Last year the NAS (National Association of Shopfitters and Interior Contractors) celebrated its centenary, with a fantastic year full of celebration and reflection. However, our priority now is focusing on the future, ensuring the association is as relevant as possible to those working in the shopfitting, fit out and interior contracting industry today.
We started the year by sharing our 2020 Vision with members, with all of the association’s work to sit under three core values: Promote, Support and Develop. In February we launched our new website, with a large focus on improving our member’s directory.
We have more filtering functionality still being implemented, but our analytics already show this has become the second most viewed area on our website. This is great as it shows that our full and associate members are able to find each other’s details much easier and reach out in regards to collaborating.
We have been keeping members updated throughout the Covid-19 pandemic on a dedicated webpage, which includes official links we recommend visiting, as well as our own blogs, webinars and helpful documents. We will be launching an online community forum in the near future, where anyone can sign up to ask a question, discuss job opportunities, and share advice – something that we feel will be of great benefit to the industry and even more relevant given the current climate.
Growing our following and engagement on social media has also been a key focus as we have geared towards a more digital approach with our marketing. Not only is it a great way for us to promote the fantastic work our members do to a wider audience, but it means we can communicate with apprentices coming into the industry who have grown up as digital natives. To ensure our posts are resonating with members, as well as aiming to inspire new companies to want to join us, we now have a well-researched content strategy in place.
Events have always been a key part of NAS membership, but without the ability to hold face to face events currently, our new Events and Fundraising Manager has hit the ground running, setting up webinars so our members can continue networking and learning whilst at home.
Some of these webinars have been delivered by our approved training providers, who have been sourced by our Training Manager. She has worked tirelessly to sign up a carefully curated list of providers, covering all areas from asbestos to face fit to NVQs, who have passed our rigorous sign up process to ensure our members are only trained by the best.
We also have a training provider specifically for mental health, wellbeing and resilience – a subject that was rarely spoken about a few years ago, but is of great importance given that two construction workers take their own lives every working day. The next step we are taking to modernise our training offering is to offer more e-learning options.
Linking back in again with the importance of mental health and wellbeing, two of the newest benefits we offer members is access to a 24/7 employee advice line, and discounted gym membership. We not only want our members to feel like they are supported from a business point of view, but that we champion their emotional and physical wellbeing too. This has been one of the key messages our Operations Manager has been communicating on her regular calls with members.
These are just a handful of things the team has been working on, as part of our ongoing transformation. We believe the key to longevity is being able to continuously adapt and evolve – and we are proud to be doing our bit to ensure the association is around in another 100 years!
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