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Business Victoria have announced a generous 80% COVIDSafe Deep cleaning rebate to help businesses in their State cover the cost of COVID cleaning due to a suspected or confirmed coronavirus (COVID‑19) case. In what is a big win for SME's across the state of Victoria, eligible business will now be able to claim a rebate of up to 80% of the cost of any COVID cleaning/disinfection services they use. To be eligible, you must register your business by 30th June 2021. The COVIDSafe Deep Cleaning Rebate will be capped at a total grant of $10,000 to any business, and is available to any Victorian business with a payroll of less than $3M in the 2019/20 tax year. In other good news, this rebate can also be used even if you have received funding from other initiatives under the Economic Survival Package and the Business Support Package. Eligibility guidelines are: Worksite must operate in Victoria. You must have had a person suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19 on site when they may have been onsite when they were infectious. You must have had a 'disinfection clean' or 'COVID clean' of your site by a professional cleaning service in accordance with Departmental (DHHS) guidelines (DHHS COVID-19 Guidelines) Proof of the expenditure. Valid Australian Business Number (ABN) Annual payroll

The recent announcement by the Morrison Government that eligible visa holders can now work beyond the 20 hour/week limit has been met with disappointment and anger, with the cleaning industry harmed by this change to visa rules. Feeling betrayed and forgotten, this shortsighted decision is devastating news to the Australian cleaning industry, who are losing workers in droves. According to statistics published by the Allied Market Research group, the industry generates a staggering $12 billion dollars into the Australian economy each year, employs over 160,000 people, and supports over 32,000 cleaning businesses across the nation. Much of the cleaning workforce, particularly in regional areas, consists of people on eligible visas, a fact that the Minister for Home Affairs, Hon Alex Hawke MP, seemingly overlooked completely. The Morrison government has decided to tackle the severe labor shortage by shifting the problem and causing mass exodus in other industries to support hospitality and tourism. Health care, agriculture and aged care for all other industries that had previously had working hours for visa holders relaxed due to the pandemic. They are considered front line workers. What about the cleaners? The cleaning industry will be harmed by this change to visa rules.

While the worry and restrictions that have come along with Coronavirus have been challenging, like many tricky times, there have also been positives that have come from the lock-downs, and it has also taught us some amazing things about ourselves and others. We will certainly be happy to see the back end of COVID-19, but here are ten things we hope will stick around long after it has left. 1. We are awesome at adapting Be it from a business perspective (check out how these Aussie businesses pivoted to keep the doors open) to how we’ve adapted to living and working at home 24/7 or stayed in touch with our loved ones via video conferencing; us Aussies have proved to be an adaptive bunch. 2. We can exercise at home A testament to our adaptability, not only did we learn to work, study and live largely at home, for many of us it also became our gym. Some of us went hardcore (or got in before everything sold out) with large scale gym equipment, others took up online classes set up by their regular gym or activity of choice, while others discovered the variety of fitness classes on YouTube. While we all gave fitness at home a go during lock-downs, most of us are happy to see the gyms opening again! 3. We don’t have to meet in person to have meaningful conversations From important

If you’ve spent the last few months working from home, you may be wondering what office life will look like when you return. We asked David Chisholm from Creative Cubes, a shared office space company based in Melbourne, how Creative Cubes are keeping their shared spaces safe to give you an idea of what to expect, and what you can do as an employee. Keeping up the COVID-19 safety measures David says that while Creative Cubes kept their doors open to those who are well and observed social distancing, they adopted the government recommended steps early on – asking members to stay home if they have any symptoms or have been overseas in the last two weeks, and to seek medical advice (and if relevant, a written clearance before returning.) They’ve also clearly outlined their heavily ramped up cleaning measures at their offices. As the situation has evolved and more people are returning to work, David says they are continuing to enforce social distancing within their spaces. “From the day we launched, our buildings have provided enough space to ensure everyone is comfortable with generously spaced offices, meeting rooms, event space and co-working.” He says their space will continue to be monitored closely, additional cleaning remains in place, and a key component to keeping members

Is this pandemic the new 'stress test' for organisations actively involved in corporate social responsibility, and what fears do they have around this?