What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

Haygarth have recently reinvigorated Strata meetings and see these as an opportunity for employees at each level of the business, regardless of team, to come together on a monthly basis. Strata meetings encompass a finance and general business update, as well special interest presentations and group work. These sessions are great forums for cross-team working and communication, allowing employees to get to know those people that they may not necessarily work with on a daily basis.

Haygarth have a long-standing relationship with a local charity, The Wimbledon Guild, who do valuable work in the local Merton community. The Charity team work hard to plan a calendar of events to run throughout the year and are constantly coming up with new fundraising ideas. As a result, they run a large number of fund-raising initiatives for the Guild, from regular cake sales and sweepstakes, to themed breakfasts and charity raffles and auctions. One of the annual highlights is their charity auction which takes place at the Summer Away Day. This year the company raised over £350 at the event. Beyond fundraising, a team from Haygarth run a stall at the annual Wimbledon Guild Summer Fete – this year, Haygarth assisted with the jousting tournament, selling props and programmes, whilst in previous years, they have run the champagne tent.

Annually the Studio organises trips to a European City where £500 is paid towards flights, accommodation and food for each employee. This year staff had the option of going to Oslo, Lisbon. Arhaus, Eindhoven, Nantes and Rotterdam. In groups of 25 staff visit and explore various cities, reviewing architecture for the purpose of research and team building. The trips are led by a Partner and made up of a mix of people who don't normally work each other. The days include waking tours, visit to other architectural practice and cycle tours. While evenings are a time for everyone to socialise over dinner. It is said that Studio Trips are a highlight for staff and a calendar event much anticipated. Upon return staff are encouraged to share photos and present learning's from the trips to the wider studio.

Annually the Studio organises trips to a European City where £500 is paid towards flights, accommodation and food for each employee. This year staff had the option of going to Oslo, Lisbon. Arhaus, Eindhoven, Nantes and Rotterdam. In groups of 25 staff visit and explore various cities, reviewing architecture for the purpose of research and team building. The trips are led by a Partner and made up of a mix of people who don't normally work each other. The days include waking tours, visit to other architectural practice and cycle tours. While evenings are a time for everyone to socialise over dinner. It is said that Studio Trips are a highlight for staff and a calendar event much anticipated. Upon return staff are encouraged to share photos and present learning's from the trips to the wider studio.

Hardies main community initiative is supporting and raising monies for local charities. Each office within the firm has selected a local charity and events are run throughout the year, with the funds raised being given to these charities. The company also runs a school's programme initiative, where again each office adopts a local school to encourage an interest in surveying and administration and to provide work shadowing and job opportunities. Hardies' Corporate Social Responsibility document is reviewed annually and includes a list of all members of staff and Partners who commit to various boards and charities within the community.

Hardies main community initiative is supporting and raising monies for local charities. Each office within the firm has selected a local charity and events are run throughout the year, with the funds raised being given to these charities. The company also runs a school's programme initiative, where again each office adopts a local school to encourage an interest in surveying and administration and to provide work shadowing and job opportunities. Hardies' Corporate Social Responsibility document is reviewed annually and includes a list of all members of staff and Partners who commit to various boards and charities within the community.

Throughout Harbour teams hold team meetings and team development days to look at how services can be improved. There was also a Staff Health & Wellbeing event held in October 2016, which all Harbour staff were invited to attend. The event included presentations and workshops on topics selected following a staff health survey. The organisation also covered mindfulness, self-harm and suicide prevention. They even had organisations attend with information stalls on topics such as alcohol and cancer, as well as a health bus offering basic health tests.

Harbour believes passionately that to provide a great service they need to employ enthusiastic, compassionate and talented people, then ensure the organisation continually invest in them so they keep learning, improving and developing their services. As a result of this staff receive ongoing training and development throughout their employment with Harbour, with many of them working towards accredited qualifications.

Hall & Partners continuously seek new ways to reward their stars; therefore the company have put in place rewards that recognise the examples of behaviour that reinforce their culture. These rewards are given out during the quarterly gatherings, which allow them to share and celebrate individual successes with the wider team and, in some cases, the business. The individual rewards are hand-chosen and bespoke to the individual so that they are aligned to Hall & Partners core values of Courageous, Collaborative, Creative and Curious. The company go beyond financial reward to give people incredible experiences that they can enjoy and share with their colleagues, further promoting the initiative. Examples include the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Olympic Park, Ice-skating at Alexandra Palace and the London Bridge Glass Platform Experience.

Hall & Partners are mindful of the importance of communicating with one another regularly outside of the daily and weekly team gatherings. Working in a busy and rapidly evolving environment, it's important staff are presented with new and innovative ways to interact and communicate with leaders. One of the avenues for doing this is through the company's annual company-wide initiative ‘Imagine Day'. This gives staff the chance to come together and share ideas through collaboration and training. This year saw a presenter from TrendWatching comment on the latest industry trends, encouraging staff to consider new approaches and areas of growth in their respective industries. Hall & Partners also hold frequent ‘London Pop-Up' meetings with the whole office to ensure all employees are kept up-to-date with Marketing, People, big wins, any key developments and news. They have also maintained their ‘Fifteen minutes of fame sessions', which are held monthly. These provide all employees with a platform to share and inspire their colleagues, showcasing examples of innovative and exciting work. Hall & Partners also encourage teams to enjoy a monthly ‘wellbeing day', an opportunity to leave their desks, escape the office and do something fun together. These include outings to theme parks, treasure hunts, sports days, cooking classes and even murder mystery days.

Greenfield's have invested £100,000 into ‘Tendring Reuse and Employment Enterprise', or ‘TREE', a charity providing volunteer and work placement opportunities for people in the local community. In July the company's Area Forum in Witham held a Summer Fete for both employees and residents, which raised over £400 for their charity of the year. The annual garden competition and Edible Estates encourages residents to spend more time outside and to get active while being involved in looking after their gardens. Later this month Greenfield's are hosting a coffee and cake morning to encourage members of the community to come and talk about possible work opportunities in local organisations. In aid of Essex Air Ambulance Greenfield's recently organised a Go Yellow Day, where employees were encouraged to wear something yellow and provide only yellow food! The company's Digital Inclusion Co-ordinator runs free sessions to upskill residents with digital tasks, including applying for Universal Credit and searching for employment. Residents can even study for a City and Guilds qualification and borrow a laptop or tablet for home use. Employees can also volunteer to be digi-pals and provide additional support to the coordinator by assisting those attending the sessions. Furthermore Greenfield's can offer learners the opportunity to sit the Entry Level 3 Award and Certificate for IT Users, with 20 residents having already gained this qualification. On top of this, their Positive Engagement Coordinator does outreach work with young people in the community, with the aim of reducing ASB and drug/alcohol abuse. So far 500 people aged 15 – 25 have been involved and using football as an engagement tool the Coordinator has ‘kicked about' on local parks and joined in with games. He's even encouraged them to provide garden maintenance services to vulnerable, elderly and disabled residents. Five people have even worked with our Trades team to develop DIY skills over two solid weeks of work experience.

Workplace Health Champions organise health and wellbeing activities quarterly for employees to participate in. This year these have included Mental Health Awareness, a Men's Health Week and a ‘Race to Rio' event in aid of the Olympics. During the Mental Health Week an employee ran an afternoon of 30 minute meditation sessions which were well attended. The week also offered posture checks and head and shoulder massages, which were popular among the Customer Services Team. For Men's Health week each male employee received a health check manual for men, written in the style of the Haynes car manuals. Employees also ran a Top Man Challenge, with prizes for all the winners. Using a Top Gear style Leader board men challenged one another to a range of activities, including bench pressing and weight lifting, aiming to be at the top of the leader board. The event was talked about for weeks afterwards. Health Champions organise various other initiatives, for example a six-week weight loss programme, health checks, flu jabs, a running club and even stop smoking hypnotherapy sessions. Following the running club four employees ran a half marathon, raising £1000 for Greenfield's charity of the year. Greenfield's Employee Assistance Programme is available through BUPA and employees can have six face to face or telephone counselling sessions to discuss in confidence any topics concerning them. What's next for Greenfield? Coming up they have a five-week programme focusing on Mental Health that will include Laughing Yoga, a Modern Jive taster session, a ‘lunch and learn' session delivered by an employee discussing their experience with Bipolar Disorder, plus a healthy festive bake sale. The company will also be promoting their Christmas present appeal, where they collect donated Christmas presents which employees then distribute to local residents just before Christmas Eve.

Gopher Money try to embrace a 'Relaxed, high pressured' environment. They appreciate this is a contradictory statement but they give their staff the freedom to manage their own day meaning that to an extent they can come and go without having to log in and out expect for health and safety purposes. Anyone feeling stressed can step out and unwind knowing they can work beyond their contracted hours to catch up if they fall behind their target. In essence a lot of the staff class themselves as 'self-employed' meaning the pressure they apply is at their own volition. As a business Gopher Money are always trying to encourage employees to move away from their desk on breaks and lunches and be able to clear their head ready for work. The existing Learning and Development manager works closely with staff in helping them deal with issues both inside and outside of work such as relationships and stress and personal development. This has seen sickness per FTE continue to improve this and the feedback from those who are working with him is very positive.

Before detailing how the organisation supports and develops its managers it is worth noting that 90% of Team Leaders and Managers within Gopher Money have been promoted from the ranks. This in itself is a clear indication of the value and trust that they invest in all their staff. They support the leadership team by ensuring they are involved in all decisions relating to their teams and offering them along with their teams the opportunity to develop themselves. For example, every Team Leader and Manager within the company bar one is currently undertaking at least one qualification. This is indicative of the need to 'Continue to Progress' and is demonstrated from the top of the company to the bottom. Initially this is done via KPI's not just surrounding performance but also quality and how they feel that their managers demonstrate the company values. Initially they discuss this in one to ones where all aspects of their performance is documented and from here they also complete at least 2 employee engagement surveys per annum where staff are given the opportunity to confidentially express how they feel about all aspects of the business including their Manager. Ultimately low attrition rates are one of the best measures as to how Gopher Money managers are performing as statistics show that employees who leave a company have done so principally due to a change in personal circumstances, rather than being dissatisfied with their role or the way they have been managed. This demonstrates that employee's loyalty to Gopher Money begins with how they are supervised, which has been supported in the results of the employee surveys.

Ewan Hilton Chief Executive works above and beyond his role within the organisation to raise public awareness of mental health and the difficulties faced by people with mental health problems, both through Welsh Government platforms and with the media in Wales. By partnership working with other organisations in the sector, he leads in a way that allows Gofal to deliver that message even more strongly than they could on their own. Part of the organisation's Strategic Plan is to create a culture which is led by Experts by Experience, involving their service users in every aspect of their work. The core competencies are linked to the Organisational values and demand that Senior Managers work as role models of each competency for the rest of the organisation. Ewan Hilton Chief Executive does not have an office base, enabling him to work from any of the satellite offices. Ewan is extremely approachable and enjoys engaging with employees, plus he takes the opportunity when working in different sites to speak to and listen to employees on a day to day basis. He is also able to email "all users" in the organisation.

Gofal have committed to becoming a Thinking Environment. This is the start of a journey which will take them several years, but the organisation have started by training every Line Manager in the principles of the Thinking Environment, helping them lead team meetings in a way which actively encourages listening and full participation of all members. Gofal started the launch to all team members at their recent Staff Wellbeing Day, when everyone was able to participate in an organisation wide Thinking Environment workshop. All staff were also invited to a company wide staff wellbeing day, including wellbeing activities, a presentation of the organisational strategies and an introduction to the Thinking Environment.

Earlier this year Global ran a series of lunchtime guided City walks, held on a monthly basis. Walks were led by qualified City of London Guides and incurred no cost for attendees. As well as providing an opportunity to explore the unusual and hidden features that the City of London has to offer, the walks provided healthy moderate exercise, an opportunity for members of the PMI scheme to earn additional points from increased daily activity and the chance to socialise with colleagues. The lunchtime beginner group, offered by the store emphasises on participation and not pace. Feedback was received from one employee that from being a non-runner, after 7 weeks' attendance, they successfully completed a 5km run in 30 minutes. The Company funds massage therapy appointments which are delivered in-house, twice a year and are available to all employees. The massage therapist uses a combination of massage and acupressure techniques to the back, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and scalp while the employee sits in a specially designed chair. Each massage lasts for 20 minutes and takes place during the working day. Benefits include easing tense and knotted muscles, improves mobility and flexibility, relieves anxiety and stress, induces relaxation and wellbeing and increases mental alertness and clarity. On a day-to day basis, they provide employees with the use of a large kitchen with break-out seating area to encourage individuals to take time away from their desks to eat lunch and integrate with their colleagues. For those requiring a more tranquil area, a First Aid room is available for private reflection.

Earlier this year Global ran a series of lunchtime guided City walks, held on a monthly basis. Walks were led by qualified City of London Guides and incurred no cost for attendees. As well as providing an opportunity to explore the unusual and hidden features that the City of London has to offer, the walks provided healthy moderate exercise, an opportunity for members of the PMI scheme to earn additional points from increased daily activity and the chance to socialise with colleagues. The lunchtime beginner group, offered by the store emphasises on participation and not pace. Feedback was received from one employee that from being a non-runner, after 7 weeks' attendance, they successfully completed a 5km run in 30 minutes. The Company funds massage therapy appointments which are delivered in-house, twice a year and are available to all employees. The massage therapist uses a combination of massage and acupressure techniques to the back, neck, shoulders, arms, hands and scalp while the employee sits in a specially designed chair. Each massage lasts for 20 minutes and takes place during the working day. Benefits include easing tense and knotted muscles, improves mobility and flexibility, relieves anxiety and stress, induces relaxation and wellbeing and increases mental alertness and clarity. On a day-to day basis, they provide employees with the use of a large kitchen with break-out seating area to encourage individuals to take time away from their desks to eat lunch and integrate with their colleagues. For those requiring a more tranquil area, a First Aid room is available for private reflection.