What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

The Chairman's Club Award is ISG's premier recognition programme. The award was established to recognise employees who, through their actions and results, have made major contributions to ISG during the past year. The contributions of Chairman's Club Award winners positively impact objectives, possibly by expanding business development, increasing revenues, innovating, improving the firm's products and services or contributing to the development and professional growth of colleagues. The recognition includes a custom-designed keepsake award and an offsite event held in honour of Chairman's Club Award recipients. This year it was held in New Orleans and previous years have included Barbados, Napa Valley and Portugal. Employees are also invited to bring their Partner to accompany then on the trip as an additional acknowledgement that reinforces the value of the award to the company's continued growth and success.

The 2016 charities ISG supported includes the North Guildford Food Bank, which supports members of the local community who are suffering financial hardship. Employees are encouraged to participate in fundraising events for this and any other charities they feel they would like to support. This year the Company have encouraged employees to donate food items to the Food Bank with a targeted donation drive. In addition, a number of employees have spent the day at the Food Bank loading and unloading, sorting the food items and boxing them up following donations received through Harvest Festival collections. On top of this, ISG also offers an equal opportunities policy.

Immediate Media's two programmes in management development framework are Integral Leadership Programme (ILP) and Integral Management Programme (IMP). ILP helps Leader's role model the company's values, coach, develop, delegate, collaborate and connect with teams to build success as well as a great place to work. IMP gives Manager's practical tools to grow as individuals and create great teams. Immediate Media see IMP as the foundation layer in their management development framework and whilst the company know they've got lots of good Manager's, this helps them become really great ones. Delegates of IMP join a Learning Set which starts during the course and continues afterwards. This helps people share their experiences, get help, advice and also creates a sounding board. It also allows for new networks across the business with people who wouldn't ordinarily work together. The IMP and ILP programmes teach Managers that feedback must be regular, timely and constructive; therefore discussions are open, praise and thanks are given and successes are shared and celebrated. When things aren't going so well this is where coaching, advice and support comes in.

As a highly matrixed organisation, effective communication across and within teams is essential and central to Immediate Media's communications strategy. From the company's inception in 2011 they've made this a cultural principle and there is no better example than the design of the head office. At its heart is an open space occupying the entire ground floor with a café, open plan and private meeting spaces, table tennis and pool tables, a bar and a 300+ seat theatre. This vibrant and permanently busy space provides a place where people come together to collaborate, eat, socialise and it's also the centrepiece of the company communications. In the theatre area the company run regular companywide and group Town Hall meetings. These are transparent, jargon-free updates on performance from the CEO, which are followed by a short show and tells celebrating success from different teams. Open communication lies at the core of the values, so every Friday the CEO sends out an update to everyone. He selects his highlights from around the company, covering everything from big commercial wins to brand news and initiatives. He then underlines the importance of the people with a welcome to all new starters, congratulations for those promoted or have good news to share and finally saying goodbye and wishing well to any leavers.

For the first time, the organisation has nominated a number of charities to support through the course of this year. These were arrived at through consultation with employees in the agency – and supports both national charities and those that are proximate to each office site. The majority of fundraising activity is achieved through sweepstakes and bake sales in the office, but a number of individuals (including the Leadership team) are taking point in this year's Sleepout event for Centre Point. The agency supports the notion of giving something back to the community and wider society. This is demonstrated by the organisation's MD, who volunteers his time to support undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Leeds through their Nurturing Talent Mentor Scheme. This typically involves providing advice and guidance to a number of students – with a clear focus on gaining experience during their studies and employment at the end of their course. Typically, students who are nominated for the scheme are likely to be from a non-university background, and in some cases, from disadvantaged groups. Finally, the organisation continues to run both a formal ‘Academy' programme for graduates, alongside an informal internship or work experience programme in order to provide opportunities to young people looking to pursue a career in the industry.

For the first time, the organisation has nominated a number of charities to support through the course of this year. These were arrived at through consultation with employees in the agency – and supports both national charities and those that are proximate to each office site. The majority of fundraising activity is achieved through sweepstakes and bake sales in the office, but a number of individuals (including the Leadership team) are taking point in this year's Sleepout event for Centre Point. The agency supports the notion of giving something back to the community and wider society. This is demonstrated by the organisation's MD, who volunteers his time to support undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Leeds through their Nurturing Talent Mentor Scheme. This typically involves providing advice and guidance to a number of students – with a clear focus on gaining experience during their studies and employment at the end of their course. Typically, students who are nominated for the scheme are likely to be from a non-university background, and in some cases, from disadvantaged groups. Finally, the organisation continues to run both a formal ‘Academy' programme for graduates, alongside an informal internship or work experience programme in order to provide opportunities to young people looking to pursue a career in the industry.

Hymans Robertson have a strong ethos of community support within the firm. There are two core strands to this, their financial literacy programme delivers workshops on financial literacy to disadvantaged young people by partnering with other charities and their local Helping Hands teams identify local charities who need support which the company then provide through volunteering, fundraising or ‘in kind' donations. They also offer matched funding to employees who have raised money for their own favoured charities. In total the firm allocates 2% of the firm's profits to these initiatives. This is in addition to employee's time and their fundraising efforts which include one day's paid volunteering day per employee each year to use to help a charity of their choice, previous initiatives include raising money each month through ‘Dress Down' day collections, supporting national events such as ‘Children in Need' and the Hymans Robertson Foundation which will provide focus and transparency on all charitable activities. Hymans have engaged an agency who specialise in finding placements for those that wish to work part-time. Now if they have a role that requires someone on a part-time basis they will work with them to recruit suitable candidates that cannot work a conventional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 routine. To help in the general recruitment process, they have recognised that unconscious bias can play a role in how people managers review applications. So they have run Unconscious Bias workshops in the firm with almost 200 delegates attending. They have also worked with a government scheme called "New Starts" which aims to help ex-offenders return to work, they have taken on one new start attendee and this has worked well for the firm and we would be open to taking on more as a result.

Hymans Robertson have a strong ethos of community support within the firm. There are two core strands to this, their financial literacy programme delivers workshops on financial literacy to disadvantaged young people by partnering with other charities and their local Helping Hands teams identify local charities who need support which the company then provide through volunteering, fundraising or ‘in kind' donations. They also offer matched funding to employees who have raised money for their own favoured charities. In total the firm allocates 2% of the firm's profits to these initiatives. This is in addition to employee's time and their fundraising efforts which include one day's paid volunteering day per employee each year to use to help a charity of their choice, previous initiatives include raising money each month through ‘Dress Down' day collections, supporting national events such as ‘Children in Need' and the Hymans Robertson Foundation which will provide focus and transparency on all charitable activities. Hymans have engaged an agency who specialise in finding placements for those that wish to work part-time. Now if they have a role that requires someone on a part-time basis they will work with them to recruit suitable candidates that cannot work a conventional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 routine. To help in the general recruitment process, they have recognised that unconscious bias can play a role in how people managers review applications. So they have run Unconscious Bias workshops in the firm with almost 200 delegates attending. They have also worked with a government scheme called "New Starts" which aims to help ex-offenders return to work, they have taken on one new start attendee and this has worked well for the firm and we would be open to taking on more as a result.

Huntswood has a range of wellbeing initiatives, including free gym memberships, massages during work time, health checks, free fruit, cycle to work, discount shopping vouchers, social activities, a fun and functional office environment and an Employee Assistance Programme service. HR have also recently engaged ‘wellbeing champions' from across the business who volunteered themselves to help enhance the wellbeing of Huntswood employees. The champions help with the organisation of wellbeing events and initiatives and provide feedback and ideas around what employees want in terms of their wellbeing at work. The HR team also monitors absence closely by accurately recording absence information, holding return to work interviews and offering appropriate support to employees where necessary. HR have an open door policy and employees always feel that they can speak to a member of the team should they need advice or guidance. Managers are given guidance on how best to manage employees that could be at risk of stress and often provide one to one catch ups to monitor these employees. As well as all this where possible flexibility with working hours is permitted to inspire a healthy work life balance.

Huntswood has a range of wellbeing initiatives, including free gym memberships, massages during work time, health checks, free fruit, cycle to work, discount shopping vouchers, social activities, a fun and functional office environment and an Employee Assistance Programme service. HR have also recently engaged ‘wellbeing champions' from across the business who volunteered themselves to help enhance the wellbeing of Huntswood employees. The champions help with the organisation of wellbeing events and initiatives and provide feedback and ideas around what employees want in terms of their wellbeing at work. The HR team also monitors absence closely by accurately recording absence information, holding return to work interviews and offering appropriate support to employees where necessary. HR have an open door policy and employees always feel that they can speak to a member of the team should they need advice or guidance. Managers are given guidance on how best to manage employees that could be at risk of stress and often provide one to one catch ups to monitor these employees. As well as all this where possible flexibility with working hours is permitted to inspire a healthy work life balance.

Hotcourses put on a Dragons Den Team Competition which runs throughout the year. Following a new structure they wanted teams to interact, so this year have mixed up people in teams. This approach has improved team interaction and collaboration. Their programme has included a Dragons Den pitch (three out of four pitches won and implemented), a Trust game, obstacles and people paired with one blind folded, a helium pole game, a Sports Day and Culture lunch days. It has now become an annual programme every year and in results from a company based survey it was shown that communication within the business is now rated ‘great' by 78% of employees (in comparison to last year when only 48% rated it as such).

Hotcourses send out a monthly health and wellbeing bulletin. They also encourage team activities around sporting events. The company's Head of People is a qualified mediator who has resolved any grievances informally through this method. Hotcourses have a very paternalistic management team, as they manage many young people where this is their first place of work. The company train their Managers to deal with situations promptly and refer to the right person to give an individual approach to stress related matters.

The layout of Horwich Farrelly's offices is open plan in design and all teams occupy a floor or a section of a floor. Most teams participate in regular meetings or daily huddles run by Managers to facilitate team working. This year through the company's soft phone system they gave all employees access to instant messenger, all to enable more direct and effective communication amongst employees. The COO has also recently completed a tour of all offices, delivering a business update to ensure that all employees are clear on the company objectives and successes. Horwich Farrelly's are currently developing an ideas sharing platform to launch in 2017, which will allow all employees in all locations to make comments or suggestions about how they could improve the business.

The layout of Horwich Farrelly's offices is open plan in design and all teams occupy a floor or a section of a floor. Most teams participate in regular meetings or daily huddles run by Managers to facilitate team working. This year through the company's soft phone system they gave all employees access to instant messenger, all to enable more direct and effective communication amongst employees. The COO has also recently completed a tour of all offices, delivering a business update to ensure that all employees are clear on the company objectives and successes. Horwich Farrelly's are currently developing an ideas sharing platform to launch in 2017, which will allow all employees in all locations to make comments or suggestions about how they could improve the business.

Throughout the Company posters and charts are proudly displayed on the walls to ensure staff are aware of the vision, mission and behaviours that are so dear to Hoppeckle's heart. These are even displayed in the reception area so visitors are also aware of the company's mantra. As Hoppecke are a relatively small company and approximately half their workforce are field based, the MD writes a blog to update all staff on changes and developments in the business and to celebrate success. For those staff who do not have access to a computer, their team leader meets with them to discuss the content, answer questions and obtain upward feedback, which is noted and as appropriate discussed with the wider leadership team.

The CEO treats all staff with respect and gives them the opportunity to speak to him directly if they have concerns regarding the business or themselves. He shows not only an interest in their time at work but in their families outside interests. In the short time he has been in post he has been very keen to seek to harmonise and improve terms and conditions for all staff. The MD ensures that he visits all sections of the business and speaks to as many staff as possible. He engages well and proactively with staff at all levels across the business. Due to the nature of the business a great amount of on-the job training takes place, particularly for field staff. This type of on-going training enables staff to maintain and develop their skills. There is on-going support available from experienced managers and staff. The business is proficient in providing support and guidance whilst business continues. For a small number of staff an MBO process is in place. The organisation is about to introduce a formal management development programme and to set up a number of supplementary support programmes, such as mentoring and coaching. There are also plans to implement a cross organisation performance management system in the next 6 months.

HomeServe have supported over 150 community groups across the West Midlands. A share of £35k has also been put towards their partnership with Midlands' newspaper, Express & Star, on its ‘Cash For Your Community' initiative for the third year running. Volunteers across the business gave over 1,750 hours of volunteer time for the Sport Relief 2016 campaign, with HomeServe answering a phenomenal 2,369 donation calls and raising over £72,272 on the night. The company's people volunteered 14,000 hours, served 8,300 meals and made 6,900 food supply bags for The Midland Langar Seva Society, a local charity that provides food for the homeless. They have even provided the charity with a van to distribute food donations that HomeServe contribute to weekly from their own site. The company are also working with Career Transition Partnership and Armed forces, for example the company have recently taken on Gas Engineers who have worked with engineers to gain experience, even resulting in a job offer. To provide further opportunities for HomeServe's P&D engineers, a Level 3 Gas Apprenticeship is also available.

HomeServe have supported over 150 community groups across the West Midlands. A share of £35k has also been put towards their partnership with Midlands' newspaper, Express & Star, on its ‘Cash For Your Community' initiative for the third year running. Volunteers across the business gave over 1,750 hours of volunteer time for the Sport Relief 2016 campaign, with HomeServe answering a phenomenal 2,369 donation calls and raising over £72,272 on the night. The company's people volunteered 14,000 hours, served 8,300 meals and made 6,900 food supply bags for The Midland Langar Seva Society, a local charity that provides food for the homeless. They have even provided the charity with a van to distribute food donations that HomeServe contribute to weekly from their own site. The company are also working with Career Transition Partnership and Armed forces, for example the company have recently taken on Gas Engineers who have worked with engineers to gain experience, even resulting in a job offer. To provide further opportunities for HomeServe's P&D engineers, a Level 3 Gas Apprenticeship is also available.

Higgidy have a weekly huddle where the business come together for food, networking, a weekly business update on KPI's and a strategy update. The company put on business briefs twice a year, which are really important for making every employee feel like they are part of the ‘bigger picture'. These briefs go off results and key messages. There is a Microsoft 365 space for sharing documents and Whats App groups to send things to teams easily.

Higgidy have a peer to peer recognition scheme called the 'Higgidy Heroes', which is nominated by the people for the people. These get given back to all employees so they know they have been chosen and there are two levels of rewards - the Everyday Hero and the Super Hero. These have to link back to their company values of being Brave, Smart or Kind. In addition to recognising and rewarding employees for their hard work the company work had to ensure that they look after employee wellbeing. There are yoga sessions on a Friday, free fruit is provided, they contribute to exercise classes, pay for people to enter marathons, offer flexible working and operate a no long hours culture. They also ensure that they give support to people during difficult times including, paid time off, support with appointments etc.