Thursday, 19 November 2020
The South Australian Business Chamber will hold a free, live Q&A webinar tomorrow morning answering an increasing number of questions from concerned business owners across the state following the start of today’s unprecedented 6 day shutdown.
The peak independent business body said business owners were particularly concerned around how to manage staffing through the hard shutdown with many now off the JobKeeper wage subsidy.
“The South Australian Business Chamber has been inundated with well over 500 phone calls from concerned business owners in the last 24 hours,” said Mr Haese.
“While absolutely necessary to stop the spread of the virus and prevent further longer-term lockdown restrictions which could be catastrophic for the State, the 6 Day Shutdown will certainly come at a cost to business owners.
“Today’s announcement of zero new cases is a good sign that hopefully continues so that this hard and fast shutdown doesn’t last a second longer than it has too.
“The South Australian Business Chamber thanks all South Australian business owners for supporting the Shutdown. They are helping to save lives and livelihoods.”
The South Australian Business Chamber said issues raised from employers focused on how to pay staff without leave provisions and understanding what is classified as delivering an essential service.
“Tomorrow’s Live Q&A Webinar will provide timely and practical advice to business owners across all industries and locations in South Australia,” said Mr Haese.
“The goal posts have moved since the last COVID outbreak threatened South Australia.
“The South Australian Business Chamber’s Survey of Business Expectations, powered by William Buck, for the September quarter found that only 35 per cent of all businesses were still on the JobKeeper 2.0 payment from October to December with sales having returned to pre-COVID levels, if not higher.
“It is important that employers who are looking to stand down staff understand what has changed and what options are available to them to navigate through this period.
“We’ve already attracted huge interest in the webinar with businesses already pre-submitting dozens of questions they want answered.”
The South Australian Business Chamber’s free LIVE Q&A Webinar will feature a panel of experts, including the South Australian Business Chamber’s Senior Consultant Workplace Relations, Lauren Krollig, along with William Buck Director of Business, Matthew Illman and David Kelly, SA Mental Health Commissioner.
The Live Q&A Webinar is will be held on Friday 20 November at 10am.
