Annually C P Hart canvass all of their people and ask what charity they would like to support. This year, they voted for Scope. As a result, events have taken place throughout the year with the company matching contributions made. Their people make suggestions all year as to events they would like to host. So far they have supported every suggestion to help raise money for their charity. Events have include keepy uppy, Jenga challenges at their Summer BBQ, sandwich and cake sales, Guess the weight of the cake, Steptember Challenge, HQ and Showroom BBQ's, Christmas Raffle. C P Hart also support individuals raising money for their own charity, by allowing them to ask for sponsorship and posting information on noticeboards and the bulletin. C P Hart publish their achievements and any funds raised in their weekly bulletin. If one of their people supports a team or club outside of work hours, they will sponsor them to enable them to purchase uniforms or equipment that they need. Recently they had a team that took part in a charity football event, in which the company paid for the kit.

The Buzzacott Stuart Defries Memorial Fund (the Fund) – in 2003, the Partners set up a charitable trust in memory of a former Partner, Stuart Defries, who was killed in a tragic accident. Volunteering initiatives and community programmes under the auspices of the Fund. These include The Access Project, which helps bright but disadvantaged teenagers to improve grades and access to university, New Horizon programmes for NEET youngsters and a local primary school reading programme. One-off volunteering activities/team events this year included activities with KidsCo, with a local football summer school and with a city farm. The Fund also awards grants every year to charities, chiefly supporting disadvantaged communities in boroughs bordering the City, with a particular focus on children and young people and also through the staff suggestion and matched giving scheme.

At BDHT they try never to say ‘no' to anyone's request for development. They believe that the motivation and goodwill created by actively supporting staff on meeting their personal work related ambitions is invaluable. Each year their corporate sponsorship programme ensures that any member of staff is given the opportunity to achieve their ambitions ranging from a GCSE in English to a professional qualification. In the last five years 78% of their staff have engaged in the corporate sponsorship scheme. Using the MC3 tool as the starting point BDHT developed a bespoke Leadership Development Programme focusing on motivation energy, prioritisation, encouragement, engagement and empowerment. This learning was used to examine BDHT's current structures and system, and consider how to best support the development of staff.

Everyone across the agency impacts on the success of their business, whether cost-savings, improving cash flow or creating award-winning work, so each month individuals can nominate themselves for the Impact of the Month Award. The board short-lists the best nominations, they then present their work to the rest of the company at the first Monday morning meeting of the month. Each member of staff is given a voting sheet with a list of the nominations so that they are all able to vote on a winner of each category. At the following Monday morning meeting the winners of each category are announced, and presented with retail vouchers from one of the Co-Founders. This contributes to the Star of the Month. Each month the Board vote for the Star of the Month. Star of the Month recognises employees from across the agency who have gone “above and beyond “to achieve success at work. At the end of the year, each month's winner's name is placed into the Star of the Year draw to win a chance to work in the international office of an Oriella PR network partner for two weeks. Previous winners have chosen Australia, India and San Francisco.

Brandbank receive approximately 125,000 product samples a year. They have ‘staff shops' where staff are asked to donate at least 30p per item, and in the past 12 months they have raised over £47,800 for charity. Brandbank give a lot of products to local housing trusts and soup kitchens. They give Easter eggs, toys and chocolates to local Children's Hospices, animal food to animal shelters, etc. The local East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH) receives a weekly donation of products, which has helped them to cut their costs significantly. Staff are invited to nominate charities to whom they would like to send the money they raise. Staff are all invited to take part in things such as Children in Need and Movember during work time. They also do fundraising activities throughout the year at work to help raise funds, such as fancy dress days, MacMillan Coffee Mornings and cake sales.

Box UK hosts external events and activities on a quarterly basis, paid for by the organisation and to which all employees are invited. In the past 12 months these events have included a company BBQ, end of year party and go-karting. They also hold quarterly internal company ‘mingles' where employees are encouraged to take time away from their desks to get to know each other and celebrate successes. These events are catered for by the organisation and company time is also allocated to facilitate them. These mingles often coincide with internal competitions organised by the Personnel team. Previous competitions have included a photo competition, caption competition and “guess who?” competition, with the results revealed at the mingle so all team members are encouraged to participate and share in the celebration.

The construction of BMW change groups has created a mechanism for collecting real life feedback from key individuals and also the opportunity for those giving the feedback to also have the power to make recommendations for improvements and the authority to bring these recommendations to life.

Biogen undertook a community project this summer to refurbish a former local pub in order for it to be used as a tea room and training centre for a charity that supports adults with learning difficulties - Beds Garden Carers. Employees from across the business were able to take part, giving up their time both inside and outside of working hours. Biogen also supports the local Bedford Christmas Food Bank where staff are encouraged to donate food that goes to the homeless at Christmas.

Big Ideas have introduced something called '90 day sprints' where each team is targeted to work towards between each quarterly meeting. Each team has a list of goals they need to achieve within the next 90 days and progress reviews are discussed weekly during management meetings. At the end of each quarter each team presents their progress on their previous 90 day sprints to the company at the quarterly meeting and then announces their new 90 day sprints for the next quarter. These 90 day sprints help to align their business goals and objectives across all of their teams and departments and by regularly communicating these in weekly management meetings and quarterly meetings this helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and the strategy of the company is understood by all parties.

BHA's annual Star Awards is now the most eagerly anticipated event of the year. It combines an afternoon of fun with a series of individual and departmental awards, voted on by customers, colleagues and board members. This gives high visibility recognition to BHA's people's efforts. Throughout BHA they have a culture of saying ‘thanks' and recognising instantly those little deeds and efforts that can go unnoticed. All their managers and team leaders are trained to do that.