Mark Bristow has had his chairmanship of Picon extended for another year. The managing director of Friedheim will now serve until June 2022 with the unanimous consent of the Picon Council.
Picon hopes the extension will allow Mr Bristow to enjoy more travel and face-to-face interaction than he has been able to this year, giving him more scope to fulfil his ambitions for the organisation.
‘Picon has held almost all meetings online since the start of the Covid-19 crisis and it has certainly played an important communications and support role,’ Mr Bristow said. ‘We have tried to keep in more regular contact with the members providing them with key and relevant updates. One of my goals was to develop the business support opportunities and this year we introduced a Covid-19 Support Scheme that reimbursed members for some of the capital expenditure outlay involved in meeting new working practice standards.’
Another of Mr Bristow’s aims has been to maintain and develop training initiatives and grant schemes. He says that this has not been restrained by the crisis and in 2021 a new Work Experience Placement Scheme will be introduced.
The scheme will mean that Picon members can employ someone between the ages of 18 and 24 for up to 12 weeks for a specific project and Picon will reimburse the member the minimum wage for 25 hours a week plus the employer’s National Insurance.
