What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

Each year Carlson's locations are asked to choose a charity they would like to support throughout the year. They organise their own fun-raising activities around various themes and also collect money around the office. Such activities have been themed around ' The Great British Bake Off', where people baked cakes and brought them in. Slices were sold off and the money all went to the chosen charity. Branches have also run a fancy dress competition and Carlson really give the branches free reign with this to do as they wish.

Last year Carlson introduced Fish and Chip suppers, whereby their SVP and a member of the Leadership Team went to each location in the UK and Ireland network and had an evening of fish and chips and an open discussion forum. Staff members were very open about their likes and dislikes and were encouraged to be honest. The company also have a weekly update and two monthly updates that are sent to the network. The weekly one highlights what has been happening in the network, updates on staff and training and also roles that are available around the network as a whole. For the monthly updates, one is from the SVP and is called 'Catch up with Chris', providing a general business update. The other comes from the Marketing Director and is called 'Assets of the Month'. This informs staff what's new in the marketing world and also what CWT is doing in relation to marketing campaigns. Carlson used to use Yammer but have now changed this to Jive effective 1st January. Jive is a platform whereby staff can share ideas, suggestions, help colleagues and collaborate across a much wider network. People are encouraged to set up groups for different project and topics and use it as the go-to place for peer-to-peer support.

CS Healthcare's People & Culture Department Introduced Line Manager meetings in order to improve communication across departments. This is designed to facilitate a discussion where Managers can solve problems that their department face, as well as create a consistent. This also aims to give an update on departments priorities in order for other Managers to have a good idea of everyone's responsibilities. In order to facilitate an effective monthly session, a People & culture representative will chair and minute the session. This allows for a consistent approach but also ensures the meetings occur. To ensure the meetings were effective CS organised a Line Manager Away day to improve team interaction. The first event was the company's Society Team building event, which 60 employees attended. During this event the whole Society left work at Midday and went to an external venue. Here they partook in a team building challenge facilitated though an external company (The Crystal Maze challenge). This looked at different exercises that challenged employees, encouraged them to work together and also aided them in getting to know one another. The Society then held dinner and drinks so everyone could relax and overall this was a fun but engaging event for the employees.

CS Healthcare brought in a Chiropractor to assess all employees that wanted a free consultation. As the company are an organisation where employees are sat at their desks most of the time they wanted to ensure they had an opportunity to get checked and sort any painful issues they may have had. This was very well received and gave the Society the opportunity to show they care about the wellbeing of their employees. CS are also introducing Resilience Training for employees to give them the tools to cope resiliently with stress. They have increased the lunch break period to promoted breaks to ensure employees can get away from their desks and feel refreshed. This is important for employees wellbeing as well as enhancing productivity. They are even introducing Mentoring and coaching at work, with the aim of providing additional support for staff to ensure they receive all the help they need.

All of Cranstoun's Managers have taken part in a management development programme. Following the programme, support is provided through management and supervision structures and also informally through peer-support. They have invested in an external coach to support their Senior Managers to hopefully affect positive change and support them to achieve to their potential. The coaching has been hugely beneficial and bought about noticeable changes, with follow up sessions being provided to enable Managers to revisit their goals and maintain momentum. The performance of Cranstoun's Managers is reviewed via monthly supervision meetings, which lead incrementally to an annual appraisal. Performance is assessed through a variety of Key Performance Indicators including service performance, where services are monitored monthly against agreed targets with commissioning bodies. Additionally residential and rehabilitation services are also assessed against occupancy levels and organisational KPI's, where Managers are assessed quarterly against a number of organisational KPI's including staff retention, staff attendance, volunteer numbers etc and audits, where internal Quality, Performance and Results teams carry out annual audits on a range of working practices broadly in line with the Care Quality Commission standards. Performance is 'traffic lighted' and shared at a senior level, with supportive action plans agreed amongst Managers.

All of Cranstoun's Managers have taken part in a management development programme. Following the programme, support is provided through management and supervision structures and also informally through peer-support. They have invested in an external coach to support their Senior Managers to hopefully affect positive change and support them to achieve to their potential. The coaching has been hugely beneficial and bought about noticeable changes, with follow up sessions being provided to enable Managers to revisit their goals and maintain momentum. The performance of Cranstoun's Managers is reviewed via monthly supervision meetings, which lead incrementally to an annual appraisal. Performance is assessed through a variety of Key Performance Indicators including service performance, where services are monitored monthly against agreed targets with commissioning bodies. Additionally residential and rehabilitation services are also assessed against occupancy levels and organisational KPI's, where Managers are assessed quarterly against a number of organisational KPI's including staff retention, staff attendance, volunteer numbers etc and audits, where internal Quality, Performance and Results teams carry out annual audits on a range of working practices broadly in line with the Care Quality Commission standards. Performance is 'traffic lighted' and shared at a senior level, with supportive action plans agreed amongst Managers.

CNG constantly discuss the business vision. In the POW WOW the directors focus on the vision and how the departments contribute to this. A common focus on this helps to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction and everyone knows how they contribute. On top of these monthly reminders CNG also hold an annual get together in a local hotel where the vision for the year is laid out, this is never a stuffy affair and is always done in the usual fun CNG way! CNG believes in keeping the values and vision at the forefront. To aid this CNG has visual representations of the values around the office, the values are the most important thing at CNG and they underpin everything that they do and every decision that is made, they are the backbone of CNG. The values are a part of the everyday dialogue at CNG. As departments, staff are asked how they feel they have lived and breathed the values and if there were circumstances in which they could have been better embodied through actions. Scores are reviewed by the Senior Leadership, who can then see where they need to start pulling together as a team. A section of each monthly POW WOW is set aside to discuss the company values and a dedicated section on PUP offers a space for people to share their values experiences. Values training in induction and values refreshers are also fundamental parts of everyone's employment journey.

It's important at CNG that all staff looks after themselves this is encouraged through a variety of practices including ensuring staff have a good work life balance. The introduction of a cashback health scheme is one of the main schemes that CNG has introduced to try and encourage staff to stop and think about their wellbeing. The business has successfully run a wellbeing week. The week's focus was centred on drinking enough water, yoga, and mindfulness. To follow this on there was a walking week held whereby everyone was encouraged to ditch the sit down meets and get active by having walking meetings. The Friday of this week even saw the introduction of a dog into the CNG offices and provided an opportunity to walk Millie the dog. This is something that will be encouraged throughout the CNG year with different CNGers dogs. CNG has also partnered with a local gym and can now provide discounted Gym Memberships. To reduce stress and encourage people to shout up if they begin to feel stressed CNG have a few practices in place. An open door policy, everyone can talk to someone, if workloads are too much or something is causing them stress people always have somewhere to turn. Great work life balance with people at CNG encouraged to leave at the end of the day and not log in from home. Flexible workforce so cross trained staff can support other areas of the business when busy this creating relief if one team is particularly busy. A DMM development course which helps individuals understand stress and use working practices in order to relieve this. CNG also has break out areas that are comfortable to sit in and have access to entertainment such as televisions and even a pool table.

During CityWest Homes management development programme action plans are created, redefined and developed. Action learning sets are then created and all Managers are taught to coach so that they can aid one another in their learning sets. They help to support one another with their action plans, both personal and professional and they also expand their cross-company knowledge and networks. In addition they provide eLearning wherever possible to support their training and use their intranet to store useful documents and resources for Managers who have been on training courses. All Managers are required to have one to one's with their Managers at least weekly or bi-weekly to measure their performance. At this meeting they receive feedback on management capabilities, culture and values. Additionally at the end of each financial year Managers are assessed formally against their objectives. They also have a 360 review completed by their peers and reports to determine how far they display the cultures and values.

CityWest have a number of initiatives that bring their people together so that they all get to know people outside of their teams. In 2014 CityWest Homes launched a new networking group called ‘creating balance'. This group aims to build a vibrant and supportive network to expand the opportunities for women at CityWest Homes. Meeting at their Head Office, all of their people have the chance to share experiences and learn from a range of guest speakers. The most recent speaker was the Arsenal Ladies footballer Danielle Carter. Danielle gave a fantastic insight on what it is like being a female footballer, the drive and determination needed to make it and she also gave some useful hints and tips on how to achieve your dreams. The CityWest Homes book club meets every six weeks to discuss a book over food and a glass of wine or a soft drink. The CityWest Homes Social Club runs subsidised events every month, which range from salsa classes and cocktail making to a Halloween walk through central London.

Every month Chorus reward their support engineers as a group and by naming an individual who stood out that month. The company have set targets to achieve for delivering customer service and depending how much they are exceeded affects how large the rewards are. By rewarding an individual Chorus find it brings a competitive element and by doing this monthly staff know they stand a really good chance of winning and beating their target. By also doing a team reward Chrous help build team-building and ensure staff are rewarded for their hard work. These rewards have included a go-karting day out, meal and drinks for the team, paintballing etc and the rewards are chosen by the team so they have something they would want to receive.

This year Chorus are supporting the Children's Hospice South West as their charity of the year. Last December they asked all staff to nominate a charity that they wanted to support – these charities were then listed on the internal social site Yammer and all staff voted, with the winner being CHSW. Throughout 2016 the company organised various fundraising activities – both as a company and as individual activities with company support and donations. Individual activities have included the Bristol 10k and the Guernsey Marathon, while company activities have included a 5k colour run, the Portishead Raft Race and cake sales. As well as activities, Chorus have a collection basket in their staff area for staff to drop off unwanted goods that they take to their charity shop, as well as a collection pot. Chorus do not have any written initiatives but have an equality and diversity policy in place so do not discriminate. They ensure that their buildings (and past offices) are accessible for anyone with disabilities and will be as flexible as possible to help anyone return to work.

All of the Leadership Team are visible in branches and celebrate behaviour which is in line with the company values and ethos. Every half term the Managing Director sends out a communication to everyone across the brand which details financial performance and success stories of where the company culture has benefitted both Celsian people and their customers. The Management community created the values and the Consultant community created the supporting behaviours. These values are the foundation of the business and are owned by every single member of the Celsian community. Their MD is very visible within the brand, visiting each branch every half term. On national sales days he will select a branch across the network and sells to clients alongside Consultants and Managers. In addition, he will train and coach new employees whether that be on sales calls or accompanied visits to potential clients. Each half term he distributes his half term update to all which is written and based around the half term that's just been, not only financially but in terms of celebrating outstanding achievement and personal success, which upholds their values. At the end of each person's probation period individuals present to their Manager, Operations Director and the MD in order to celebrate success. He takes the winners of the employee of the term out for a champagne lunch. He gets to know people on a personal level as well as a professional level and vice versa, is open about himself personally with all employees. He sends personal hand written birthday and celebration cards to every single person within the branches. he holds forum days every term for each sector and each Consultants working on that sector.

All of Celsian Consultants who are keen to move into management are invited to nominate themselves for the "Leadership Academy" which is a one-year course providing them with the skills and competencies to become leaders in the future. This is an in depth programme which sees people from across the Impellam group brands come together to develop into future leaders and learn about each other's markets to promote cross brand promotions. There are quarterly training sessions to help them achieve their aspirations. Each training day covers the tools that they need as leaders to be job ready for the challenge ahead. Managing Directors from across Impellam attend every session and deliver an informal presentation on themselves, their business and how they achieved their success. The programme culminates in a "Big Idea" project. Delegates are tasked with solving a business issue that will help add value back into their business. They present their ideas to the various Managing Directors across the group and have six months to bring them to life. Previous ideas are still alive in the business and have helped Celsian to save time, money and increase revenue.

CarShop have a very clear development journey that arms colleagues with the right tools, training and support along the way. CarShop supports colleagues with studies and e,ployees are able to request study leave. CarShop will also assist in funding courses if there is a business need for someone to gain a qualification. There is an e-learning renovation project underway too to make this a blended learning approach. The company also work with some excellent third parties to tailor training for bespoke requirements, which makes them an industry leader in their training programmes.

CarShop have a very clear development journey that arms colleagues with the right tools, training and support along the way. CarShop supports colleagues with studies and e,ployees are able to request study leave. CarShop will also assist in funding courses if there is a business need for someone to gain a qualification. There is an e-learning renovation project underway too to make this a blended learning approach. The company also work with some excellent third parties to tailor training for bespoke requirements, which makes them an industry leader in their training programmes.

Being a dispersed workforce, it's critical that Canonical provide their employees with valuable opportunities to improve interactions and communications within their teams, as well as across the organisation. To achieve this, the company hold a number of Sprints. Sprints are opportunities for teams to fly to some exciting locations around the world to work in a co-located environment. Sprints are used as an opportunity to align company strategy, priorities and for teams to work on projects. The founder, CEO and EVP's are actively involved at these Sprints, providing employees with opportunities to interact at all levels. In addition, Canonical uses a number of online communication tools such as instant chat, group emails, video calls and virtual town halls to encourage the sharing of opinions and ideas and to ensure teams are getting the value of face to face communication. There is a culture of open communication and transparency at Canonical. Jane Silber the CEO and the Executive Team encourage this by providing regular company updates, town-halls and opportunities for every employee to actively engage in decisions and news. This is further demonstrated by skip level meetings to remain current and engaged with employees across the organisation.

Reward and recognition programmes are important at Canonical to support the retention of top talent, improve team culture and to ensure they are continuing to foster a higher performance organisation. There are various ways the company recognise their employees, including a number of internal awards such as ‘Exceptional Contribution', ‘Spot Light on Success', ‘Valuable Contribution' and the ‘Thank You' awards. Anyone across the organisation can nominate colleagues for these awards, which draws visibility to great work and provides valuable recognition across peer groups. When driving a high performance culture, it's important that everyone can recognise what 'great' looks like and this programme empowers employees to advocate and recognise greatness. Those nominated are celebrated with company-wide recognition and a cash award. In addition to all this, every employee is eligible for the annual compensation review, which includes a performance based bonus. Canonical value and encourage innovation and the pursuit of personal and professional ambitions. They are even frequently producing achievements in the form of publications, keynote and software innovation and development, which is recognised and celebrated company-wide via various communication channels.

CDP is an independent innovation partner who has completed over 1,000 product development assignments for businesses around the world. Members of their team are named inventors on many hundreds of patents owned by their customers. The company are based in two of the world's leading centres for science and technology. Their European office is in Cambridge, a city with an 800-year history in science and creative thinking. Their USA office is in Silicon Valley, probably the world's most successful innovation hub. CDP are happy for anyone in the business to hold up the company values as a mirror to any decisions the business makes and to then hold CDP to this account. Staff do this at the annual strategy day forum. This year the company is making several changes to the way they operate in response to this challenge from the staff, for example in their working conditions, structure and training investment.

CDP offer many employee rewards, including spot prizes for recognition of effort for individuals or a team. They are also known to give family tickets to Legoland and evening meal vouchers for two. CDP are keen to ensure employees associate their working environment with enjoyment, leading to events such as the whole company curry evenings and pirate themed barbecues.