Staying warm, staying informed: Member resources to help your business enter 2026 with confidence

By Doug Loon
President and CEO
Minnesota Chamber of Commerce

I hope you’re staying warm and safe as we settle into winter. The weather has certainly made things challenging, but it looks like we’re heading into a truly white holiday season. After catching up on all the great updates from the Minnesota Business Podcast, I wanted to share a quick overview of several premier business services the Minnesota Chamber offers. These are resources available to our members, and if you’re not yet a member, I encourage you to consider joining – these tools are designed to help your business succeed in Minnesota.

As you know from many of our recent conversations, several new laws have taken effect, and one of the biggest – paid family and medical leave – goes into effect on January 1, 2026, just a few weeks away. It’s a complex law, and if you want to understand your compliance requirements, visit our website at mnchamber.com. Right on the homepage you’ll find a wealth of information, including webinars, FAQs, private plan details and more.

In addition, the Chamber’s labor law poster subscription service helps businesses stay current on required state and federal workplace postings. Falling behind on these updates can result in fines, so this subscription is a simple way to maintain peace of mind heading into 2026. You can find more details and sign up for the subscription here.

If your business is planning major changes in the coming year, I also want to highlight our Grow Minnesota! program, which provides free one-on-one consultations. This initiative, run in partnership with local chambers and economic development organizations, connects directly with businesses to understand their challenges and provide tailored tools, contacts and next steps. These consultations are available to businesses statewide and offer customized, practical solutions for your growth plans.

Finally, I want to mention two important programs within the Chamber’s Sustainability Foundation: Waste Wise and Energy Smart. These teams provide hands-on support to help businesses reduce waste, improve energy efficiency, and save money. Over the past year alone, they’ve distributed more than $1.7 million in grants to help employers implement sustainable and cost-saving changes. For example, the Waste Wise team can train your staff on proper recycling and sorting to avoid contamination fees and reduce landfill waste, a service that can be tailored for staff meetings or lunch-and-learns.

I encourage you to take advantage of these three valuable resources: our sustainability programs, the Grow Minnesota team and our Labor Law Poster service. All are designed to help your business be more successful, and many of these offerings are free. Visit mnchamber.com to explore these services and learn more.

Thanks for joining us for this week’s Minnesota Business Podcast. Please stay warm, stay safe, and we look forward to connecting with you next week!