Following Saturday's earthquake and subsequent aftershocks, BIANZ has now contacted most of its members in the Canterbury region. We are relieved to report that none of these bakeries have suffered any serious damage. We have not heard of any injuries to staff either. All except three of the bakeries we contacted were up and running. Those that remained closed were either in an area that had been cordoned off or were experiencing water supply problems.

If you are in the Canterbury area you may find the website below useful in the coming weeks. This site has links to all other relevant websites.

http://www.recovercanterbury.co.nz/

We have also had further communications from the Department of Labour. Two of the main issues for businesses at the moment will be health and safety and employment relations.

Department of Labour Advice

Information here is designed to help businesses and their employees make good, safe, sensible and practical decisions in this difficult time and covers:

• Managing Health and Safety in the workplace
• Payment of wages
• Leave for employees
• Flexible working arrangements and terminating employment
• Problem Solving Support

Click here http://www.dol.govt.nz/quake2010/

 There may be financial assistance that Work and Income can offer in hardship circumstances, including recently announced support for small businesses and their employees. Work and Income can be contacted on 0800 779 997.

The BIANZ office is open. Office hours are 8.30am to 3.00pm. We are here to assist our members as usual.

 The Department of Labour has recently launched a new web resource called Infozone: Business Essentials. This is a resource that provides simple straight forward employment relations and health & safety information for business owners and self employed people.  It tells you what you need to know, what steps to put in place and then provides downloadable templates, documents and spreadsheets to apply to your business.

 Click here to view the website: Infozone: Business Essentials www.dol.govt.nz/infozone/businessessentials/

The Pie Group’s How to Make Better Pies Guidelines poster is available here to download.  FA_The_Pie_Group_A4_3.pdf

The guidelines recommend certain methods for folding pastry that can reduce the use of pastry fat and improve the lift and quality of pastry without changing the taste. They also provide guidelines for fillings which aim to reduce the fat and salt content.

Photos online

Photos of award winners in the Bakery of the Year and the Weston Milling Trainee of the Year competition, plus some related social event photos, are online through a Picassa address.

See Award Winners here »

See a collection of photos from the BIANZ Bakery of the Year competition and the Awards Dinner, including the Weston Milling Trainee of the Year winners here.

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for larger copies by email.

The Department of Labour has created a website aimed at helping employers with literacy training in the workplace. The Department of Labour’s new Skills Highway website profiles New Zealand businesses who’ve spent the last few years trying and testing workplace literacy training.

Nearly half the New Zealand workforce has difficulties with reading, maths and communication. It’s highly likely to be affecting your business, and your bottom line, in ways you may not even realise. Research shows about four in every 10 New Zealand employees have difficulties with reading, maths and communication. New Zealand’s poor adult literacy rates have long been considered a serious issue that costs business through accidents and injuries, high wastage, mistakes, missed deadlines and low productivity.

Download a copy of issue #7 of Slice here