Secure Trust Bank encourages all staff to take time off during their working days to volunteer their time for the nominated 2012 charity, QAC. This is reinforced by the CEO who 'tops up' the money raised in events from his own pocket. The events throughout the year are driven by the department managers who are often found at the front leading their team during the event, i.e. the IT team helped re-organise the library and the Lending and Project teams helped redecorate rooms by painting walls. All events although organised by a specific department involve everyone within the business to a greater or lesser extent, often creating a competition between departments.

Aside from giving 20% of profits to charity, the practice is committed to encouraging and enthusing people, both young and old, about architecture and its ability to affect the way we live and work. Last year they took on 20 school age work experience students, gave them a mentor and an architectural brief and asked them to present their ideas at the end of the week. They also sponsored the Mossbourne Academy Architecture Club as well as the Architecture Foundation's Urban Pioneers programme. Both schemes have been a great success and they hope to continue these sponsorships. At university level the practice hosts regular visits, around two a month, by students and practising professionals from all over the world. Staff at all levels share their experiences and discuss aspects of projects on these visits, which last year included groups from Yale, Lausanne, Wurzburg and the Australian Institute of Architects. They encourage staff to work with universities, and six of their staff currently lecture or give tutorials at various institutions. The practice participated in Open House Weekend again this year, during which they welcomed around 350 people through the door for a tour of the building and an introduction to their work and philosophy.

Personal and professional development is a high priority at qedis. They have a fair, rigorous and development-focused performance management process; with performance feedback after each project, and formally twice a year. The Aqademy training pathway has 11 training courses, addressing the competencies junior people need to be successful. Qedis developed 4 additional courses linked to skills gaps eg Assertiveness training, BD bitesize and Advanced Core Consulting. For senior people, they have Counselling Manager and Business Development Training. They also developed a new course aimed at newly promoted Managers adapting to their increased responsibility. It is offsite and includes outdoor team building exercises linked to the learning objectives of the course. The most important course is the ‘Qedis Way', focusing on their culture and values, for new joiners. They offer GetAbstract – a tool that summarises books; Gartner, Forester, Lexus Nexus, Factiva. In the last year they ran 57 training sessions, 1040 days of training - an average of 7 days per person. They spent £174,719 on training courses, £32,951 on Knowledge Management and subscriptions; an average spend of £1,483 per person. 12/20 courses were developed and run by qedites.

Qedis's CSR programme is innovative because they donate their money, their time, business advice and take on a unique challenge, it covers 3 key events. The most significant is Challenge Q which is a physical challenge. This year it was a 24 hour global challenge where 12 qedites ran non-stop for 24 hours, 3 qedites danced solidly for 24 hours, 2 qedites played ping-pong for 24 hours and 1 qedite rowed for 24 hours. The challengers were supported by a team of qedites who stayed around the clock to encourage and cheer them on, they also invited their families and clients to the finishing line event. A team of 20 qedites spent 6 months planning the event. Qedis's partner companies around the globe also took part, one country each hour was doing a sporting activity, eg climbing, tennis, running, cycling, rowing. In total $120,000 was raised globally, in the UK they raised over £20,000 which went to their Charity of the Year (Calibre Minds), whom they also provided free business advice too. The 2nd event was their annual community day, where all their people took the day off client work, and did manual labour for 3 worthy causes. They renovated a church, community park and cemetery, painting, weeding, and clearing and funded the materials needed.

During the second half of 2010 the business decided that they should look to set up something that allows all employees in the business to be involved in something tangible that provides help and support to disadvantaged children. A select number of employees worked hard on developing an idea that would be significant enough to excite employees, something local to be able to get involved in and to establish something with longevity and sustainability. After much deliberation on what this could be to help unfortunate children, the team decided on the idea of providing free holidays. The idea then grew quickly into buying 2 fabulous holiday homes at the popular holiday site Haven holiday blackpool. What we then needed to work out was how we would identify the right children who would benefit. In association with North Yorkshire council children services, they established a partnership that allowed the people looking out for those children in need to nominate those children and familes in need the most. In 2011 the idea was launched as a fully registered charity called The Principle Trust and to date has been successful in raising sufficient funds to benefit 237 children. All employees are involved in one or another and contribute proudly to the fund raising effort the charity requires, and give up their free time to help and assist where possible.

Every year the Company goes on a 5 star incentive trip which is for employees who have met their objectives and performed at the very top of their game. One of the highlight events on all 5 star trips is a team helicopter ride. In May 2012, 18 staff members and Directors enjoyed a trip of a lifetime to Hong Kong. In previous years, the trips have included the Seychelles, Monaco, Barcelona, New York, Las Vegas and this year Sun City. These trips include staying in a luxury resort as well as enjoying high adrenaline activities and wonderful meals, evenings socialising and some unforgettable memories. Because it is a mix of staff, everyone has a chance to bond and get to know each other outside of a work environment. Everyone returns with their own stories, pictures, and memories. These are truly trips of a life time and the motivation to return to another 5 star trip is always high in the agenda!

Practice Plan has phased return to work policy for all staff, risk assessments, regular meetings and updates. The company also provides free fruit, a cycle to work scheme, gym memberships, flexible working and encourages people to take care of each other.

Each year Pets at Home hold their annual conference for the retail team. Last year the company had an Olympic theme, where they highlighted their achievements from the previous year and outlined their goals for the year ahead. Pets at Home asked their colleagues to 'Pick it Up & Pass It On' to cascade these messages back to the teams in store. The company also used the conference as an opportunity to launch their new first value of putting pets before profit. They celebrated success by awarding a 'Pet Star' award to Kate Jones, Customer and Culture Manager, for her achievements during her 15 years' service and most recently in setting up the Customer Helpdesk. The evening was rounded off by a celebration of hero's, both sporting and otherwise, which invariably lead to some interesting fancy dress outfits and a lot of dancing!

Panasonic UK is pursuing an ECO strategy and has an ECO ideas scheme currently in place. By 2018, the company will be the largest supplier of ECO products worldwide. Through clever design, Panasonic's products are using less energy and are able to be recycled, thus having a more positive impact on the environment.

Managers implement their team action plans to support the achievement of the company goals and have team away days to set the direction of the team. Each individual in the company has actions that link to the Corporate Plan and Service Delivery plans, encouarging them to take responsibility for the achievement of these goals.

NRG is very charity focused, they have selected Maggie's Cancer Care Charity for the past four years as their charity of choice. They do not just limit their fundraising activities to Maggie's but continue throughout the year to hold dress down days supporting various charities – Children in Need, Comic Relief, Jeans for Genes etc. NRG's Chief Executive is Chair of the fundraising Board for Maggie's North East and gives her time free of charge and their staff are hugely supportive of her and have raised over £25,000 in the last four years. One of the main challenges the staff undertake is the Monster Bike and Hike which takes place annually in Fort William, Scotland. A gruelling 72 miles made up of 31 miles on a mountain bike followed by a 41 mile hike – all in 24 hours! Teams have also participated in the Three Peaks Challenge climbing the three tallest peaks in Great Britain again within 24 hours. Prior to taking part in these challenges, the teams have raised money by organising various events including: quizzes for staff and client companies raffles coffee mornings gents having various parts of their bodies waxed! NRG no longer send Christmas Cards to clients but make a donation to charity each year. Their Managing Director is also an active committee member of the Theatre Development Committee - created to develop funds for Newcastle's flagship Theatre, The Theatre Royal, to ensure community engagement activities including workshops, dance, creative groups, within the community. She is also a member of Sunderland Business Group - which is a group of private sector organisations working with the public and third sector to support children in schools through work experience.