Kia ora and welcome to our February issue of Business South Connect.

These are incredibly challenging times for business as the COVID-19 outbreak continues to grow in our community, as we prepare to enter Phase Three of the national response.

Ministers have confirmed a move to the next phase of the Government’s Omicron response from 11:59pm tonight, Thursday, 24 February.

This week, the Minister of Finance, Grant Robertson, announced additional funding support to help businesses struggling during the current COVID-19 outbreak.

If you have employees self-isolating because they have COVID-19, or they are waiting on their test results and they are unable to work from home, the Government will provide support to help pay their wages.

On Monday, 28 February a webinar was held to help understand how major New Zealand organisations are working through Omicron, as well as lessons from the Australian experience.

At this time of year, Business South's in-house specialist lawyers usually travel around the Southern region to provide an employment law update for members, discussing a range of employment relations issues and developments.

We're calling for businesses, organisations and communities to become Southern Heroes and support our southern health workers as they respond to rapidly increasing COVID-19 case numbers.

To celebrate International Women’s Day, a Women in Leadership Virtual Luncheon will be held next month.