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business focus
Supercharging the Thames Valley through growth
We had the privilege of Becky Golland, head of partnerships at Tech City UK opening GROW@Green Park’s Lab during our Festival of Digital Disruption last month. In her talk, she focused on the contribution of the rapidly growing digital economy, which employs 1.46 million people, writes Louize Clarke
Fifty per cent of these digital technology companies were founded after 2008 which means half the industry didn’t even exist seven years ago. This is why ConnectTVT is focusing on supporting new, growing businesses, working towards reaching their full potential. Figures from Tech City UK indicate that within these companies, 65% believe they are part of a cluster, and 77% believe it has given them access to a network which has benefited their business. Through GROW@ Green Park this is exactly the kind of environment we’ve been aiming to foster.
Interest in supporting startups and next stage scale-ups is coming from the highest level. Golland cited the strategy adopted by Unilever, Google, Microsoft, John Lewis and
Looking at younger businesses, our start-up boot camp is now in full flow and taking 10 amazing companies on a business-shaping journey.
Adam Clark, ConnectTVT, Becky Golland, Tech City UK, and Louize Clarke
Tesco as “going where the startups are”. Collaboration at this level is driving innovation and is becoming key to remaining competitive. This number of corporates is only going to grow. And ConnectTVT wants to help drive this by supporting fast growing businesses – from all sectors and industries – in the region.
Commitment to living wage
Leading the way in a sector that has often seen poor pay and conditions, Brayborne Facilities Services has become a living wage service provider and is actively securing the support from all of its clients to meet their objectives in paying a fair wage for a fair day’s work
The living wage campaign has been running for nearly 10 years and has lifted over 45,000 people out of poverty. Set independently and updated annually, it commits companies to an hourly rate of pay based on the cost of living in the UK and is currently set at £7.85 an hour in the Thames Valley area.
Brayborne is one of the leading contract cleaning and facilities services companies in the south- east of England with all staff employed directly and working on major contracts in offices, shopping centres, schools and colleges. As a recognised service provider working with the Living Wage Foundation, Brayborne is one of over 850 responsible employers in the UK who are working towards raising the living standards of people who are on the low paid threshold.
www.businessmag.co.uk
Mairi Berryman, commercial director at Brayborne Facilities Services, explained: “Our employees work extremely hard and we believe that their pay should reflect this. We already have terms of employment for our staff that are some of the best in the industry and as a result our staff retention is high and there is reduced absenteeism – happy employees work better and are prepared to go the extra mile. The benefits are then seen clearly by our clients.”
Boehringer Ingelheim, a leading pharmaceutical company based in Bracknell, is one of the first of Brayborne’s clients to support the living wage objectives. Tom Ryan, head of general services at Boehringer Ingelheim commented: “I’m proud that Boehringer Ingelheim is supporting the living wage. We recognise that we have a strong
So how do we achieve this? We’ve just launched a programme of new business education events on Wednesday evenings. The format of our "Learn Something Awesome” events includes an inspirational talk, mini-learning seminar, pitches from a couple of new businesses wrapped up with collision networking.
Our new Lab offers a great platform to support innovation within fast-growing businesses. With Internet of Things hardware and software development, a 3D Printing Zone and Open Device lab, businesses can harness more disruptive avenues to accelerate their proposition and growth. We’re hugely grateful for the role played by sponsors including IBM, KPMG and RS Components for making this possible. We’re now looking to elevate The Lab’s offer and looking for inspiring technology partners to provide the hands-on training needed by businesses to truly maximise the resources available through The Lab.
Details: Louize Clarke
louize@connecttvt.co.uk @connectTVT www.facebook/connectTVT
with Brayborne we appreciated the importance of a rise to a fairer rate and have agreed to pay the living wage.” Brayborne submitted two quotations at competitive and living wage rates – the other costs of the contract remained the same in both.
Mairi Berryman
reliable team of hard working staff from Brayborne who deliver a very high standard of service every day, and we felt it fair to recognise this valuable contribution through increased wage rates. Staff were delighted to hear this and they are now amongst the highest paid cleaning operatives in Bracknell.”
A GP practice in Basingstoke, Oakley & Overton Partnership, has awarded a new cleaning contract to Brayborne starting on the June 1 and agreed to pay a living wage to staff. Sally Bown, practice manager, said: “Previously our cleaning operatives had been paid the minimum wage of £6.50 per hour, but on discussion
As part of their commitment to the living wage, Brayborne will now provide two quotes for all tenders. The client will decide which wage rate to pay but will always understand the difference and the reasons and the importance of rewarding hard working staff fairly for the high level of service that Brayborne provides.
Berryman continued: “We are delighted to uplift the wage for our conscientious staff to a much fairer living wage. Many more employees in the industry deserve the same consideration.”
Details: Mairi Berryman 0118-9789428
mairi.berryman@
brayborne.co.uk www.brayborne.co.uk
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2015
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