Member News

The OPEN Youth Trust (OPEN) on Bank Plain has appointed Chief Constable Simon Bailey as its third patron to join The Rt. Rev Graham James, Bishop of Norwich and Richard Jewson, Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk.

As National Police Lead on Child Protection, it is an entirely appropriate appointment for a charity whose mission is to provide opportunities that make a difference to the lives of young people in Norfolk.

Following his recent visit to OPEN, Chief Constable Bailey was impressed with its plans for the future, saying: “I like OPEN’s ambition that every penny of profit raised through the venue’s live music, conferences and events will fund its youth drop-in facilities and, through programmes such as Your Life, the charity is giving young people challenged by low self-esteem, bullying or disadvantage the confidence and life-skills to find work and follow their passion.”

John Gordon-Saker, Chief Executive of OPEN said: “I’m thrilled that the Chief Constable has agreed to become a Patron. Our youth workers are in a good position to support vulnerable young people but, in light of the recent report on sex abuse by the Children’s Commissioner for England, I am keen to develop closer links with schools, social services, other children’s charities and the police in order to eradicate this horrific crime. Patronage is a two way street and we will do everything we can to support the Chief Constable in his vital work.”

Our latesrt quarterly newsletter has just been sent out.

In this month’s newsletter;

– New Court Guidelines Could see Higher Safety Fines

– The Benefits of Good Posture

– Legislation Headlines

– “Construction Card” Holders Required To Retake Tests; How to Avoid the Fraudsters

– Caterers, Do You Use Solid Fuel Appliances (BBQs, Tandoori/Pizza Ovens)? New Advice from HSE

Please click here if you would like to read our newsletter

If you would like to be added to our mailing list for quaterly health and safety newsletters please contact us.

The event includes national employee engagement trends plus the launch of the Best Employers Eastern Region 2016 employee survey, which helps business leaders to gauge employee opinion for increased strategic decision-making.

Business leaders and HR professionals across Norfolk are invited to attend the Best Employers Eastern Region’s employee engagement seminar on 28 January, which includes the opportunity to hear from a HR expert at Virgin Management, the UK’s most prominent business in the field of workplace culture.

Best Employers Eastern Region, launched in 2012 by professional recruitment specialists Pure Resourcing Solutions together with people development and psychometrics experts eras Ltd, is an ongoing initiative designed to help strengthen the region’s economy by supporting local businesses to attract and develop talented employees.

The event will highlight the impact the initiative has had to date and showcase how it can continue to support local employers on the issues of work place culture and employee engagement. These two topics have been rated by industry analysts Deloitte as the two most important challenges faced by businesses today.

There will be three high profile guest speakers at the event. Cathy Brown, from the national employee engagement group ‘Engage for Success’, will outline the latest findings on employee engagement and the impact this continues to have on a businesses’ bottom line. Sharon Pomells, Head of Operations at Virgin Management, will speak about the practices the renowned company has introduced and the key areas to focus on for successful employee engagement programmes. Plus Steve Turpie, business transformation expert and founder of ASD1 Limited, will explore the benefits and techniques of adding purpose to a business so that employees feel there is added value to their day-to-day role and that it is more than just a job.

The event will also launch the next Best Employers Eastern Region employee survey, which is provided to local businesses every two years as part of the initiative. This confidential survey captures the data employers need to monitor how engaged their employees are and each business receives a detailed action plan for further development. All participants are also automatically entered into a series of awards to celebrate the region’s Best Employers across Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex and Cambridgeshire.

Lynn Walters, director at Pure Resourcing Solutions, said: “We’re hearing from employers that attracting and engaging talented people is one of their top priorities. The regional economy is strong and more businesses are having the confidence to expand. This has increased competition for talented employees, many of which are likely to come from the latest generation known as ‘Millennials’. By 2025, Millennials will make up 75% of the UK’s workforce, but numerous HR surveys have shown that traditional employee engagement methods are not always as effective when it comes to motivating this particular generation. Employers need to seek regular employee feedback so that they have the information they need to create a company culture which is attractive to an evolving workforce and to the up-and-coming talent within their industries.”

A similar online employee survey would typically cost an organisation in the region of £2,000, but if businesses implement it as part of the Best Employers initiative it is provided completely free of charge.

Margaret Burnside, Director of People Development, at eras Ltd: added: “The campaign is a great opportunity for local companies to gain support in developing their people culture. Because we host the survey, employees are more likely to trust the confidentiality and provide honest answers which give an authentic reflection of the working environment. It can also be adapted to become completely bespoke to an organisation, incorporating any existing surveys, or specific questions employers would like to ask.”

The Best Employers Eastern Region 2016 survey is open to all organisations in the Eastern region from April. Previous participants, which have gone on to win Best Employer awards, include Tobar in Norwich and LSI Architects in Norwich.

Lynn Walters added: “Best Employers is more than just a survey tool. We don’t just help businesses to gather their data, we provide advice and guidance and share new ideas and thinking through seminars, events and forums. All the businesses involved have a chance of winning one of our Best Employer awards, and these types of accolades really help businesses to raise their employee brand, which inevitably helps to attract future talent to the organisation.”

The Best Employers event is open for businesses of all sizes to attend, although Pure and eras Ltd have requested a donations of £20 to their nominated charities of Brightstars and St Helena Hospice in Colchester. Brightstars is a newly formed charity, set up by guest speaker Steve Turpie, and his wife Paula, to support disabled children and young people through a Saturday club in Bury St Edmunds.

The Best Employers Eastern Region Event will take place on 28 January at Paddocks House, Newmarket. For more information, or to register to attend, contact Lucy Plumb on lucy.plumb@prs.uk.com

The Norfolk Property Network (NPN) has shown it’s support for a local children’s hospice charity by raising valuable funds at their Christmas event.

The independent property group, designed to bring the local property community together, raised an impressive £1375 in aid of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH). The money was raised at their black tie Christmas event through a charity auction with a variety of prizes donated from local businesses including Slaters menswear and Oaklands Hotel.

Dan Trivedi, founder of the Norfolk Property Network, said: “The NPN is a great opportunity to have everyone involved in property or looking to start investing in property in one room. We don’t charge for people to attend our events, but with such a great network of individuals we thought it right to try and raise money for a local charity like EACH.

“With the support of local business we were able to hold a charity auction at our first black tie Christmas event held at Oaklands Hotel in December. From a small crowd of just 47 we raised £1,375. I hope we will be able to double that amount next year.”

NPN is an independent non-profit group set up to create a relaxed and friendly environment for people to meet and share ideas. From beginners to experienced investors, everyone is welcome to attend their free bi-monthly networking events, hosted by the groups founder Dan Trivedi.

James Bacon, EACH Norfolk Corporate Fundraiser, said: “We’d like to say a big thank you to the Norfolk Property Network for supporting us through their recent fundraising. The money raised will make a huge difference providing care to local children and young people with life-threatening conditions and support to their families; many of whom are going through an unimaginably difficult time in their lives.

“Without the continued support from local organisations like the Norfolk Property Network, EACH would not be able to continue provide these vital services across Norfolk.”

A BIG New Year welcome toCold Iron Tattoo Company, the latest Norwich based business to jump on board our Digital Signage networks across Norfolk! Cold Iron are using our network of screens to increase brand awareness and maximise on the large tattoo culture Norwich offers, both inside and outside the gyms.

Cold Iron’s studio can be found on Rose Lane where the old Peppermint Park nightclub once graced the city over 30 years ago. The Cold Iron team consists of Shane (owner),Sophie and Martin. Between them the team has years of tattooing expertise. The skilled group produce some of the finest skin based art, from marvel superhero’s to vintage based tattoo designs. With so much talent between the team, Cold Iron has attracted a few of the Norwich City FCfirst team squad to their client list. The venue is very chilled and relaxed, enabling it’s clients to feel calm and comfortable, something which is very important if you are a first time goer.

The ad was created by our creative partners the JMS Group, and can be seen on our ‘Domination Circuit’ which has a weekly audience of 350,000+

You can check out their facebook page here – Cold Iron Tattoo Company

Cooper Lomaz is pleased to announce that our 2016 Salary Survey has arrived. Our annual report provides key insights into employment in the region as well as providing accurate salary figures for hundreds of jobs in the sectors we work in.

The latest Recruitment Trends and Salary Survey offering is split into 4 regions: Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. Each brochure gives a comprehensive overview of activity in the region’s industries across Accountancy & Finance, Engineering, Food Manufacturing, IT, Sales & Marketing, and Supply Chain.

As well as providing detailed benchmarking of salaries in the region, our survey asked thousands of people about things like job satisfaction, company growth, and whether they would move to advance their careers. The results were fascinating:

• While salary is important to employees, our respondents ranked having an interesting role and a competent manager higher.
• The majority of employees (55%) reported increases in workforce at their companies in 2015, with a similar amount expecting further growth in 2016.
• Interestingly, 45% of respondents expect to change jobs in 2016 – employees are confident in the amount of roles available on the market.

For more information and to see how your salary compares to others in your industry, read our 2016 Salary Survey. Emailcontact@cooperlomaz.co.ukto grab your copy.

Earlier this month we welcomed one of our favourite food jointsto our Digital Signage Networks across Norfolk,No.79 Bar &Charcuterie.Digital Advertising is the fastest growing advertising medium with DOOH (Digital-Out-Of-Home) coming under that bracket. Advertising their 50% food deal that runs throughout January,No.79 are taking advantage of our huge audience numbers, increasing brand awareness andreaching thousands of new and current customers.

Our screens can be found in high footfall locations andoffer captivated audiences, unlike other advertising mediums the ads displayedcannot beskipped, closed, or blocked. The advertisementscan be interactive, linked to social media ordirectly to a point of purchase while people are on the move. Wecanchange an advertising message within an instant, with no mistakes and can be remotely sent to ourdisplays at multiple locations within minutes. The screens run24 hours a day, seven days a week!

No.79 Bar &Charcuterie offers something completely different to what the city is use to, a great addition tothe Golden Triangle. Located down UnthankRoad No.79offersthoughtfully chosen wines, refined spirits,award-winning Charcuterie, served to share. If you haven’t been, you must!

The ad can be seen on our ‘Domination Circuit’, which has a weekly audience of 350,000+

You can check out their Facebook page here –No.79 Bar & Charcuterie

As we all know, time is money, and there is nothing more time-consuming than the back and forth that happens when a brief to a supplier is lacking. The supplier either has to ask a multitude of questions to be able to respond accurately (with a quote, an idea, a script etc) or they just play a guessing game and inevitably disappoint the client and themselves.

With a good brief you’ll save time (both yours and your supplier), you’ll get a response in line with your expectations and you’ll no doubt save money (less time spent on determining what is needed and more time spent on DOING it). And of course you’ll be seen to be a client who knows their product/service inside out and can convey it effectively – always something to be proud of and not as common as you’d think.

I’ve been taking client brief’s for well over 10 years and I’ve learned a thing or two about what is a good client brief and what isn’t. So below is a selection of my top tips for writing a brief for your supplier, and although my experience is based in TV, Radio and Video production, I think many of the points apply to all sorts of suppliers.

Consider the supplier ignorant. Think about why you are sending the brief. What is your end goal, what do you want to achieve? Whatever the answer, keep that in mind when issuing the information. Don’t forget the recipient may know nothing about your business at this stage. So consider them ignorant and offer information accordingly.

Highlight your USP’s – we like to think that our business is unique but most are not ‘one of a kind’, in fact you may be one of a thousand offering what you do, however you will have your Unique Selling Points and you need to share these. Are you the biggest? Do you offer a guarantee? Ask yourself ‘why should a customer use me over a competitor?’ and answer it in the brief.

Choose one Call to Action – the needs for this will vary depending on the medium, but we always state for TV and Radio that you should stick to one call to action so as not to confuse. Two at the most, but I would suggest you don’t bother including a telephone number unless it’s extremely simple and catchy – it just won’t be heard or seen. Mobiles are a bit of a no-no for the same reason, plus they sound less professional. Stick to a website or Facebook name if preferred.

Include other RELEVANT information-We don’t wish to drown in pages of information but it’s better to have far more info than just a couple of lines. This could be links to your website, copies of your press advertising, branding guidelines, even examples of other advertisers you admire / hate to help guide creative.

So there we have just a few tips on how to prepare the perfect brief. This is one of the topics I’ll be covering in my free session at the Norfolk Chamber of Commerce. I’ll also cover:

– How to make the most of your video assets using other platforms. – How to compete with the ‘big boys’ in advertising, for less than you think. – How to avoid expensive hiccups.

Whether or not you’ve advertised on TV before, for the ins and outs of TV advertising sign up to my Chamber Session, free for all members, on 2nd February 2016 at 8.30am.

-Francesca de Lacey, Managing Director of JMS Group

Sandler have a very different approach to selling to the traditional methods. I’ve been enjoying and have made good and successful use of a lot of the techniques I’ve learned over the last twelve months or so. Never before have I been armed with Norfolk Voice, Metal Hammer, The Guardian, scissors and a gluestick! Neither have my wife and children been invited to the President’s Club before.

When Ermine told us that the first session of 2016 would be cutting and sticking and we could bring loved ones, including children, I was intrigued and not sure what to expect. However, it turned out to be a very enjoyable session. I took my wife and our youngest, Eddie (4), who was fully engaged throughout cutting and sticking Thomas the tank engine.

The task for the grown-ups was to create what is best described as an annotated collage of our aspirations and goals for the year. I always need to make more of my family time, but if there’s one other thing I learnt last year it was that I need to focus more on my business and not get sidetracked by other projects, while learning to say no to people (sometimes). I also need to do more things for me and make the most of the professional bodies and training I’m receiving by being more active. Flicking through Norfolk Voice and seeing the pictures of the Norfolk Chamber’s recent technology event also made me realise I want to be more like someone who is very prominent in our community. I included him on my collage, but I won’t embarrass him by mentioning his name here.

Again I learnt a lot and it helped me focus a bit more for the year ahead. Apparently, in December, the next session will be in the school holidays and I can take all three of my kids. Who knows, one of them might become the perfect salesperson.

Vincent Crouch, former Auditor for high profile, international firms including BDO and Grant Thornton has joined Aston Shaw and will be based in the firm’s Norwich Head Office, but will head up the firm’s growing Audit department covering all 5 office locations – Norwich, Cambridge, Ipswich, Dereham and Great Yarmouth.

A Chartered Certified (ACCA) Accountant and FCCA qualified, Vincent completed his training with local regional firm Larking Gowen, where he worked in general practice on tax and accountancy jobs. For the past 5 years Vincent has been working for international firms BDO and Grant Thornton as an Auditor specializing in providing statutory audit and accounting services for small and medium size corporate clients.

Vincent commented: “I am looking forward to working as part of the management team at such a fast growing, innovative accountancy practice. My role will focus on expanding the audit department and ensuring that a high quality service is provided to all clients – no matter the size of their business.”

Before joining Aston Shaw, Vincent spent his time pursuing his personal interest of travelling – for 6 months this year he travelled around India and Sri Lanka – but is now back and ready to take on his new role as Aston Shaw’s Audit Manager.

Vincent’s new role at Aston Shaw will consist of providing statutory audit to medium sized companies, and assurance reviews for smaller companies. Also, he will be focusing on SRA compliance work for solicitors and Independent Accountants Reports for registered charities. For small companies which are not required to have a statutory audit, Vincent and the team will be providing Independent Review engagements which are more cost effective to the client than an audit, but can still provide many of the benefits.

Having already been named a ‘UK National Champion’ in this year’s prestigious European Business Awards, Norfolk based Norse Group is now aiming for the title of National ‘Public’ Champion and the subsequent international stage of the Awards.

As public voting opens for the first time, the company, nominated a ‘UK national Champion’ from the independently judged stage of the competition, has posted a video giving a powerful insight into the story of its business and its success online at https://www.businessawardseurope.com/vote/detail-new/united-kingdom/17652

Competing against other UK National Champions for the public vote, the company with the most votes will be named National ‘Public’ Champion for the UK on 7th March 2016.

The first phase of the online voting is open from 11 January to 26 February 2016.

Norse Group brings together facilities management specialist Norse Commercial Services, property consultancy NPS Group and care homes provider NorseCare, and was recently shown in an independent report to be boosting UK economy by £286 million a year, and has put £70 million back into the public purse.

Mike Britch, Norse Group Managing Director says: “With just over seven weeks for people to vote online for their favourite company, we are hoping that as many people as possible will watch our video and vote for us. The public vote means a great deal as it is our existing and potential clients, staff and stakeholders showing their approval of our success.”

“We are asking everyone wanting to support us to take time to watch our video, and cast their vote for us,” he added.

Adrian Tripp, CEO of the European Business Awards said: “Last year the public vote generated over 170,000 votes from across the world. It is a very important part of the Awards as it gives these entrepreneurial companies another way of showcasing their achievements.”

The European Business Awards was created to recognise and promote business success and support the development of a stronger business community throughout Europe.

A BIG new year welcome toBarenakedfoods, the latest Norwich based business to jump on board our Digital Signage networks across Norfolk. Barenakedfoods are using our network of screens to increase brand awareness, and maximise on the new years health kick by targeting our audiences inside the gyms.

Barenakedfoods was founded in 2011 by Ross Mendham who after years of dieting and worrying about the food he was eating, decided enough was enough. Producing low carb pasta, protein noodles, gluten free sauces, shirataki noodles & konjac noodles, he created food stripped barenaked of the bad bits! After successfully securing further investment from Dragons’ Den Peter Jones in August 2013, barenakedfoods can now be found in some of the UK’s leading supermarket chains,WaitroseSainsbury’s& Morrisons. You’ll also find these delicious products in wellbeing stores such asHolland & Barrett&GNC Live Well. So if you’re looking for a tasty meal and wanting to lose those christmas pounds, then grab yourself some of their tasty rice or noodles from you’re local supermarket or online. Ross has even created a recipes section on their website, helping you create some inspirational dishes such as barenakednoodles with baby crab, thai green curry or stir fry veggie.

The ad was created by our creative partnersThe JMS Groupand can be seen on our domination circuit which has a weekly audience of 350,000+