “We are thrilled to be working with MENTA as their charity partner for 2019. We look forward to raising awareness of how businesses, their staff and individuals can make a difference to vulnerable children’s lives by volunteering and fundraising for Break.”

An exciting new transport initiative for Breckland from Kickstart Norfolk in partnership with the Department of Work & Pensions, Breckland Council and New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

The Need –

At present, there are many hard to reach, unemployed individuals residing across the Breckland area who are unable to advance towards employment. When asked, clients stated that the main reasons for this are:

• a lack of transport
• rural isolation
• disabilities
• homelessness or criminal convictions
• Poor Health

Because of the above, hard to reach individuals reported that this was causing them to experience poor health, low motivation and self-esteem, and a belief that they would spend the rest of their lives on benefits.

The idea –

Building on the vision of the recent launch of Breckland for Jobs, Kickstart Norfolk, together with their partners the Department of Work & Pensions, Breckland Council and New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), want to help these hard to reach individuals to unlock their potential to gain meaningful training, work experience and/or employment.

The Solution –

With funding provided by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), Breckland Council & Kickstart Norfolk, Tripstart Breckland will provide a 7-Seater Minibus Service and IAG Support Worker for individuals across the Breckland area to engage with for a pilot period of 1-year.

Working in partnership with the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach, Tripstart Breckland’s dedicated IAG Support worker will provide, where applicable, the service user with the relevant 1-2-1 support to help them address and overcome their complex barriers to employment, build their self-esteem, confidence and motivation so they have every opportunity of moving forward with their lives.

Service users will be provided with a transport service until they are confident enough to plan their own route to their place of provision. Thereafter, support will be provided by both the IAG 

Support Worker and Communication Officer via telephone, however, face to face support will be offered where and when required.

The Tripstart Breckland Transport Scheme will be made available to everyone aged 18 and above, who reside in the Breckland area and are either unemployed or economically inactive.

The Tripstart Transport Scheme will compliment the transport services already provided by local government, it is in no way a replacement.

TRIPSTART Breckland is a transport provision for hard to reach residents of Breckland to use to move forward with their life.

All referrals received must be sent to the relevant Jobcentre for vetting before any individual is accepted on to the scheme.

Tripstart Breckland – Referral Process

Client Identified –

Once a potential client has been identified there are 4 referral routes that can be used to access Tripstart Breckland:

1. Self-Referral or Multi Agency Referral sent directly to Tripstart Breckland
2. Kickstart Norfolk refers individuals to Tripstart Breckland
3. Jobcentre Work Coach refers the indivual to Tripstart Breckland
4. Self-Referral or Multi Agency Referral sent to Jobcentre for referral to Tripstart Breckland

Vetting –

On receipt, all referrals to Tripstart Breckland must first be sent to the relevant Jobcentre for vetting, the aim of this is to:

1. Understand the reason as to why the individual has been referred to Tripstart Breckland

2. Ensure the individual meets the criteria for Tripstart Breckland

3. Make sure the individual is in receipt of the correct benefits

4. Deal with any benefit issues that may have arisen

Once vetting has been completed, referrals will be sent directly to the Tripstart Breckland, IAG Support Worker who will make contact with the client.  

Information, Advice, Guidance & Support (IAG) –

Individuals referred to Tripstart Breckland requiring IAG Support will be taken through a detailed induction, allowing the IAG Support Worker to compile, discuss and agree an Individual Action Plan with the client. The Action Plan will provide clear details of how the individuals barriers to employment will be addressed. All Action Plans will be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time Bound and will be in line with the Individual Action Plan implemented by the clients Jobcentre Work Coach.

Communication & Support Plan –

Each client will participate in daily, weekly and monthly communication with the IAG Worker to ensure that progress can be monitored and reported.

Should any issues be identified or arise during the supporting period, with agreement from the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach, referrals will be made to multi-agencies for them to provide additional support to the individual.

When the individual is confident enough to plan their own route, communication with will be moved from weekly to bi-weekly unless the situation dictates that the individual remains on a weekly plan. Bi-weekly communication will last for a period of up to 2-years.

To ensure continuity of support and communication, the IAG Worker will send weekly reports to the individuals Jobcentre Work Coach and regular face to face meetings will be held.

See PDF below for more information;

Norwich based Pippa Shaw, who started her business, Pink Spaghetti PA Services Norwich, last year has proved she has the talent to succeed by being picked as a winner of the Twitter ‘Women on Wednesday’ campaign.

Women on Wednesday, or #WOW, was started by Jacqueline Gold CBE (CEO of Ann Summers) in 2011 to promote women in business.  She is passionate about using her success to promote other women entrepreneurs, and each week encourages female business owners to tweet her using the #WOW hashtag with details of their business.  She then picks her three top entries for that week, choosing businesses she feels have a unique offering and the potential to grow and succeed.

The extra publicity from the #WOW win, including re-tweets and sharing details of Pink Spaghetti with Jacqueline’s 57,000 plus followers, will help Pippa develop her fledgling business and reach potential new customers.  Pippa also gains access to the WOW Facebook group of previous winners for business advice and tips, and a winner’s badge to display.

“Winning #WOW has given my business a new year boost and is the start of things to come in 2019.  The opportunities for growth in the Personal and Virtual Assistant industry are phenomenal, with more and more local businesses seeing the advantages of using a ‘pay as you go’ service.  It’s wonderful that Jacqueline is helping to spread the word about what women in business can offer.

“I am very proud to be one of three winners out of the more than 200 businesses who tweeted using the #WOW hashtag, and am looking forward to seeing my business go from strength to strength this year.”

You can contact Pippa at:

Email: pippa.shaw@pink-spaghetti.co.uk

Phone: 0333 355 0982

or via her website at: www.pink-spaghetti.co.uk/contact-us/pa-service-norwich/ 

Jacqueline Gold’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Jacqueline_Gold

The Enterprise Centre, a leading business hub on the University of East Anglia campus, is delighted to be offering free business cards to any new signs ups to one of their virtual tenancy packages. The Enterprise Centre is a vibrant community of start-up and SME companies, totalling over 75 distinct businesses. A wide breadth of sectors and specialisms are included and interested companies are encouraged to contribute to the development of fellow tenant companies to ensure mutual growth and success. Three options for virtual tenancy are available. This is all in addition to the offer of office suites and dedicated co-working desks, for those businesses and individuals who require permanent access to work space. All virtual tenants benefit from use of a very reputable business address, post-handling and discounts. Free use of hot-desks and meeting space is also available with the majority of packages, together with a full series of engagement and business support events. Virtual tenancy with The Enterprise Centre is an ideal choice for those individuals working from home but looking to make the next business development step. It provides an excellent opportunity for mutual support from an engaged and friendly business community. It’s also a very useful option for companies based outside of Norfolk looking to establish a client base in the county or for companies who have colleagues working across different areas who would benefit from one central location. Do get in touch with the team for an informal chat via theenterprisecentre.tenancy@uea.ac.uk or 01603 591366. Further information is also available here: www.uea.ac.uk/adapt/the-enterprise-centre/tenancy. We would be delighted to hear from you and discuss the best option for your business and individual needs.

MENTA has announced it will continue to hold Coffee Means Business on a monthly basis during 2019. The informal business to business networking events are popular with small business owners who gather at different locations across north Norfolk to meet new contacts and make new business links.

Coffee Means Business gives delegates the opportunity to circulate throughout the morning and talk over coffee and biscuits.

Leanne Castle hosts the events and commented, “Coffee Means Business is very apealing to business owners as there are no joining fees or membership requiremnts, just £5 payable on arrival. We’ve introduced two new venues for 2019, The Feathers Hotel at Holt and the Hawk and Owl Trust near Fakenham. These locations have been added to our regular venues of Scarborough Country Inn Hotel at North Walsham and Fakenham Racecourse.”

“The events have a friendly, informal ‘vibe’ and we encourage people to speak to as many of the delegates as possible. Networking is such a useful way to make new contacts and find out about other business services available.”

The next dates for Coffee Means Business are Tuesday 19th February, from 9.30am until 11.30am at North Walsham and 19th March at The Feathers at Holt from 9.30am until 11.30am.

For more details go to the event tab at www.genix.org.uk or call 01284 760206.

We are thrilled to announce our recent partnership and work with Casino Market, a UK online casino affiliate which is looking to revolutionise the way in which the casino market in the UK operates. There is a great deal of focus on casino operators at present (the companies where users play games.) However, there is not too much of a focus on the likes of Casino Market who are affiliates and partners to those very operators.

Rather than prospective players having to ‘shop around’ for the best online casino for their preferences, affiliates like Casino Market bring all the information together to help users make much more informed choices of casino. This also allows users and players to make use of potentially numerous welcome bonuses and exclusive offers. Moreover, Casino Market operates a Responsible Gambling policy which means that those who may be at risk of debt are avoided.

What are we doing for Casino Market?

Casino Market’s website was initially not developed for search engine optimisation (SEO) at all. This meant that it simply did not rank in any way online on Google or any other search engines. We therefore have been working round the clock to ensure this innovative and exciting site is able to be found by potential users online. This has entailed us undertaking some imperative tasks:

Updating the Content Management System (CMS) – Working with the in-house development team at Casino Market, we worked to transition them away from their old, non-optimised CMS to a much more SEO-friendly CMS that can be more easily read by all search engines.

Crawling Factors – This has included updating URLs on the site, fixing every page’s meta data and ensuring that all page titles are optimised for both users and SEO. We have also been working with the developers at Casino Market to make sure that the ideal pages for each type of user are found online.

Getting Them Out There – Having not had any marketing work performed on this website or even its brand, we have been working with various partners to ensure that through the means of online and digital marketing, the Casino Market name and brand gets the exposure it needs. This is also a strong trust signal for Google and other search engines, with popularity and knowledge of brands driving some of the highest quality users

Content – The Casino Market site previously had next to no content on the website. Thus, Google and other search engines were unable to read most of what was on the pages. Therefore, we are working on a strong and comprehensive content strategy to ensure the site can be crawled as well as engage with by all users

At our Best Employers Eastern Region awards conference in October 2018, Bidwells Managing Director Catherine Spitzer and Director of People and Change Julie Archer, shared their experience of completing a total transformation of the leading property consultancy’s Cambridge headquarters to create a truly agile workspace.

Whilst few businesses will have the resources to invest in complete office refurbishment, there is a lot of inspiration employers can take from Bidwells’ story.

During an ‘on-stage’ interview with Jeanette Wheeler, Partner at Birketts LLP, Catherine and Julie described Bidwell’s transformation: 

“Our objective was to create a workplace where our colleagues are empowered to be their best and to reaffirm Bidwells as a great place to work. Our head office at Trumpington Road was not working physically or mentally for our employees. It was a traditional 1970s building and the layout of long corridors and individual offices meant people were very siloed. Colleagues who had worked together for over 30 years didn’t really know each other. We believe people are stronger in teams than they are as individuals, yet we had a whole host of knowledge and experience, which wasn’t coming together. Our aim was to create a workspace which encouraged conversation, engaged employees to share expertise and enabled them to work better, both together and individually. 

“We recognised that some employees would naturally be worried about change and that not everyone would want the same things from their work environment. To manage this we took the approach of treating everyone as individuals. We actively encouraged everyone to have their say and to help shape ideas for the transformation. We asked people what they needed to do their job well, what most frustrated them about the office and what processes and technology would make things easier. As well as asking what people wanted, we also asked what they thought we should ditch because it wasn’t adding any value. We carried out more than two years of research before we began the reconstruction, as we wanted the design to be right.

“The three-storey office has been reconfigured into zoned spaces. It’s not a completely open plan, but there are no internal offices other than meeting rooms. Instead, there are different zoned areas of anchored desks, break out spaces and quiet areas. The idea is to empower our 250 plus staff by giving them a choice of different environments to work in. Everyone is encouraged to move around the office as they see fit and based on the task they are working on. There are options to work seated or standing, a variety of chairs to choose from including comfortable winged chairs in both open and slightly more private spaces. If people need a quiet space, they can find one. If they want to sit on a sofa to catch up on reading without any distractions, they can. Alternatively, there are a huge number of collaborative areas where people can work together.

“There are still people who are naturally drawn to sitting in the same areas, but we really are seeing people moving around more. One of the biggest changes is that people don’t sit and eat lunch at their desks anymore. We all congregate for lunch in our ground floor café. This really encourages conversations and a team mentality as people naturally talk over food and drink – it’s the social glue!

“The new-look office has only been open for less than a year, but so far the results are really good. When you walk in it feels like a ‘happy’ environment. People are working more collaboratively and talking to each other more. We have even had past employees return to the organisation as well as attracting key personnel to the business because of the changes.

“This office transformation is just one element of us evolving the business without wanting to make changes just for the sake of it. It is part of a wider plan to shape our strategy, vision and culture. Having been established for 180 years this year, we are not looking to substantially change Bidwells, just to build on its strengths and to make the firm fit for the future and the size it has become. The new workspace really helps bring our culture to life and it is encouraging everyone to live by our values, which include having fun. We are delighted with the way it has turned out and our employees love it already.”

Find out more about Best Employers at www.best-employers.co.uk