South Yorkshire Business Support Update: June 2022

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June Business Updates

This month, our newsletter is full of information about the latest support schemes and initiatives available to your business and employees.

If you are looking to grow your business, need help with a business issue, or are seeking advice on something within your organisation, you can call the gateway on 03330 00 00 39, or click the button below, and our friendly team will signpost you to the best route of support.

 – Brexit changes 

 – COVID-19 recovery 

 – Digitalisation 

 – Employee ownership or worker cooperatives 

 – Exporting and trade 

 – Innovating your business or processes 

 – Skills and workforce 

 – Start-up businesses 

 – Supply chain support and opportunities 

We want to help as many South Yorkshire businesses as possible to realise their full potential, so get in touch with us to hear how we can support you.

Help shape the future of recruitment in
South Yorkshire

Has your business seen recent issues with recruitment and employment? Are you struggling to recruit or retain staff, or find the right people with the right skills? If so, we want to hear from you as we are developing what our South Yorkshire Jobs Fund will shape up to be.

By taking part in the survey, you will be helping us gain insight to current challenges and what you think could be done about workforce issues in South Yorkshire.

The survey will only take less than 10mins but could have valuable impact on the future of South Yorkshire’s workforce.

Ownership Hub – have you heard about the benefits of shared ownership?

The Ownership Hub is a service that supports businesses, professional advisers and regions to grow employee and worker ownership and we are encouraging businesses in South Yorkshire to consider taking the steps towards this business model.

What are the benefits of employee ownership?

Co-owned companies succeed because they are likely to be more productive, inclusive, profitable and sustainable. Here’s why:

• Staff’s leadership skills and interest in the companies ambitions increase when they become shared owners
• Staff retention and productivity is higher in employee-owned businesses because of the personal investment of the individuals
• Innovation thrives because managers are encouraged to listen to employee’s ideas and are more likely to share information
• There is a strong sense of corporate social responsibility due to the open way in which the business is ran
• Independent research suggests that a combination of shared ownership and employee participation delivers superior business performance

What are the benefits of a worker co-op?

Worker cooperatives are values-driven businesses that put worker and community benefit at the core of their purpose. Here are their benefits:

• Workers have a meaningful role in the business, as they contribute to and benefit from the success of a company they co-own
• Bringing more stakeholders in to share the fruits of successful business can be a key to addressing inequality
• Business profits do not go to distant investors, but instead go directly to the workers. As a result, the money stays grounded in the local economy, building community wealth
• Jobs at worker cooperatives tend to be longer-term, offer extensive skills training, and provide better wages than similar jobs in conventional companies

Does all of this sound like something your business could benefit from? Call the gateway now to speak to us about the Ownership Hub service.

Phone: 03330 00 00 39
Email: growthhub@southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

Sheffield company upskills managers and expands thanks to Skills Bank

Sheffield IT company Resolve has taken advantage of part-funded training through South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority’s Skills Bank as it continues on its growth trajectory.

Resolve, which provides a wide range of IT support, as well as assistance with Cloud, Infrastructure, Business Continuity, Security and compliance, is reaping the benefits of two of its staff undertaking the Accelerating Leadership Potential course with Andy Hanselman Consulting, which was part funded by Skills Bank.
Read the full case study here.

Skills Bank

The South Yorkshire Skills Bank service provides employers across South Yorkshire with access to high-quality training and funding to support skills training that will enable you to develop your business. Skills Bank has been providing support to South Yorkshire businesses since 2018, helping over 600 businesses within that time. The scheme has now been extended for a further 3 years meaning more local businesses can access the support.
To find out more about Skills Bank or workforce support available to you through our skills advisors, visit our website or contact the gateway.

Phone: 03330 00 00 39
Email: growthhub@southyorkshire-ca.gov.uk

Do any of your employees require specialist health support to stay at work?

Are they struggling with mental health challenges, long covid or changes to physical health? Working Win can help.

Working Win supports people who have a health condition to stay in employment. The programme can work with businesses who are facing staff retention issues or staff capacity issues by assisting individuals to not just stay in or find work, but to flourish.

The Working Win Employment Specialists work with the individuals and the businesses to develop a retention or employment plan that will meet the health needs of the employee.

We are encouraging businesses to share information of the working win programme with their employees, especially those who may be struggling with their health, to help reduce labour issues in the future.

Your employees can refer themselves by filling in the form on this website or if you prefer to have a chat, give the Working Win team a call on 0114 2900 218.

Registrations now open for AIM Day!

AIMday (Academic Industry Meeting day) is an innovative networking event that allows external organisations to set the agenda and gain academic perspective into real-world challenges.
This year the theme is Green Future and allows participating companies to access the knowledge, technology and expertise needed to:
•    tackle the global climate crisis

•    target the final 20% of greenhouse gas reductions

•    realise a circular economy

•    protect our nature

•    develop and deploy net-zero technologies
AIMday has one objective – to match businesses seeking new knowledge and solutions with academic expertise.

The day will consist of a number of one-hour workshops based on challenges or questions put forward by companies.
It is a great opportunity to find solutions to your challenge, explore opportunities for collaboration and network with academic researchers and other organisations.

AMRC Launches new regional network

The new AMRC Regional Network will run a series of short, focussed events featuring industry representatives sharing real-life experiences and businesses are being encouraged to sign up to attend future events.

The one-hour sessions will be held at the AMRC, and will be on topics of general interest to manufacturers and their supporters. Each will include presentations and the opportunity for networking. As the network develops, members will be encouraged to put forward topics and shape the network’s agenda.

The AMRC Regional Network will be of particular interest to manufacturers, business advisors, manufacturing consultants, financial services and those in higher education.

Catch up on our first UK Shared Prosperity Fund webinar

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) is a new three-year fund running from 2022/23 and South Yorkshire’s UKSPF allocation totals £46.2m. £7.3m of this will fund the new Multiply numeracy scheme and £38.9m will be for core spending. South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority are administering the UKSPF for South Yorkshire’s four local authority areas.

The purpose of the UKSPF is to build pride in place and increase life chances across the UK, this will be achieved through three UKSPF priorities:

• Communities and Place
• Local Business Support
• People and Skills

SYMCA are producing a regional UKSPF Investment Plan, setting out local priorities over the next three years. To support the development of our plan, we are engaging with a wide range of local stakeholders from the private, public, community and voluntary sectors to get their input on how the funding should be spent and how you could support delivery in the period from 2022 to 2025.

You can watch our first webinar back using the above video player, or keep an eye out for more updates here.

Join our Online Community Group

Follow our LinkedIn Community Group to find all the latest news and updates on programmes, schemes, events and other business support available to you. It’s a great place to post discussions and network with nearly 7,000 other followers too and you can even share news and updates on what’s happening in your business.

Search South Yorkshire Community on LinkedIn or join here.

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