UKAR utilise the expertise of their colleagues by working with the Young Enterprise organisation to have a positive impact on young people in the local communities by sharing financial knowledge and experience through the delivery of the Young Enterprise Programme in local schools. UKAR are working with Young Enterprise to deliver the Personal Economics Programme which aims to inspire young people with the confidence, ability and ambition to succeed in a challenging and changing economy. At each stage, pupils and students work directly with UKAR people and through 'life map living' students are asked to consider money management, employment and their own financial futures.

Trustmarque structure their annual appraisals to ensure that development and support needs are identified, and these are followed up by the Learning & Development team. Guidance on the completion of appraisals and the format of one-to-one is provided. The organisation have rolled out 360 feedback for their sales team this year to support them in understanding where they are doing well, and where they need more development. Managers do not ask employees to do anything they are not prepared to do themselves; this gives a good understanding of the pressures faced by employees.
Managers assist employees in identifying individual development plans, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. They adapt their approach according to personal circumstances.

Triodos Bank continually gives something back to the local and wider community through their very existence and business model. They only finance organisations that can demonstrate a positive impact on the environment, society and culture around them locally and globally. Through their lending and customer relationships, co-workers and customers are aware of their local and wider social engagement and impact. The point is it's part of their DNA as opposed to a CSR exercise. As such, they find that both co-workers who are already socially minded, and those who are less so, after spending time working at Triodos almost become more engaged with their local and broader communities simply by osmosis. Community participation, engagement and social impact by co-workers is encouraged, and supported by the bank though away days, social events, customer visits. Their co-workers take part in local sporting teams pitched against other organisations. Many co-workers volunteer at local organisations, and their procurement processes seek to use local, community and/or fair trade suppliers where possible, for example the twice-weekly local organic fruit delivery, the fair-trade tea and coffee supplied for co-worker and visitor refreshments.

The managers are the people who manage the performance management process for their teams and they are instrumental in keeping this process alive and effective. They have regular catch-ups with their teams outside of performance reviews – this allows them to have an in-depth understanding of what support their team members require. They have absolute discretion in working with their teams to develop their own team culture based on what works for them as individuals and meeting operational requirements of the business. As an organisation, they have a strong culture of personal communication, they have no one manager managing more than 10 people, therefore the personal touch and knowing what is going on their teams is very strong at Trayport. Their office environment has been designed to encourage open communication throughout all teams with space for break-outs, scrums, stand-ups. They are empowered to reward by giving ad hoc thank yous to their team in the form of team dinners, drinks and Amazon vouchers etc.

Throughout the year, many Rooflight staff support charitable events such as Children in Need, The Nasio Trust and Nets for Malaria by organising events that are fun and raise money for the nominated charity. The company will match any funds raised by employees and also sponsor 14 children through their school years at an orphanage in Aligarh, India which they got to know through a relationship with one of their suppliers. They have an environmental policy including movement sensors so that lights are not left on, measuring power consumption, recycling of waste materials and the sustainable sourcing of food.

The Real Adventure Marketing Communications Ltd reward their employees in a number of ways, including recognising and rewarding outstanding work through their monthly ‘star awards' for individuals, and regular ‘team awards' for groups. However they believe their most unique approach is their end of financial year reward, as this is a package made up of different elements. The package applies to all employees and comprises one day's extra holiday, a gift of £75 to be spent on a meal or entertainment activity which is taken in employees' own time, a performance related or ‘stretch' bonus (for example in FY13 payments ranged from £250 to £3000), and an after-work evening party at a local venue, with drinks, food, and entertaining presentations by senior management and team members, reflecting on the year past. As the event usually ends after midnight, they provide taxis home or hotel accommodation for those who live further than 30 miles from the office. What makes The Real Adventure Marketing Communications Ltd a unique is that the package combines universal rewards, the holiday, meal gift, and evening out, with individualised rewards, the stretch bonus. It also combines celebrating as an organisation, with celebrating with friends and family, something their employees say they much appreciate.

The two owners are both incredibly hands on and available, even when they have a lots of their own work. They are fun, likeable, fair and encouraging and they work hard and lead by example. They get involved, whether it means getting up at 5am or partying with everyone until 2am. They do not forget their roots and strongly believe that their staff make the company what it is.

At The Midcounties Co-operative, openness is one of their key values. They try to be transparent with each colleague about what benefits there are to being employed by Midcounties. One way they can see this is by logging onto their colleague portal and viewing their Total Reward Statement (TRS). Their TRS shows all their benefits over the year including salary, uniform, health benefits, service awards, training, discount savings and more. TRS were launched in 2013 and was supported by a huge communication campaign and is backed up by ongoing poster campaigns at sites. They've chosen Savvy Sam as the face of Your Benefits and created a brand to have consistency in their communications to colleagues. Sam is a friendly reminder of what is available to colleagues and where to find their benefits. Sam's website has been set up for each colleague to provide a place where they can get discounts with external businesses online, read about Society news, see what events are coming up, hear about new benefit schemes, enter monthly competitions and chat to other colleagues across all of the businesses on the forum.

The Glenmorangie Company off assistance to quit smoking which is provided with support through occupational health. There is a Healthy eating programme provided in the staff canteen. Losing weight is supported through occupational health. There is support for managing stress through self help and counselling available through the private medical help line. Support can also be prrovided by occupational health.

Graeme is an approachable leader who leads by example. He is often seen chatting with all members of staff asking about their work and also about their personal lives. He has an open door policy and all staff feel comfortable in approaching him. Graeme's relaxed leadership style influences how the Senior Management team support him in leading the organisation, ensuring that staff are supported and encouraged to be creative and innovative within their work. Staff are encouraged to bring new ideas on how they can deliver better services to their customers. Graeme has been recognised for his strengths in leading Five Lamps by being awarded the North East VCS awards for his outstanding leadership and more recently was the winner in the North as Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Also during their recent IIP Assessment the assessor stated 'It was interesting to note that some of the descriptions of top managers chimed with the recognised features of inspirational leadership. Inspirational leadership is a quality attributed to leaders who are able to create a culture of motivation and commitment. Investors in People UK defines inspirational leaders as those “who create an environment of trust in which people can be creative and motivated to fulfil their potential. They tend to: Have passion, Have a sense of purpose, Be honest and trustworthy, Encourage others to share their vision, Inspire others to achieve their potential.”

The most effective thing Five Lamps does to give something back to the wider world is to help their customers and the local community address social/economic and financial barriers. Each year they will work with over 20,000 people living in the most disadvantaged communities of the North East. Five Lamps is structured with four business divisions. The performance and impact of these divisions are included in their social accounts 2011/12.