Posts by growthzone

Meet The Members Fall Initiative – Update On September 13 the Columbia Montour Chamber launched our fall Meet the Member Initiative.  Since then Chris, Taryn, and our Chamber Ambassadors have been out visiting all of you!  Just over 50 visits have happened in the last 35 business days. These active interactions with you our members…

Why Social Time with Co-Workers is the Ultimate Office Perk Employees need meaningful connections in the workplace, and social time with co-workers can be a powerful office perk. 85%, 84%, 74%, and 73% of employees indicated that they would return to their offices if they could rebuild team bonds, socialize with coworkers, if their “work…

Employee Retention Credit Update Source: McKonly & Asbury It seems about every two weeks something related to the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) is back in the news and is largely ignored by the public. The vast majority of valid claims have been filed and most of those have received their refunds. Those who are still…

Regain Control Over Your Calendar with the ‘4 Buckets’ Trick • Strategizing time management and prioritization can help busy CEOs and managers remain productive. • Bill Gates utilizes a technique of 5-minute slots to ensure he completes all of his important tasks. • Tobias Lütke of Shopify employs the use of four bucket categories, accompanied…

Youth Entrepreneurship Academy Launches On October 10th the Academy of Young Entrepreneurs (AYE), a program created by For the Cause in partnership with the Foundation of the Columbia Montour Chamber of Commerce, launched at the Berwick Innovation Center, owned by Jessica and Greg Martz of Martz Technologies. This groundbreaking initiative, designed to inspire and equip young…

Has the Skilled Labor Shortage Improved in 2023? Source: McKonly & Asbury In July 2022, Brett Bauer, CPA wrote an article surrounding the skilled-labor shortage in the manufacturing industry. The question now is, what difference has a year made? According to a February 2023 article published by CNBC, during 2022, more than 50 million workers…

Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment for 2024 Source: McKonly & Asbury On October 12, 2023, the federal government announced the Social Security 2024 Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) at 3.2% effective January 1, 2024. Individuals who receive Social Security (SS) will receive a mailing in late November or early December indicating their new benefit…