What are companies doing with regards to 'Giving Something Back'

Employees benefit from Structured Training Pathways, with chefs having extended training programmes to replace external recruitment, building expertise. Managers participate in the daily Management Mind Gym workshops and can pursue external qualifications like ILM, ensuring staff gain expertise and strengthening retention through clear advancement routes.

Collaboration and friendly competition are encouraged through initiatives like the annual Guest Hero Challenge, where recognition is tied to exceptional guest feedback, strengthening engagement. Weekly operations meetings also encourage managers to share experiences and best practices, fostering a stronger sense of connection.

The company supports development by listening to employees' interests and providing a management development programme for managers, including workshops on employment law and peer networking. They also recently created a management forum, allowing managers to take a lead by collaboratively solving business challenges and sharing insights.

Croxsons provides managers with management development including workshops to expand capability in areas like understanding themselves and others. The leadership style is open, accessible, and big-hearted, ensuring managers listen and explain the 'why' behind decisions, while 1:1s and informal conversations ensure people feel heard.

Managers host monthly presentations to spotlight team wins, showcase strong work, and share strategic updates, keeping teams informed and connected to the wider business. The current leadership team is also undergoing a 12-month coaching programme with Amy Williams to build core competencies for high-performing, ethical leadership.

Regular activities like Escape Rooms and Friday Office Drinks spark collaboration and problem-solving, while fostering a consistent space to unwind. Team-building efforts, such as Run Clubs and Padel Tournaments, offer healthy outlets for bonding, and seasonal Sports Days and BBQs bring the whole company together.

The Career Progression Framework provides a career development roadmap with clear competencies, resulting in faster promotions at junior levels and a reduced turnover rate of 13.5%. The organisation further supports growth through regular company-wide training and individual financial support for learning & development.

The organisation actively commits to strong leadership, evidenced by its excellent manager rating of 8.6 out of 10 in their latest pulse survey. This commitment will be further solidified with the launch of the Line Manager Training Programme in November, enhancing leadership skills across the company.

Tomorrow heavily invests in its managers' growth and wellbeing, offering bespoke coaching and tailored development plans to support their individual needs. Managers benefit from direct open-door policy access to founders, ensuring they are equipped with guidance and support to handle people challenges effectively.

Beyond tax-free bonuses, Tomorrow provides memorable and personal rewards like tickets to England rugby games and team lunches for high-performing groups. Winners of company-wide challenges are celebrated with prizes, combining recognition with shared experiences to strengthen team connections.

The Career Ascent programme at Alconex is designed to help employees achieve their career aspirations by combining technical, professional, and leadership development. The organisation also provide transition coaching for all new hires and offer mentoring and shadowing opportunities, which has resulted in no voluntary leavers in the past 12 months.

The Alconex Premier League, a unique reward initiative for site-based teams, has transformed team morale and performance. By gamifying productivity, quality, and safety, the league has driven a 35% improvement in site productivity and fostered a positive, competitive spirit and a strong sense of pride and collaboration.

The Penny Group demonstrates a strong commitment to professional development. All employees complete psychometric profiling, with expert interpretation and feedback identifying opportunities for growth through mentorship, courses, qualification pathways, and memberships of professional bodies, all of which build confidence.

The company prioritises employee wellbeing, as demonstrated by the ‘Health is Wealth’ wellbeing morning hosted for Mental Health Awareness Month. Colleagues shared healthy snacks and participated in group activities to better understand the factors that influence a client's financial decision-making journey.

This year, Danske Bank’s wellbeing theme is mental health delivered through the ‘Your Self Care’ programme. With extensive colleague support, it includes the launch of mental health toolkits; a new people leader workshop, mental health leading from the front; partnering with Benenden with webinars, location visits to share information on resources and offer one-to-one support.

Danske Bank’s Learning at Work Week was open to all colleagues and consisted of 14 top-quality sessions and inspirational speakers. With a mixture of external and internal speakers, Danske Bank colleagues focused on the central theme ‘Winning in the Marketplace’ and explored skills such as AI, Relationship Management, customer insights and focused on external perspectives.

Employees at CyberLab are provided with clear learning milestones and career development opportunities. The Sales Salary Ladders, for instance, offers a framework of competencies and achievements that can be met in exchange for salary increases.

CyberLab prioritises the mental and physical wellbeing of its employees. This is seen through the availability of mental health first aiders, the Employee Assistance Programme scheme for counselling, the wellbeing day, and the flexible benefits package that promotes health.

Career Connect are an accredited Professional Development Centre, recognised by awarding bodies OCR, City & Guilds and ILM. It runs "Inspiring Leaders" workshops twice a year to give staff an insight into the role of a manager and encourage internal progression routes and promotion for its staff.

Career Connect runs a wellbeing campaign twice a year. The objective is to encourage its people to try out different activities that boost their health and wellbeing. Staff were given paid time off to participate in the activities of their choice. This included physical and mental activities such as exercise, yoga, and baking.