Having been re-accredited for ISO14001 as an organisation ESOS continue to recognise that they have a responsibility to ensure that the impact of their activities on the environment is kept to a minimum. The company encourage activities that reduce the environmental impact on both their local and wider community including: paper, mobile phone, printer, battery, stamps, aluminium and plastic bottle recycling. All PC hardware is recycled in line with the WEEE directive. ESOS also encourage car sharing where possible. This, they believe, ensures that everyone remains aware and active in the efforts to recycle. They also have a very active Charity committee who arrange a number of fundraising events for their chosen charity. Events in 2012 so far have included, fancy dress days, bikeathon, quiz night, summer family party and various raffles.

The rewards and recognition scheme provides a wide range of benefits ranging from financial bonuses, flexible time, caring for their health and well being by providing health insurance and gym membership as well as genuine help and support through any difficult personal times. Awards are presented at the annual awards ceremony. Similarly, the company also arranges team dinners for well performing teams and monthly social events for all members of staff to enable them to realise that the company value the contribution they are making towards the growth, development and expansion of the company. Financial assistance is provided for further education to different members of staff and time off for exams and study is also given. Staff are also invited to attend external functions throughout the year.

Each year, staff from across the UK choose a Charity of the Year that they will fundraise for. Staff are particularly fond of this initiative as the company also gives them the opportunity to take time out of their roles each month to volunteer for them. There are also countless opportunities for staff to host or take part in events. This year, the Charity of the Year was DebRA and teams from across the country really got on board with the volunteering and fund raising opportunities available. Events and fund raising initiatives included a PC Health Clinic whereby IT staff provided a drop-in service for faulty IT equipment to be fixed, an ‘Adrenalin Rush' day where employees took part in thrill-seeking adventures for sponsorship, volunteering in DebRA shops, a London to Paris bike ride and sack collections to donate stock to the charity's shops. Staff collectively raised over £50,000 for the charity, with a contribution from Crown.

Their corporate behaviours of Empowering & Motivating and Striving For Excellence both set the corporate expectations of how Managers and staff should perform and when they should challenge unrealistic expectations. The corporate PDR process outlines the number of performance objectives that should be set using the SMART principle. The HR team conduct a sample of all PDR objectives to ensure that they are fair and consistent across the organisation and free from any bias towards staff. Effective performance is rewarded within the PDR process with the bonus payment scheme. A corporate validation exercise process is undertaken to ensure that the performance ratings given to staff are evenly distributed and also free from bias.

Caerphilly County Borough Council recognises that its employees are its most valuable asset and as a result it is strongly behind looking after the health and well-being of its employees. This is evidenced by the fact that the Corporate Management Team (CMT) are fully behind health and well-being initiatives and receive quarterly updates on the strategy, progress and initiatives that the Council runs. An Employee Health and Well-being Group has been established to develop and progress the strategy across the whole of the Council. The representatives of this group are cross Directorate and include representatives from the Council's recognised trade unions. High level briefings have also taken place to all Senior Officers within the Council, so that they have not only been made aware of the Employee Health and Well-being strategy but have also been briefed on the Corporate Health Standard. Another initiative to show how seriously the Council believes in the employee health and well-being agenda is the fact that all employees have been given time off during working time to attend employee health and well-being events.

Caerphilly County Borough Council recognises that its employees are its most valuable asset and as a result it is strongly behind looking after the health and well-being of its employees. This is evidenced by the fact that the Corporate Management Team (CMT) are fully behind health and well-being initiatives and receive quarterly updates on the strategy, progress and initiatives that the Council runs. An Employee Health and Well-being Group has been established to develop and progress the strategy across the whole of the Council. The representatives of this group are cross Directorate and include representatives from the Council's recognised trade unions. High level briefings have also taken place to all Senior Officers within the Council, so that they have not only been made aware of the Employee Health and Well-being strategy but have also been briefed on the Corporate Health Standard. Another initiative to show how seriously the Council believes in the employee health and well-being agenda is the fact that all employees have been given time off during working time to attend employee health and well-being events.

Browne Jacobson recognise that people work hard on their behalf and they aim to provide them with recognition for their efforts. They provide a range of core benefits available to every employee from the day they join the firm. These are income protection, a group pension and life assurance which give their employees peace of mind during their time with the company. In addition to these core benefits they also offer a range of flexible benefits and the employees were consulted on what they wished to be able to flex their salary for before the scheme was launched. The flexible benefits are the pension, private medical care, childcare vouchers, cycle to work, critical illness, dental insurance, travel insurance and the ability to flex their life assurance up or down. If someone reduces the amount of life assurance they enjoy, the firm gives them the money back into their salary. Brown Jacobson also hold annual Wellbeing and Benefits Fairs. This year all of the benefit providers were able to attend to inform and educate as well as to pamper. Free manicures, cycle repairs, commute planning, head massages, healthchecks and hand massages were offered. The feedback was excellent.

British Gas' people enjoy regular opportunities to air their views on subjects important to them. Working as a team to address the issues raised is essential to maintain good workplace relations. To create a culture of ongoing feedback, the company not only coach their managers but also have more formal feedback processes in place. Their annual engagement survey gathers feedback from right across the organisation. The survey has developed over the years and now really focuses on those factors they know drive their people's engagement.

Visitors to Boots' Support Office in Nottingham are greeted by a “Hall of Fame” that extends along numerous walls. This shows the names and faces of the hundreds of their colleagues in the Stores, Support Office, Logistics teams and Opticians who have been recognised for their exceptional performance. The achievements of these individuals and teams are celebrated annually at the company ‘Best of the Best' awards and whilst not everyone in the business can attend these events, Boots make sure everyone gets to hear about their achievements through cascades and magazine articles that follow soon afterwards helping showcase the great work that goes on across their business.

Visitors to Boots' Support Office in Nottingham are greeted by a “Hall of Fame” that extends along numerous walls. This shows the names and faces of the hundreds of their colleagues in the Stores, Support Office, Logistics teams and Opticians who have been recognised for their exceptional performance. The achievements of these individuals and teams are celebrated annually at the company ‘Best of the Best' awards and whilst not everyone in the business can attend these events, Boots make sure everyone gets to hear about their achievements through cascades and magazine articles that follow soon afterwards helping showcase the great work that goes on across their business.

The Club organises and facilitates many events and opportunities throughout the year, predominantly aimed at their service users who are disadvantaged children and young people. These events benefit the whole of Bolton and its many highly deprived communities and although the events require lots of hard work and additional voluntary hours from staff, they are hugely enjoyable for all. A perfect example of this was Christmas 2011, when the Club's Staff and Volunteers made Christmas Lunch for 100 disadvantaged children and their families, complete with Father Christmas and a present for each young person and also Christmas hamper for each family. It was a fantastic and overwhelmingly worthwhile day for all staff and volunteers, local business donated funds and resources free of charge, and of course the children and their families.

Michael Saunders, the MD, has an open door policy and is genuinely open to ideas from everyone in the business. He gets out and about to all the teams in the business and gets involved in projects from the largest to the smallest. Once a month Michael hosts a group discussion where a small number of randomly selected employees get together to ask him questions about the company and make suggestions. Michael has a policy of sharing as much information as possible with the whole company which many employees have noted that the level of transparency is reassuring and they feel like trusted and valued members of the company.