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

South Oxon have an annualised hours scheme for the majority of their employees. This gives them greater flexibility to manage their workloads and to balance work and domestic responsibilities. They can start work earlier or finish later than in a traditional working pattern and potentially vary their hours each week. Both the organisation and the employee can benefit from individuals being able to increase their hours during busy periods and lower them during quieter times. The organisation have a budget per member of staff for each service area to facilitate team activities, such as away day visits to The Shard or The Houses of Parliament. Sport activities include archery, punting and team cricket matches, whilst the annual quiz night raises money for charity as well as improving team working across service areas in a fun way.

South Oxon have an annualised hours scheme for the majority of their employees. This gives them greater flexibility to manage their workloads and to balance work and domestic responsibilities. They can start work earlier or finish later than in a traditional working pattern and potentially vary their hours each week. Both the organisation and the employee can benefit from individuals being able to increase their hours during busy periods and lower them during quieter times. The organisation have a budget per member of staff for each service area to facilitate team activities, such as away day visits to The Shard or The Houses of Parliament. Sport activities include archery, punting and team cricket matches, whilst the annual quiz night raises money for charity as well as improving team working across service areas in a fun way.

SLH Group's ‘Accelerate Talent Management' programme is designed to meet the specific needs of the organisation, specifically a strong commitment to business excellence with an ambitious and passionate commitment to talent management. The company are seeking to develop a culture where all colleagues can fulfil their potential within the organisation. Indeed, it is envisaged that these points of focus will create a powerful dynamic, with increases in efficiency freeing up capacity for organisational development. The Accelerate programme takes participants through a structured journey that provides opportunities for them to engage in critically reflective learning within an organisational peer group. As the programme progresses the participants form teams and then identify an opportunity to either develop a new service, work with new customers or to improve the effectiveness and efficiency with which an existing service is being provided. This experience allows staff to reflect on and further develop their knowledge and skills and the teams then present their projects to the Senior Management Team, who in the end decide which projects will be integrated into the business.

The SLH Group believe that wellbeing is personal to each individual, so every colleague receives a £200 wellbeing allowance to be put towards things like sports memberships, equipment and sports clothing. This is the second year the company have run the wellbeing allowance scheme, with 97% receiving full allowance in 2016. Once a year the business closes and all colleagues are invited to attend a Wellbeing Day, which is held at a local leisure centre. At this event SLH Group provide a number of initiatives to support physical and mental wellbeing, as well as nutritional advice and resilience workshops. Colleagues are offered the opportunity to meet with a life coach individually to discuss their concerns and to help them adopt a healthier attitude to life and work. The Living Room at the office is divided into different zones, including relaxation, craft and activities. The relaxation zone has massage chairs and bean bags, as well as a television with some comfy coaches. The craft zone has mindfulness colouring in books, as well as the facility to make your own Christmas and birthday cards, very thrifty! The activities zone has a pool, fuzz ball and ping pong tables, as well as a dartboard, all of which have led to a league of activities being set up!

The Senior Management Team is absolutely dedicated to the organisations values and go out of their way to ensure there is a continual focus on them in their actions and in the way they communicate across the organisation. The Chief Executive is the first to ask to be involved and is pictured holding a "no blame culture". It's what matters most to him. Things may not go well but the focus is always on how it can be done better next time. The Senior Team make themselves available and have an open door policy. Nobody will be turned away if they have something they need to ask. The Chief Executive meets regularly with all staff and is always available to attend team meetings. Success is always celebrated informally by a quick thank you or a letter to staff. Investors in People made Sevenoaks the first public sector organisation worldwide to reach their new Platinum Standard. Whenever there is news that needs to be shared with the whole organisation there is no hesitation in sending a communication, often by email, that gives an honest assessment of the situation and clarity about what steps the organisation are taking. The Chief Executive ensures that each of the Chief Officers in his team operate in the same way and if he cannot be available there is always someone in the Leadership Team available to engage with staff. Staff Briefings are exceptionally popular with staff. Attendance exceeds 80% and they provide not just an opportunity for the Chief Executive to talk directly to staff but an opportunity for them to give their feedback and seek answers to any questions they may have. A simple but effective post-it session at each briefing means staff can give their opinions anonymously if they choose and it has seen engagement levels improve dramatically.

The Council's Staff Social Club coordinates a range of activities throughout the year to support the work of national and local charities. The Council always supports McMillan Coffee Mornings, Jeans for Genes, Children in Need, Comic Relief and Sports Aid. Activities are arranged for the whole office to take part in, including a bingo competition with the numbers shared over Email during the working day, cake sales and fancy dress. The Council are proud to have raised over £1,000 each year in support of these causes. The organisation's male staff come to the fore each November to support Movember. In 2015 the Council's team of Movember Men raised an incredible £1,200. Additionally the Social Club aims to run each of the events it holds to cover its costs. Where excess funds are generated through raffles and cake sales that money is always passed to a local charity. Many local organisations have benefited in the past, including Hospice in the Weald & Porchlight. Through the Volunteering Policy they aim to offer over 100 volunteering days annually to support organisations working in local communities. Staff are gifted a day's additional volunteering leave to take part in the cause that matters most to them. The Council provides a HERO Scheme in its local community. The scheme aims to provide support to residents that need assistance with Housing, Energy Costs, Retraining and Employment and other family and budgeting issues.

Selwood Housing Group support dual roles to encourage job enrichment, strengthen skills and experience and as a consequence benefit from a more multi-skilled and engaged workforce, as well as enabling a direct impact on the lives of their beneficiaries. The success of the organisation's apprenticeship scheme has recently been recognised as one of their apprentices won a national award of 'Apprentice of the Year' and another was 'Highly Commended' at a national awards ceremony earlier this year.

Selwood Housing Groups Senior Management Team demonstrate their commitment to the values of the organisation by ensuring they communicate regularly with members of staff within the organisation. This consists of monthly updates through staff briefs that employees attend to gain further knowledge of the organisation. Other forms of involvement and communication with staff include the staff forum, which is chaired by the Group CEO. Communication channels are also kept open with the company magazine and through tenant representation on the board. Leadership days also take place regularly to shape the strategy and reinforce the values of the organisation. Selwood Housing's CEO is very approachable and he works from an open plan office. New employees of the organisation meet with Selwood's leader on starting their employment, where the Group CEO goes through the company corporate plan. Acknowledgement of success and achievement are carried out by both leaders of the organisation. Extra efforts by staff do not go unnoticed and recognition is always given.

Ricoh has raised money for BBC Children In Need for more than 10 years through numerous fundraisers, culminating in heavy involvement on the night of BBC CiN's appeal in November. Ricoh's National Call-Centre formed part of BBC CiN's ‘virtual call-centre', with Ricoh volunteers receiving and processing donations from the UK public via telephone. Throughout the night on Friday 13th November 2015, 165 Ricoh Call-Centre volunteers processed £110,700 of public donations. Throughout 2015 Ricoh employees also raised £17,818 for BBC CiN through a range of events, including a coast-to-coast team cycle ride from Belfast to Dublin, ‘custard pie the boss', cake sales and raffles. Ricoh addresses ‘Youth Employability' to attract, develop and retain young talent, all to assist young people into the world of work. The company also support The Prince's Trust TEAM programme, which is aimed at young people not in Education, Employment or Training. Ricoh volunteers lead TEAM employability workshops around Interview Skills and CV Writing etc to provide Work Experience opportunities. In 2015, 188 Ricoh employees volunteered for The Prince's Trust, providing 685 working hours of time and raising £67.5k. Ricoh is also a standard bearer of BITC's Ban The Box initiative.

Ricoh UK have an interactive health kiosk that travels to the main Ricoh sites within the UK. The kiosk provides users with the ability to monitor their own health and wellbeing by creating an account that is secure to them. Individuals can then track their progress over a period of time. Employees can self-test indicators of general health, including blood pressure, body fat content, heart rate and hydration. Ricoh UK don't want their employees to be left behind when it comes to finance, so offer employees the opportunity to learn all about many of the financial issues that may affect the financial wellbeing of them and their family. The programme starts with an initial awareness presentation called ‘Making your Money Thrive', offered by a third party Financial Education provider. Various workshops are then held to answer some of the common areas of concern, for example “Will I be able to afford to buy a home to live in?” and “How do I get out of debt?”. Employees can also seek advice on dealing with workplace stress and stress coping mechanisms through an Employee Assistance Programme, all provided by Ricoh.

Communication has been a big focus this year for Retail Marketing. They listened to their employees and noted that they need to be more connected whilst working remotely. Their most innovative step-forward in communication has been the creation of RMG Loop, the company's app based tool to engage their colleagues globally. Loop has taken two years to develop and an investment of over £250,000, and is available on iOS, Android and web. Two key communication favourites of Loop are the 'What's On' and the social feed. Both allow everyone to see and share what's happening in their world. This has proved to be a simple and highly interactive way to see what's going on in real-time, and it also enables employees to work collaboratively together. Also, every Tuesday, anyone in the head office meets in a 'Huddle' to communicate what's happening that week. This is live streamed to the whole business for those who can't physically attend. After each Huddle they share the highlights via Loop. They also listened to their employees about Leadership communication and what more they wanted to see and hear from the leaders. It was clear that Directors could be more visible within the business. As a result of this the CEO now hosts a Q&A session on a quarterly basis. This allows everyone a chance to ask him or any of the Directors any questions about the business, and again this is live streamed to everyone and shared on Loop.

Communication has been a big focus this year for Retail Marketing. They listened to their employees and noted that they need to be more connected whilst working remotely. Their most innovative step-forward in communication has been the creation of RMG Loop, the company's app based tool to engage their colleagues globally. Loop has taken two years to develop and an investment of over £250,000, and is available on iOS, Android and web. Two key communication favourites of Loop are the 'What's On' and the social feed. Both allow everyone to see and share what's happening in their world. This has proved to be a simple and highly interactive way to see what's going on in real-time, and it also enables employees to work collaboratively together. Also, every Tuesday, anyone in the head office meets in a 'Huddle' to communicate what's happening that week. This is live streamed to the whole business for those who can't physically attend. After each Huddle they share the highlights via Loop. They also listened to their employees about Leadership communication and what more they wanted to see and hear from the leaders. It was clear that Directors could be more visible within the business. As a result of this the CEO now hosts a Q&A session on a quarterly basis. This allows everyone a chance to ask him or any of the Directors any questions about the business, and again this is live streamed to everyone and shared on Loop.

To encourage team interaction, communication and to maintain a relaxed culture Redweb hold a number of initiatives throughout the organisation. They have an open plan office where even the CEO sits amongst the development teams. Each team also has hot desks so that members of other teams can come to work with them. They have various breakout areas including soft play areas like Narnia, a unique room accessed via a real wardrobe and various kitchens that play host to Fifa tournaments and table football competitions. Recently they also bought a table tennis table for the bar, which is used almost every day by staff. In terms of process, they provide each new starter with a ‘passport' induction pack. This includes a requirement to meet various people in the agency known as ‘Culture Coaches', who explain what they and their team does, meaning that new starters are introduced to teams throughout the agency from day one. They have an innovation lab, where staff are encouraged to collaborate with innovation staff on projects outside of their day to day work. These projects are often showcased at one of the regular ‘Sharing Sessions', which are normally held over lunch so that staff can come down and grab a drink whilst hearing about what their colleagues have been up to. The Front End Development team have taken this one step further and hold a monthly ‘Code Off', with each month presenting a different challenge in which they must use code innovatively.

Ensuring employees wellbeing is a primary objective for Redweb, as without them and their personas the company does not exist. To ensure that they are a happy workforce Redweb offer the benefits including pensions and match pension contributions up to 6% for all staff. They also offer eye care vouchers for free eye tests, chiropractor discounts, childcare vouchers, healthcare scheme with Bupa, free fresh fruit, tea, coffee and other refreshments. In addition, there is a Christmas shutdown to minimise workplace stress. They have an open plan, relaxed office environment with breakout areas and areas for fun. There are “Ask Us Anything” boxes for an open atmosphere, where employees can ask senior managers whatever they want in the knowledge that it is anonymous. Employees can enjoy discounts at various local establishments, an internal Tuck Shop filled with goodies selected by employees at discounted prices, a Cycle to work scheme and an employee helpline, which staff can call to speak confidentially to someone about money advice, bereavement, stress, work, family and relationships. Redweb also allow flexible working hours and the ability for everyone to work from home. The company feel that combined these lead to a happy workplace that is founded on honesty, collaboration, a flat culture and employee welfare. They have a relaxed working environment and are not strict with people's time. Working hours are flexible so staff can start and finish when it suits them. They also plan events throughout the year to break up the day. These include a Netflix club during the winter months, the Redweb Olympics and Golf Open, a Christmas party and an awards show called Redweb Stars. They also celebrate smaller things like National Chocolate Day with free chocolates for the office and even have a monthly Bake Off.

Rajapack offer a Perkbox benefits membership scheme to all employees, which offers health and wellbeing benefits along with reduced gym memberships, something Rajapack funds to ensure it is not to the detriment of the individual. The company have also introduced fresh fruit boxes for the benefit of all members of staff and there is the equivalent of one piece of fruit per day per person, ranging from apples and bananas to grapes and so on.

At Rajapack UK they like a good challenge. So to create a bit of fun in the office, they set themselves the challenge of doing their own Tour de France, later nicknamed 'Tour De Raja'. The company hired an exercise bike and over four days each department cycled from Bedford to Rajapack's head office Branch in Paris. To put that into context, that's a distance of 337 miles in under 20 hours! This was all to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, a charity that provides such amazing support to people affected by cancer. The event was a huge success, raising £1,180.42, but proved more of a success in the sheer participation levels within the business, as 35 members of staff participated and took turns in the riding.

One to One meetings are frequently held with all the applicable Managers in relation to their development plans, which are put in place as required to help improve weaker areas. Coaching and mentoring is available and some have found this to be of great benefit. Pulsant have had external facilitators leading them through a development programme and are looking to reinforce this again next year. There are various ways of measuring the performance of the company's Managers, for example the output from the internal Pulse Survey. The company's bi-annual appraisals, review, assessment of goals and functional KPI's is another very useful tool when assessing performance. 360 feedback was only introduced this year and is a very useful means when assessing performance and impact on various areas of the business.

As part of the company benefits Pulsant do look to provide helpful ways to support employees in maintaining a well-balanced and health conscious lifestyle. They currently provide fresh fruit and fruit juice, as well as healthy breakfast produce. The company have a Bike to Work Scheme in place. Some employees are entitled to free gym memberships and others can obtain discounts for gym memberships via the ‘My Pulsant Rewards' discount programme. There are additional opportunities to enhance wellbeing as part of the Health Shield cash plan, which gives employees access to an employee assistance programme as well as considerable contributions to health care and wellbeing. The 'Pulsant Plodders' go on regular runs during lunchtime and enter various local challenges. Pulsant have and will continue to refer to their occupational health provider as and when they feel this would be of benefit in order to manage and obtain advice on best practice as required.