FIVE companies have joined forces to help other businesses in and around York affected by the coronavirus crisis.

The People Panel is a new online support group, set up by Michelle Mook, managing director of Pro-Development, in response to the ongoing situation.

The panel is made up of other professionals whose work involves helping people, including Joanne Clendinning, of Twenty Twenty Consulting; Natalie McMillan, from McMillan & Associates; Denise Jennings, from Athena HR; and Tiggy Clifford, from Torque Law.

Michelle, who also chairs York Professionals, and some of her contacts, came up with the idea of a daily support call.

Ms Mook said: "We’ve all been working in partnership now for a number of years and realised that together, we would be able to bring help, support, advice and guidance to many of the businesses we all work with locally along with many others.

"We’ve all been in shock with the events over the last week and the impact has been significant to so many of the lovely businesses and people we work with. We hope that these sessions over the coming weeks can act as a point of connection where we can come together and share our expertise but also where all of us can share ideas to help us through."

The virtual online events will be held every week day at 10.30am until 11.15am for the next few weeks. Business owners, leaders and HR professionals can join as many as they like and for as long as they want to ask questions or to talk with other businesses.

The sessions will focus on how to support employees, discussing areas such as recruitment and retention, HR issues, how to support people working from home, employment law and provide an opportunity for people to share ideas.

Anyone interested should contact michelle.mook@pro-development.co.uk for details of how to register for the sessions.