AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.

AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.

Adobe has a unique 'KickBox Innovation Workshop' programme that gives employees free reign to bring an idea to life. KickBox is a new approach for empowering employees to innovate inside an enterprise. KickBox is a way of innovating. The KickBox Workshop teaches it in fast-paced, hands-on fashion. Employees are given a red box. Inside is everything they need to become an Adobe Innovator including $1,000 on a pre-paid credit card with a step-by-step process to originate an innovative new concept and then use that money to validate the concept. No proposal, no committees, no approval. You just do it. KickBox is not limited to one idea. Employees learn techniques and gain skills that will be useful throughout their career.

Actavis have an employee reward & recognition scheme that promotes recognition through demonstration of the values and rewards employees with vouchers. Employees can be nominated by colleagues or managers.

Allowing the people of AMV to have a voice, is embedded in the company's culture. They have several processes in place to enable people to feedback ideas and suggestions. One example is the Account Management department suggestion box, in which everyone within that department is encouraged to post suggestions for improvements. The box is regularly checked and all suggestions are considered. Secondly, all employees at AMV have a free voice. It is engrained in their culture and everyone is supported and encouraged to share their ideas, thoughts and feedback to members of the management team. Thirdly, AMV use Survey Monkey surveys to conduct reviews of particular AMV offerings, which provides everyone with the opportunity to share anonymous feedback and insights and to share their thoughts on possible improvements.

For the past 2 years 1st Credit have been visiting Oakwood School in Horley to provide financial awareness training as part of the educational curriculum. Nine sessions were delivered this year by employees who volunteered their time to provide lectures on Credit and Debt awareness, Credit Scoring and Credit Histories, as well as how to be aware of managing Credit as a young adult. In addition to this they also support a work experience programme as well as a kick start your career programme where they offer support and careers advice. Oakwood School is an important project for 1st Credit as it's not just a community initiative, but an opportunity to contribute to the future of their local community by providing sound career advice, debt management awareness and an opportunity for the students to experience a real working environment. 1st Credit hope the partnership that has developed with Oakwood School, will continue for many years to come.

In the the first Wulvern Staff survey in 2011 only 47% of staff felt that they were paid fairly so Wulvern Housing have worked to improve this and in the 2013 survey they have improved this response to 67% of staff now feeling they are paid fairly in comparison to the external market. They have made this shift over two years by firstly in 2012 providing all staff with an information leaflet explaining how they benchmark salaries with the external market and how their budget is used across the business for pay awards. Feedback on this leaflet was that it was useful but staff would have preferred to have discussed it face to face and ask any additional questions there. Wulvern Housing accepted this and this year they held a series of drop-in pay workshops for staff. At these sessions they explained the process for benchmarking and calculating pay rises and then gave staff the opportunity to act as the leadership team and using a set of money make their own pay decisions for the business. The workshop concluded with a questions and answer session where staff could ask any questions or they could stay behind to ask specific questions about their own pay.

They have monthly awards for staff who have demonstrated the behaviours which fall in line with their values, passion, integrity and partnership (PIP). The Managing Director presents the winner with an award and they promote it through their news magazine, News at the Core, and the monthly company up date held for staff members. They have mugs, stress balls, stickers and posters all promoting the values.

Walsall Housing Group have a recognition scheme called Going the Extra Mile (GEM). “Going the Extra Mile” is defined as activities that have a positive impact on WHG's customers, colleagues or both. The recognition is not for ‘doing the day job' but for activities that are seen to be above and beyond what would normally be expected. GEM in the Community is a colleague recognition scheme that promotes community benefits and rewards positive, community-minded behaviour. The scheme is based on colleagues' voluntary involvement in groups or activities outside working hours. The Emerald GEM recognises teams who go the extra mile to protect and improve the environment by minimising the impact of the company's activities, promoting sustainability initiatives, or suggesting innovative ways for them to become a greener organisation. Colleagues can be nominated by anyone within the business and, if approved by the individual's line manager, their achievements are shared their ‘outstanding colleagues' wall in the main office. They also receive a prize, tailored to the team or the individual and have included restaurant meals, gift vouchers, flowers and days out.

The way W L Gore & Associates do business within their unique culture means the individual makes their own choices and is able to take control of themselves and the work they do. On a practical level and for real peace of mind, for every single associate they provide private medical insurance, dental insurance, and on site occupation health nursing as well as on site massages. They also have a PHI scheme, and an EAP for every person and EAP covers family members too. Another key aspect of wellbeing is via their sponsor, who gives focussed help for their development. Sponsors are chosen by the individual and in 95% of cases a strong personal trusting relationship develops where you can go and talk about anything such as work or personal matters in a safe and confidential environment.

During the London Olympics and Paralympics 2012, the company's North West Victim Care Unit ran a programme of events focusing on team work and performance, showcasing the Olympic spirit. The units ran events for ‘best commissioned services' for victims of crime and ‘most commissioned services' by a Victim Care Officer to boost individual performance. The team event ‘The Olympic Race' included a competition which promoted increasing performance based on the number of referrals for support that each team made to their community branches. The number of referrals made by individuals was added together to create a team total and was updated daily on the ‘Olympic Race' track. At the end of the 14 day period the number of visits was totalled and the winning team were crowned Olympic champions. Each team also adopted an Olympic country. All team members worked together to represent their country in the most innovative and creative way. They decorated desks and the wider offices in line with the theme. At the closing ceremony each team represented their adopted country and one team from each site was judged ‘the winner'. The results for the competitions were announced and medals awarded to individuals and teams during a spectacular closing ceremony. The event focused on effective team working to support the aims and objectives of Victim Support and services that they provide. Another example saw the finance team undertake a number of events based on MBTI and increasing individual and team awareness to support the team working together.

As a charity, Victim Support's purpose is helping victims find the strength to move on after crime. The work that they undertake focuses on giving back to local and wider communities by providing support to victims and witnesses of crime. Since Victim Support first began in 1974, they've helped well over 25 million people affected by crime. Over the last year we, they made almost 74,000 visits to see victims; made more than 1,167,700 phone calls to talk to victims of crime; organised 45,800 pre-trial and 124,034 on-the-day court visits to help witnesses prepare for giving evidence; supported 26,700 witnesses who were vulnerable or intimidated witnesses and identified a further 15,600 people who they felt needed special help at court. Delivery of their services depends on the skills, knowledge and time of their volunteers, supported by their employees. They have over 6000 volunteers undertaking work for Victim Support. They invest in development for their volunteers through training. This is imperative for delivery of frontline services but for many volunteers it also gives them access to skills which will support them in their wider life, whether in paid work roles, whilst studying or as life skills that they can use every day. In the last year they also launched their first apprenticeship programme and are currently supporting apprenticeships for circa 7 paid apprentices; supporting them to gain valuable skills that we hope they will be able to continue to grow and develop with Victim Support.