Businesses committed to a fairer Coventry - Recruitment and retention

Places of support for your business.

Business support

• Coventry & Warwickshire Growth Hub offers businesses a range of services. These include start-up advice, information about raising finance, growth planning, decarbonisation, mentoring, innovation support, recruitment, skills, and training guidance and support with understanding supply chain opportunities and much more. To find out more about how they can help connect your business to local, regional, and national business support programmes, please contact a member of the team on 0300 060 3747, email support@cwgrowthhub.co.uk or visit www.cwgrowthhub.co.uk 
• Coventry & Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce offer a range of business networking opportunities and business advice.  Including advice on starting up, growing your business, and trading internationally.  As one of 53 Chambers across the UK and part of a Global Chamber Network Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce can support with brokering business relationships, accessing opportunities and providing advice and guidance.  
• Federation of Small Businesses offers a number of content hubs on its website. They are packed with articles, videos and guides on key topics including starting a small business and managing staff.

Health and wellbeing

• A Workplace Wellbeing Forum has been created for Coventry employers to improve health and wellbeing support for their employees. Warwickshire County Council and Coventry City Council have offered this as part of the Wellbeing for Life programme.
• Business in the Community Musculoskeletal Health Toolkit for Employers developed in partnership with ARMA offers advice on musculoskeletal health and reducing workplace absence.
• Businesses in the Community Health and Wellbeing at Work Summary Toolkit focuses on health and wellbeing at work. It provides practical, evidence-based guidance on how employers can support their employees to improve the health and wellbeing of their workforce.
• Encourage your employees aged 40 to 74 without a pre-existing long-term condition and are eligible to sign up for a free NHS Health Check; the check is for people aged 40 to 74 without a pre-existing long-term condition and focuses on cardiovascular risk assessment.
• Dear Life, has mental health and suicide prevention information and advice for people in Coventry and Warwickshire, for themselves or someone they are worried about.
• Thriving at Work Stevenson/Farmer review sets out what employers can do to better support all employees’ mental health with guidance and recommendations. The charity Mind provides a free resource to help implement the standards in your workplace, and free resources on how to take care of your staff and look after their mental health at work.
• Change Grow Live Coventry Drug and Alcohol Service offers support to employers to support employees impacted by substance misuse.

Wages and pay

• Find out more from The Living Wage Foundation on the wage that people need to live. The hourly living wage is voluntary and amounts to £12 across UK for people aged 18 years and older.

Safe recruitment

• Skilled workers may also have criminal records, NACRO has advice for employers on employing someone with a criminal record. DBS checks can support your business with safer recruitment practices. The NSPCC safer recruitment guidance will help your business to make sure your staff and volunteers are suitable to work with children and young people.

Flexible working

• Flexible working can broaden your talent pool and make your business a more attractive place to work.  Read the Department for Business and Trade press release.
• Supporting employees to continue to breastfeed when returning to work can increase staff morale and wellbeing, accommodating breastfeeding employees in the workplace and protect pregnant workers and new mothers. The NHS website contains information for employers to support employees on breastfeeding and going back to work. Supporting breastfeeding can also benefit your local community who feel welcome and are more likely to visit your business and recommend your business to others. For more information contact the Coventry Infant Feeding Team on 07904 984620 or visit the Infant Feeding Team website. Further information on Coventry breastfeeding venues is available on the Infant Feeding Directory.

Advice

• Take an active role in supporting employees with Domestic abuse: Guidance for people, professionals on managing and supporting employees
• Business in the Community Domestic Abuse toolkit for employers supports employers will help your organisation to support your employees and contribute to tackling domestic abuse.
• The Employers' Initiative on Domestic Abuse (EIDA) is a free network of employers that supports around 1,500 large and small businesses that take effective action on domestic abuse.
• West Midlands Combined Authority Designing Out Homelessness Toolkit provides information for employers to take action to prevent homelessness, support employees when issues arise and create pathways to employment for people who have experienced homelessness.
• The Cost of Living and wellbeing support webpages contain information on the support available for Coventry residents who may be feeling the pressure from the cost-of-living crisis.
• Employer briefing: Financial wellbeing during the cost-of-living crisis provides six practical steps to support employees’ financial wellbeing.

Supporting Carers

• Can your business make a difference to unpaid carers? Mytime, part of the charity Local Solutions, is an award-winning project that gives unpaid carers the chance to take a vital break from their caring responsibilities. Whether through a meal out, an overnight stay, or tickets to a local event, these breaks help carers rest, recharge, and reconnect with loved ones. Originally launched in Liverpool, Mytime has now expanded to Coventry and is looking to partner with local businesses to make a real difference in carers’ lives. There is no offer too small or too unique.  To find out more or get involved, please contact us at mytime@localsolutions.org.uk or call 07458 144 984