Purpose Boosts Engagement

Keytree work with PlanZ Heroes, a food-waste charity. Keytree funds the work on a pro-bono basis, with an investment of over £200,000. Each October, they join in the Wok for 1,000, cooking and distributing 1,000 meals to London's homeless.

The company interacts with the community to clean up local areas and support their selected charity in preparing for Christmas and other key functions. Raising money for selected charities includes bake-off competitions, summer fun days, selling raffle prizes and volunteering time.

The agency works with Hand In Hand For Syria and Making The Leap, helping disadvantaged young people get into work. They work also with Commercial Break, giving urban adults opportunities in the creative industries.

A volunteer scheme encourages employees to spend four hours per month at a charity. A match-funding initiative means £10,000 is available to match individual employee fundraising each year.

Placing employee wellbeing at the forefront of its operations, several staff have been appointed as mental health first aiders. Training has been provided in understanding mental health issues for both managers and employees.

Monthly socials include events such as bowling, skiing, barbecues with the Chief Executive Officer and attending the Comedy Club, with food and drinks provided. There are monthly happy hours, fresh fruit provided and beer on tap.

The firm offers a Healthshield cash plan for all staff members. There's flexibility on working hours around appointments and family commitments, and staff have the opportunity to work from home. Interact also offers life insurance, the option to buy and sell holidays and provides fresh fruit daily.

Everyone has a sustainability objective on their job description. Community initiatives include working at food banks, lunch clubs for kids whose parents can't afford to feed them an extra meal in school holidays, and redecorating a local volunteer centre for disabled adults.

The company recently researched how supported employees feel in relation to mental wellbeing. This research was a dissertation project that was part of an ICS-sponsored Masters qualification in HR. It produced a statistically valid tool to show what the firm does well and what it could do better.

An annual sales and management conference communicates business strategy and future plans, recognises performance, and shares success stories and best practice. Last year, 270 employees attended, developing ideas around the 'extreme focus' theme, which were widely cascaded.

Holiday Extras buy from farmers and retailers to support the local economy. Many teams are now entirely paperless. They encourage car shares and promote the cycle-to-work scheme. The firm supports the Travel Foundation, promoting responsible tourism.

Employees are rewarded for the hard work that goes into meeting specific achievements or milestones. Also, if a sales target is met, lunch is paid for by the company - and it's usually pizza shaped.

The mission, values and vision are regularly communicated at quarterly company updates, ‘State of the Company' presentations and team away days. The ‘Kapow Awards' also communicate the values.

Handle Recruitment run ‘huddles', where teams gather in pods to discuss successes. There's also an annual trip to Barcelona to celebrate reaching business targets and the company pays for Friday drinks to encourage team-building and communication.

Hallmark Care Homes installed a biomass boiler in one home and others have energy-saving bulbs, solar panels and effective heat-recirculating systems. They encourage team members to drive hybrid or electric cars through a car salary sacrifice scheme.

Managers' performance is held to an exacting standard, measured across a number of different factors including practice profit growth and team member satisfaction. They're peer-reviewed every quarter and annually, while team members are asked about management through internal surveys.

Week-long team building exercises are held where employees are put into teams, mixing with different departments all with the same goal to win the tasks set. Prizes for the team winners and for individual winners include weekends away and all-expenses-paid dinners.

Every month, the company finances a social event to get all the teams together. Past trips have included: Shakespeare in the park, outdoor cinema, trampolining, pub quizzes, darts, ping pong, Oktoberfest, Go Ape, ice skating, softball, mixed football matches and much more.

Coffee and Lunch Roulette is carried out bi-weekly, where individuals from other departments are randomly selected to have lunch or a coffee with someone else to promote cross-departmental bonding.

CEO Samir is willing to take all ideas seriously regardless of who they come from - whether from another manager or a team member. He is also incredibly approachable and sits in the main office with the rest of the company.

Members of the team are invited to bi-monthly People Briefings, which bring colleagues together to share success stories. In addition, the creation of a Drop-in Zone allows colleagues to meet, share ideas and be involved in key projects in different areas.

The management team are role models for the values and demonstrate them in their engagement, both internally and externally. They have led on the evolution of the values, empowering employees to determine what each value means.

All of the line managers are able to 'job shadow' in other departments and this is particularly encouraged with its Care Department, as this enables our people to have a greater understanding of the care services that are offered to the children and families that the organisation supports.

Last year, colleagues were invited to attend a garden party at the Hospice Grounds as part of the organisation's All Team Day annual event. As a thank you to staff for their hard work, the event promoted relaxation and fun, with a live band playing in the garden, games and an ice cream van.

A flat management style ensures that employees are comfortable in quizzing the directors about the business in general. Upper management employ walkabout techniques to involve themselves in group conversation and to be on-hand to answer any questions.

CEO Kim understands the need to engage with the employees and goes out of her way to ensure she is communicating well. Importantly, she meets all new starters in their first week and checks back in with them after a few months to ensure they are happy at work.

Fashion-uk have teamed up with Alex's Wish to promote awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The company also seeks individuals for work experience placements from local schools, offering young people the opportunity to experience the work environment.

Employee wellbeing is supported with free sports massages, acupuncture and osteopathy. The company also offers full health screenings to staff, as well as an annual, free flu jab to all staff in the office.

The company's Loyalty Awards offer a cash incentive that rewards people and says a big ‘thank you' to those who have worked for the business for a long time.

The company provides free fruit and healthy snacks, and runs a scheme for employees to use the local gym at a reduced rate. Lunchtime activities, such as running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, and so on, are also available for staff to participate in.

The company provides free fruit and healthy snacks, and runs a scheme for employees to use the local gym at a reduced rate. Lunchtime activities, such as running, cycling, swimming, triathlon, and so on, are also available for staff to participate in.

The company has introduced a range of initiatives for employee engagement, including enhanced long service awards, a coffee club, increased communications and mindfulness sessions for all office-based staff.

The senior management team go over and above their job requirements to ensure that everything runs smoothly in the business. CEO Lorna engages with the team daily via email or phone call and operates an open-door policy to ensure that everyone can speak to her if they need to.

EWY provide several wellbeing opportunities for staff, including: promoting healthy nutrition, subsidised gym membership and organised weekly sporting events. Staff are encouraged to take regular breaks and there is a communal kitchen where they can have lunch away from their desks.

Managing Director Steve Turner takes an active role in getting to know employees in the business. When an employee joins, Steve ensures he meets every one of them on their corporate induction journey. Then, at the end of each month, all new starters join Steve for a lunch out.

David Nieper encourages wellbeing and environmental health through their walk to work incentive scheme. Additionally, rainwater is harvested, solar panels are installed on all buildings and supplies are sourced as locally as possible.

Datto actively support a range of charities through company fundraising initiatives, which have included a charity car wash, raffles, sporting activities, and much more.

Various exercise groups have formed within the organisation and the staff lead a ‘Biggest Loser' competition, which is always well-subscribed to on a quarterly basis. The company also offers free massages to employees.

To support the wider community, Coastline Housing offer a range of grants up to £1,500 for local projects, groups and individual customers. Over the past year, they have granted awards for school playground enhancements, sports equipment and high-visibility jackets for community volunteers.

The company's e-learning system forms a key role in how health and safety training is delivered to employees. OLAS is an online learning and assessment system that helps the allocation of regular training and awareness throughout the organisation while also being able to track progress and results.

Female employees have been offered places on Role UK, the specially designed course for women. Employees took up the opportunity to go on a course called ‘Women on the Ladder', which is primarily an outdoor activity centre that empowers women to build self-confidence.

Progression is key and Champneys support and encourage this. Therapists can become general managers and kitchen porters can train to become sous chefs and so on. This development and change is actively supported through training.

They have recently introduced regular newsletters, decorated staff rooms, provided certificates for LSA, launched company activities, enhanced their referral scheme and introduced additional training for staff.

Castleoak's Chief Executive Officer recognises that having an 'open door policy' is somewhat cliché, but the company actively encourages a non-hierarchical structure whereby colleagues are always welcome to drop by his office and discuss any matters of interest.

In 2017, they introduced Special Thanks and Recognition (STAR) Awards across the group. The awards are designed to recognise and reward individuals who demonstrate one-off, above-and-beyond performance while modelling Cambridge Assessment values. Award winners receive a £50 voucher.

In 2017, the company introduced 'Chris100', a 100-second vlog for staff created by Chief Commercial Officer Chris Green. The vlog communicates everything the staff need to know that month, including team updates and company news.

Chief Executive Officer Peter meets all new employees in their first week of employment and will take them for a New Start Lunch. This provides new employees a chance to get to know Peter and learn about his open-door policy.

The workforce is either based at the company's HQ or at one of up to 20 construction sites in the south east. Every staff member meets socially at least twice a year and all staff are given the option of using free taxis to get home no matter where they live.

Broomfield & Alexander have a helpline for staff should they require any counselling support. They also have an income protection plan should people be off sick long term.

The company have also introduced 'Thirsty Thursday', which occurs monthly to improve interaction between teams in the ever expanding London office and general socialising in the regions.

Broadgate Estates recognise the importance of health and happiness at work, and the Wellbeing Committee has come together with the purpose of providing an internal network to promote a workplace that encourages health, happiness and fulfilment.

The organisation seeks to reward individuals going above and beyond their role. To encourage this, they have introduced performance-based remuneration to motivate and reward consistent high performance.

All management undergo a rigorous supervision and appraisal process. Performance reviews are overseen by line managers, but in some service areas - for example, retail - performance is measured by results.

Boden really values employee development, supporting this with resource and budget. As well as the learning team in London, the company also have two warehouse trainers in Leicester and four call centre trainers in London, Leicester and the US.

Boden really values employee development, supporting this with resource and budget. As well as the learning team in London, the company also have two warehouse trainers in Leicester and four call centre trainers in London, Leicester and the US.

On their fifth anniversary, team members are awarded £500 of growth shares and another £1,000 on their 10th. There are now more than 80 shareholders and every year the company meet to celebrate the year they've had, and to announce the new share price.

Chief Executive Officer Charlie is often seen talking to people in the cafe or production kitchen. He's always keen to hear how people feel about working at Bigham's and also what is happening in their personal life.

In 2017, the annual conference was held at Center Parcs. All staff were involved in the three-day event and got to take part in activities such as falconry, archery, quad biking, clay pigeon shooting and golf.

Beech Holdings have a social committee that works hard to ensure that employees spend some time together in a relaxed environment. They organise impromptu Friday drinks in the office if management feel the overall office atmosphere feels a little ‘heavy' - for example, at the end of a construction project or during tenant check-in season.

60% of Bates Wells work is for charities and not-for-profit organisations. The company regularly encourages employees to become charity trustees, holding 100 trusteeships and giving paid time off to employees for their charitable services.

From wellbeing blog posts to their LGBTQ+ allies network, AXA run events and promote inclusion and diversity, which is a strong part of their culture and key to positive team interactions. Employees are also encouraged to raise issues and ideas at regularly held forums.

In 2017 they hosted a company conference for the London and Birmingham teams to help staff to get to know their colleagues better. Employees took part in the Enigma challenge, which consisted of 250 tasks covering all elements from mental skills to agility.

Staff are encouraged to take part in charitable activities for Anthony Nolan outside of their usual roles. This includes helping at stem cell donor recruitment events, acting as a courier transporting stem cells for transplants, and volunteering at fundraising events.

On becoming a manager, all employees have an in-depth probationary training period ensuring all legal and regulatory knowledge is present. After that, business management and people skills are assessed through their performance management process.

Amara raised £13,000 for a range of charities and good causes last year, organising sample sales, gift appeals, raffles, coffee mornings, watt bike challenges and a host of other charitable activities.

Employees are encouraged to volunteer at Lucy Brown House, a sheltered accommodation centre for older people. Each Christmas, they take part in the Better Bankside scheme ‘Together at Christmas', where staff donate gifts that are then given out to local homeless, elderly and vulnerable people.

Each year Cambridge Online take two students on a work experience programme. Each member of the Leadership Team spends time and shares their views of what it is like to run a team within a company. The students then spend time with each member of those teams to bring to see how it works in reality. This gives them a great insight into what work is really all about and how different teams interact and the views and needs of companies and their managers or employees from a real employer's perspective. The Managing Director spends time giving an overview of the pressures of managing a business and bringing together how all the departments need to work together to effect this. Additionally, there is a session on making a difference as an employee and instructions as to how companies interview and guidance on how to approach the job market. They offered a week's work experience to someone known to the Company who has recently fallen on hard times. This has given him the opportunity of regaining some self-respect and feeling valued again, giving him the benefit of a good reference and hopefully giving him the inspiration to seek further employment. They also have a team who organise various charity events for staff to attend throughout the year. These events are funded by the Company and raise a significant amount of money for a chosen charity. Cambridge Online are proud of their continued support of the apprenticeship scheme and each year aim to continue this.

A dedicated mentor is assigned to each of YWR's Managers who undergo the training programme. They provide ongoing coaching and mentoring based on the training programme provided within all divisions of the company. The management programme has catch-up sessions to ensure peers support one another during the learning process, as well as the senior staff providing general feedback. The company's best feature is their open house session on a monthly basis, whereby learners can speak to YWR's in-house L&D team regarding any aspects of their learning which they are having difficulty translating back to their daily activities. There are a number of ways in which the company measure the performance of Managers, including quarterly reviews with their Line Manager to identify issues and training requirements. They also hold regular engagement sessions with employees to establish any issues with their Line Management, which are then further addressed at review.

Yarlington are constantly rethinking and reinvigorating how they can help their team learn more and develop their approach. A recent example of this is when the company delivered a series of three half day workshops to five different management teams across the business, helping them explore the new Investors in people framework so that they could take ownership of it and use it to improve their approach to leadership, performance management and continuous improvement. Yarlington also offer bespoke workshops for individuals and teams with specific learning needs and believe that investing in face to face learning allows people to interact with colleagues and their L&D Adviser in a safe and learning orientated environment. The staff are now working in a more agile way through the ELearning Academy, a web based application which gives everyone access to the Infinity Library of courses, covering everything from IT Skills and Finance to Personal Development and Written English. For those who wish to continue their professional development, the Yarlington Bursary enables people to access the best academic courses available to them and then apply what they learn at work on a daily basis.

Xoserve have a reward toolbox where colleagues, team leaders and managers can recommend a reward as immediate recognition for employees in relation to a piece of work, consistent behaviours and such. The toolbox offers managers the choice of rewards such as, gift vouchers, team meals, meals for up to 4 people and Additional Annual Leave. Managers are also able to offer an Ex-gratia payments. The company also utilises their internal social network, Yammer, to acknowledge successes both individual and team related. They hold an Annual Christmas party for all staff and a summer event, this year's summer event was a family fun day where employees could bring guests and children or relatives to the event which included, It's a knock out, food, bouncy castles, entertainment and face painting. Xoserve host Customer Service awards where employees have the opportunity to nominate a colleague for good service, if successful they are awarded a voucher. Donut and cupcake deliveries to thank staff for supporting various initiatives. Various awards are given for employees for the following length of service, from just a year to up to 50 years! The level of award differs for each milestone.

Employee engagement and interaction is critically important to the day to day competitiveness and the culture of our business. X4 Group understands that positive interaction between all members of staff boosts morale and improves performance. They have a digital leader board visible to all teams in the office to share every team's performance and showcase their position on the leader board with updated deals. This information system provides employees with instant updates of the whole company's performance, allowing a transparent working environment which they have found greatly improves efficiency and competitiveness between teams. The company encourage weekly competitions among different teams in different markets and have monthly nominations for Team, Deal & Consultant of the month where each winner gets a prize. Prizes include team lunch, night out, West End show, champagne etc. Every team in the company is eligible to win every month so it encourages team members to support each other. They are highly focused on attracting and hiring the right people so have a very collaborative approach, involving employees in the hiring process. Under this process candidates interact with future teammates improving team interaction from the very beginning. They have several team building days out annually to encourage company interaction. Recently the company did a Mud Run Assault Course followed by an all paid for company party. They also do things like go-karting, charity sports days etc. In addition to this they have several sports teams and play competitively in tournaments against other companies!

This year White Stuff relaunched its benefit offer on a new online platform called ‘The Biscuit Tin'. The site went live in June 2016 for the annual benefit selection window and was a huge success, seeing a 65% increase in total logins compared to the same time last year. The Biscuit Tin offers a complete information hub with easy navigation to benefits. Employees can select their benefits whenever they wish, giving them the power to control when and how they access their rewards. The site is fully interactive, containing videos and help guides to enable their family to make choices that are right for their lifestyle. Employees can use The Biscuit Tin to claim on their insurances, access discounts and review their Total Reward Statement. They re-designed the Total Reward Statement for the June 2016 launch and employees can now see the value and split of their package at-a-glance. Staff can drill down on each element of their Reward to explore how the building blocks of their package. There is also access to historical reward statements for detailed comparison of individual's pay and benefits over time. This year they have also used The Biscuit Tin to build awareness of retirement planning and pension savings amongst their family. There is an interactive pension-modelling tool where employees can adjust their contributions, pension fund and retirement projections to get the most out of their investments. The site gives access to the annual Pension Newsletter that explains the performance of the Default Pension Fund, where 90% of the White Stuff family is invested.

Wessex Water Enterprises recognises the hard work from all of their employees and is committed to ensuring staff members have a comfortable work life balance. As a result, employees are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the company's exclusive staff discount portal, Rewards4u, which offers a host of discounts for a variety of retailers. The portal is accessible at any time through the intranet ‘Source', where offers can help employees save money or even earn cash back. To suit the needs of every employee across the divisions, there are local offers available for restaurants, sports activities such as Bristol Sport tickets and even automotive services. In addition, employees are able to earn cash back when booking holidays through specific websites and can claim childcare vouchers or save on adventure days out. The company also have an ongoing feedback scheme 'Eureka', which encourages innovative thinking across the employee structure. A reward of £100 is given if an idea is implemented and the scheme has proven to open interdepartmental working opportunities and promotions in specific business areas.

Weleda have implemented a refreshed and more professional performance management process this year, consistently applied to all staff. This includes regular informal 1-2-1 catch up meetings (at least monthly) and a formal annual review. Those with people responsibility have a consistent 'people objective'. Failure to deliver against this objective would have consequences for overall performance ratings and potential performance related pay increases. There is a "Lead my Team" objective to follow Weleda UK's performance management calendar and process which involves agreeing SMART objectives & development priorities with each individual's team, holding monthly 1-2-1s, an interim review and a formal, annual PDR. In addition, to support and challenge each person to help them deliver; listen, set a good example and coach each person to learn and grow and to seek feedback from my team at least once a year.

In addition to generous monetary bonuses, all employees at WFAC can earn 'Chorlty Chips' (CCs) for doing everyday things, such as attending work each day or meeting their quality expectations. The company have created an online shop where employees can spend their CCs to get goods such as vouchers, family days out or additional leave. Similar to online banking, each employee also has their own balance, prominent when they log on. Another jewel in WFAC's crown is their ‘Achievements' feature. Appealing to their young workforce, the company ventured outside the box and decided to create a system that mirrors a video game. Agents can ‘unlock' Achievement Points (AP) for completing a range of activities, some that are easily attained, such as logging onto the system for the first time and others which are more challenging, such as the agent's customers receiving over one million pounds worth of offers in a month. These APs can then be exchanged for currency in the internal shop.

The ‘Pennies from Heaven' scheme allows employees to donate the pennies from their salary to charity. Monthly salaries are rounded down and the most anyone can give a month is £0.99. VocaLink also ask employees to vote for a new charity each year, with the current charity being Cancer Research UK. One Friday per month is allocated to charity fundraising. The company also allocate a number of colleague days per year for employees to book and fundraise for a charity of their choice. VocaLink is committed to helping to strengthen its surrounding communities and encourage their employees to get involved in their communities through volunteering. All permanent and fixed term contractors are entitled to one volunteering day per year. VocaLink have also formed a partnership with Pilotlight, a not for profit organisation who match directors from charities and social enterprises with teams of senior business people to plan for sustainability, development and growth. The company have nine members of their Executive and Senior Leadership Team who are working as mentors and coaches with charities across the UK, providing their business and personal experience to develop strategic and business plans.

At Unicef, different teams adopt different practices according to their needs. These include weekly stand up meetings to share priorities for the week and to ask for assistance if they need it using a red /amber / green status flag, which indicates their workload to colleagues. There is also the use of instant messaging or communication apps such as WhatsApp to share information, updates and to ask questions, plus the use of Skype or FaceTime to dial colleagues into meetings. Each year, Unicef bring all employees together for an all staff away day. This is an engaging event which gives real meaning and purpose to everyone's jobs by connecting people to the impact their efforts and Unicef's work is having for children around the world. 2016's event was themed around Children on the Move. They had informative presentations from colleagues working in their Jordan and Lebanon country offices and heard from inspiring young people about the positive impact one of their UK Programmes 'Rights Respecting Schools' is having on their lives. Staff also had the opportunity to participate in a humanitarian emergency simulation and take a virtual reality tour of a refugee camp.

UCAS support a number of community and charitable initiatives as part of their Wellbeing Strategy. There is a wide range of activities that have been organised or sponsored, as well as hosting awareness days, event sponsorship (e.g. Cheltenham Science Festival, sporting events), sustainable travel activities and events to support the personal health and wellbeing of employees. UCAS employees also participate in a number of charitable events using three paid volunteering days each year, as well as some doing these in their own time. Activities include paired reading at local schools, young persons' mentoring, practice interviews for Year 10 & 11 students and participating in local education provider sporting tournaments. UCAS also opens its grounds to local schools for allotment development and pond-dipping, all to support local educational programmes and curriculums. Furthermore UCAS recently hosted the Cheltenham Qualifying Round of Debating Matters, which is a national debating competition for sixth form students. UCAS is also a proud sponsor of the competition and a number of employees commit their time to serve as judges at various levels of the competition.

Consistent messaging is at the heart of everything that Tusker do. The Senior Management Team ensure that all information which is distributed throughout the organisation is in accordance with the company's goals and objectives, while remaining accessible and engaging for the teams. The CEO and Senior Leadership Team embody most of the values which have been incorporated within the vision and objectives of the organisation. Committed to a familial approach to the organisation, the Senior Leadership Team have an open door policy where employees are encouraged to share ideas to maximise the success of the company. The leadership team are unafraid of change and are willing to review ideas from all levels of the company at various opportunities. The CEO and CFO have both been recognised for their commitment to the business and its development with awards from a prestigious publication. David Hosking, CEO has in 2016 been awarded the "CEO of the Year" and David Brockwell, CFO has been awarded "CFO of the Year" by Finance Monthly. Tusker itself has been recognised as a whole for its ethical and sustainable development practices. Each Director personally meets new starters in order to welcome them into the company in order to foster good relationships from the outset, while also sharing key information about working practices and company policies. The Senior Management Team all attend the communications meeting on a quarterly basis in order to be available to answer queries and respond to questions which might arise from the information being shared. The CEO has just agreed to lead a team of 20 in a charity fundraising event, tough mudder, which is a muddy assault course over 12km.

A key goal for 2016 was to make the learning and development within The Perfume Shop accessible to everyone. By creating the Learning Ladder for stores the company have been able to map out a very clear four step development plan. The Ladder looks at store based employees, Sales Assistants, Supervisors, Deputy Managers and Store Managers. It identifies both required training and external qualifications. There are also programmes that promote talent within each role, such as The Perfume Masters and TMA. The company have also provided every Head Office and Operations team member a £200 GROW account. This is to spend on their own development and encourages the individual to take ownership of learning. Every store employee who joins the business receives a Perfume School box. The box contains ‘Foundation,' the first of their modular learning. Once completed the business provide a chance for the individual to increase their knowledge with the Diploma Level. For those who have demonstrated a real passion for product and expertise The Perfume Shop will then provide sponsorship to an external qualification, The Fragrance Foundation.

A key goal for 2016 was to make the learning and development within The Perfume Shop accessible to everyone. By creating the Learning Ladder for stores the company have been able to map out a very clear four step development plan. The Ladder looks at store based employees, Sales Assistants, Supervisors, Deputy Managers and Store Managers. It identifies both required training and external qualifications. There are also programmes that promote talent within each role, such as The Perfume Masters and TMA. The company have also provided every Head Office and Operations team member a £200 GROW account. This is to spend on their own development and encourages the individual to take ownership of learning. Every store employee who joins the business receives a Perfume School box. The box contains ‘Foundation,' the first of their modular learning. Once completed the business provide a chance for the individual to increase their knowledge with the Diploma Level. For those who have demonstrated a real passion for product and expertise The Perfume Shop will then provide sponsorship to an external qualification, The Fragrance Foundation.

At the Girls' Day School Trust, the Senior Management Team refer to their values when presenting or participating in workshops. They are also used as a framework when difficult decisions need to be taken. They have appointed subject champions to promote collaboration between their staff and have also increased the range of events for students to allow them more opportunities to collaborate and compete. The CEO's stated aim is that 10% of staff in every school will spend one day a year in one of their other schools or academies. Putting girls first guides their approach to key investments in their estate, as they want the teaching and learning environment to be first-rate for all the pupils in their care. The Girls' Day School Trust's Leader engages with employees on a day to day basis through regular email updates, vlogs, regular school visits, annual school reviews with Heads and their Senior Leadership Team. She will always attend results day and prize giving in the schools and regularly speaks at school events.

The Consortium recognise employees for their efforts by awarding 'a Value Champion' of the month. Each winner is then entered into a draw to win Employee of the Year. This is voted for by all staff and the winner is announced at the annual End of Year presentation. The company also offer an All Staff discretionary bonus scheme, with payment based on company performance.

Every year The Access Group runs Big Break, where all staff are given the choice of two days extra holiday or a long weekend in Spain with their colleagues as a reward for their efforts. The Spain trip is more popular than ever and this year over 200 staff members went on the company holiday, which offered an all-inclusive hotel and a range of activities and nights out. If you were to ask anyone in the company what is unique about this company their first answer would definitely be Spain.

Knowledge Hubs allow employees who have an interest in a particular area of the company. They are encouraged to get involved with specialist knowledge hubs and also draw upon information shared through Temple's document management system. Work shadowing is also used throughout the company to assist other colleagues with their work and to help them gain further knowledge of different areas. There are regular secondments to other positions, both internally and externally, in order to gain additional skills and experience. For example, Temple have recently opened two secondment positions in their business development team to give consultants experience in this aspect of consultancy. The company also pay for training costs and provide paid study leave for employees seeking to up skill or obtain additional qualification like a Master's Degree or Diploma. Junior employees are given the opportunity to line manage work experience students and interns as a means of giving them the experience in people management. On top of all this a structured 12-month programme of educational sessions on business and core technical services is provided by Temple, as well as Leadership masterclasses where Senior managers run a course of 1 to 2 hour discussion groups that focus on aspects of business leadership and behaviours, for example collaborative behaviours, risk and opportunity analysis. This is open to managers and other staff in management positions across the organisation.

At Telstra, all of those new to management attend an external training course. This year the company have a new internally run leadership programme, which is run for all Telstra's leaders around the world. All Senior Executives attend a three day residential “Connected Leadership” course in Australia. All leaders then attend a three day “Business Leader Programme” and all aspiring leaders attend a two day “Emerging Leaders Programme”. Leaders are encouraged to have a Mentor somewhere around the Telstra globe. At least once a year every employee sits down with their Manager to talk about what development they need and would like in order to do their job well. Conversations are recorded onto individual success plans and any requirements for external development are therefore captured. Telstra also have People Leader forums, where leaders are invited to discuss issues and share opinions and advice. The company also encourage their leaders to go through a 360° feedback exercise, as the feedback can raise issues which may or may not need formal development or coaching.

As a company tech21 invest heavily in providing an amazing work environment for their colleagues to work in, so as a company they encourage employees to give something back to the community. In the last three months they have introduced a policy to allow employees to volunteer and in return they offer paid time off for up to three days per year. tech21's company philosophy is to “pass it on”. This essentially means pass on the benefits that they provide to support local communities who are in need. Last year they managed to raise a total of just over £9,000 through activities that their employees had participated in. Through the local dragon boat race employees raised money for the NSPCC. This is just the start, their focus next year is to partner with a local charity and run different fundraising activities that employees can be involved with to help raise money and give back to the local community.

Open communication and accessibility to the senior team are key within Tate. Through spending time in the branch network and asking for feedback in terms of what's working and what should change there is an environment of continuous improvement. Everyone has a voice and opinions and ideas are valued. The Regional Directors hold a weekly conference call to share news and updates and send out a weekly update highlighting achievements and performance. The values at Tate are not just something written on a piece of paper, or in the Boardroom, they are actively practised in the business, and there is an expectation within Tate that all employees, including Senior Management, demonstrates them at all times. They ran a survey earlier this year about values and engagement in the business to identify people's concerns and issues. The results of this survey were shared from the senior management team addressing all of the questions and providing solutions and answers to ensure everyone feels their opinion is valuable to the business. The CEO lives the brand and the culture with a capability of making the vision a reality and he is always very visible and accessible within the business, working from each branch and constantly asking for feedback. His style is very inclusive and he build strong relationships with all employees. He has a sense of humour and appreciates that hard work and gaining results don't have to be to the detriment of fun along the way. David is very highly regarded and respected in the business, very approachable, open and interested in everyone. He is results oriented, but ensures great customer satisfaction is at the forefront of everything Tate do.

Open communication and accessibility to the senior team are key within Tate. Through spending time in the branch network and asking for feedback in terms of what's working and what should change there is an environment of continuous improvement. Everyone has a voice and opinions and ideas are valued. The Regional Directors hold a weekly conference call to share news and updates and send out a weekly update highlighting achievements and performance. The values at Tate are not just something written on a piece of paper, or in the Boardroom, they are actively practised in the business, and there is an expectation within Tate that all employees, including Senior Management, demonstrates them at all times. They ran a survey earlier this year about values and engagement in the business to identify people's concerns and issues. The results of this survey were shared from the senior management team addressing all of the questions and providing solutions and answers to ensure everyone feels their opinion is valuable to the business. The CEO lives the brand and the culture with a capability of making the vision a reality and he is always very visible and accessible within the business, working from each branch and constantly asking for feedback. His style is very inclusive and he build strong relationships with all employees. He has a sense of humour and appreciates that hard work and gaining results don't have to be to the detriment of fun along the way. David is very highly regarded and respected in the business, very approachable, open and interested in everyone. He is results oriented, but ensures great customer satisfaction is at the forefront of everything Tate do.

In many businesses the contributions of 'backroom staff' can be forgotten; however at Swansway they do things differently. On a regular basis the company celebrate the 'backroom staff' by asking the Managers to nominate a colleague who they believe has made an outstanding contribution to the business, is not expecting an extra reward and who is a shining example of company culture and values. The awards are given every quarter and the number of winners is not limited. Wherever there is a nomination and the Unsung Hero board considers it be valid, the nominee will receive a trophy to keep, is treated to afternoon tea and even a £50 voucher to treat themselves to a gift.

All of the offices have the Core Values printed as large vinyl's onto the wall. Swanstaff promote the company ambition right from the outset at interview stage, through to the induction and this is also spoken about regularly by the CEO and Management team at events andtraining. Swanstaff ‘thank you' badges on the HR system refer to the Core Values so that staff can recognise when someone has met the value. The annual appraisal process, probation reviews and monthly one on one supervisions also refer to the core values and staff are asked to reflect on how well they work to these values and how well they feel these are reflected in the company culture. These are also spoken about in the induction video, showing new employees how these are reflected in every day work. Employees often recite these core values when speaking to clients and candidates - they are also shared with candidates through the Ambassadors programme.

All of the offices have the Core Values printed as large vinyl's onto the wall. Swanstaff promote the company ambition right from the outset at interview stage, through to the induction and this is also spoken about regularly by the CEO and Management team at events andtraining. Swanstaff ‘thank you' badges on the HR system refer to the Core Values so that staff can recognise when someone has met the value. The annual appraisal process, probation reviews and monthly one on one supervisions also refer to the core values and staff are asked to reflect on how well they work to these values and how well they feel these are reflected in the company culture. These are also spoken about in the induction video, showing new employees how these are reflected in every day work. Employees often recite these core values when speaking to clients and candidates - they are also shared with candidates through the Ambassadors programme.

During the year STL removed water machines from each office and one plumbed in machine was installed in the centre of as an alternative. This encourages staff to get up and walk to the machine. They also introduced a Wednesday waddle, where staff had a lunchtime walk together if they wanted around the local canal or village. STL also provide fruit and a smaller number of larger printers to encourage people to get up from their desks. There is a staff room including a Wii, computer, large screen TV, sofas and magazines. STL provide ice cream on hot days, books in the staff room for all staff to use and all staff can book an appointment with any Manager for ten minutes to discuss anything they would like or to chat to HR.

Stevens and Bolton currently operates the 'Thx!' scheme. One of the key strategic objectives for the firm is to make this a great place to work for all their people and an important part of that is acknowledging and showing gratitude for the help their colleagues give day to day. Often a simple ‘thank you' will suffice, but sometimes it would be nice to acknowledge people in a more public way. This can be done via the 'Thx' online system, which allows staff to allocate Thx points to their colleagues for exemplary work. Each staff member is allocated 25 Thx points for the year and can award single or multiple points via the profile of a certain staff member on the online 'Sandbox' platform. At the end of the year, the top five employees at the top of the leader board are then given a budget to use on a joint treat day or experience.

Stephensons Solicitors produce a full CSR review document twice a year, which sets out all the community initiatives in place at the firm. During 2016 the firm donated £1,600 to Mustard Tree, a Greater Manchester based charity which provides support to homeless and marginalised people. For over 20 years, Mustard Tree has helped support communities challenged by poverty, disadvantage or unemployment. The charity provides a number of initiatives to provide much needed life support, promoting mental and physical wellbeing and providing avenues into training and employment. Janine Turner, head of HR and an associate at the firm, joined staff and volunteers from Mustard Tree in Manchester to learn more about the charity and witness its work first-hand.

St. Dominic's Sixth Form College fundraise through charity walks and runs. The organisation also has a Fairworld Week, where staff and students volunteer at local charitable institutions. On top of this they also have links through some of the subjects that they offer, for example Design and Technology, in which students design products to help community based charities. In the past their staff have regularly raised money for a local Hospice by a Sponsored Walk and teams enter the Race for Life. Their Head of Art and DT together with her students takes on work from local social support services, such as web design, leaflet and logo design as live commissions.

Specsavers are passionate about giving back to and working with many local, national and international causes. The company are involved in a vast number of activities to raise money for charities, for example their continued work with Vision Aid Overseas to safeguard the nine eye clinics Specsavers established with them in Zambia. The company also help to deliver a range of hand-crafted quilts made in Guernsey to an orphanage in Johannesburg, South Africa. Also in its 20th year, the annual Spectacle Wearer of the Year competition has raised £80,000 for UK anti-bullying children's charity Kidscape. New starters can donate a 'coin' to one of the charities that Specsavers support at the end of their induction, giving them an early understanding and participation in the organisation's charity work. Through the 'Giving back to our local communities' policy, staff are also encouraged to spend one working day per year helping out in the community. Specsavers also have staff nominated charities in each office and encourage staff to raise money for them. Last year the company raised almost £190,000 for these fantastic charities.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.