What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

The company are approached on a regular basis for overnight stays/dinners for charity raffles & prizes. In the past year, they have supported Hospitality Action, Action Against Hunger, Amar International, NSPCC, CRY, Great Ormond Street, UNICEF and The Royal Hospital for Neuro Disability to name but a few. They currently work with Street Smart at Grain Store and Sleep Smart at the hotels; they add £1 to every bill, which in turns goes to the charity. A MacMillan Cancer Day was held at one of the local hairdressers, they happily provided the cocktails and team to serve them! They work with Global Generation at Grain Store and purchase all the edible plants & herbs through them, this is in line with their sustainability policy.

The company are proud to say that over 60% of Senior Management team have been with them for 5 years or more! This is a true testament to belief in retaining and developing their own talent. Manager development begins with an introduction to the company; within their first year they are invited to join one of the bi-annual events with One Thought, this builds on the culture of making sure people are happy and helping them maintain a great state of mind. If they create an environment in which our team feel content and free of stress, everything else slots into place; that's when the magic happens! They hold quarterly succession planning meetings with the General Managers to ensure continuous identification where they need to develop Managers. They offer a library of training courses both internally and externally. In the last year, they have run Master classes to help build the skills and confidence ofmanagers, these have included a Fourth Master Class, Show me the Tools, A day in the Life (2 days training programme).

Earlier this year, every team in the company took part in a team building training session called 'Building Incredible Relationships'. The sessions explored team members preferred styles through Myers Briggs profiles in order to help them better understand themselves, others in their teams and how they worked. With a view to helping people better manage their stress levels and maintain optimal personal performance, the sessions also explored which behaviours, situations or interactions might provoke positive and negative responses in people. It encouraged people to share these with colleagues and helped them identify strategies for maintaining positive personal performance. The sessions also introduced a common language for people to use to help colleagues understand and support colleagues when they responded negatively to behaviour, situations or interactions with others.

The company's 'Bank of Me' programme started to rollout this year. This one day session is a highly experiential day and is all about reflecting on how much they invest in themselves and what they do that actually withdraws from the ‘Bank of Me'. UKTV has made an ongoing commitment to investing in people as part of their drive towards ensuring they have exceptional people in a brilliant workplace succeeding through incredible relationships. During the session, the facilitators explore how colleagues are managing their emotions when they might find themselves in challenging situations, and this builds on previous Building Incredible Relationships sessions. It's a unique opportunity to be part of a day that draws on the experiences of high performers, including those of Steve Williams OBE and twice Olympic Gold medallist. Colleagues explore what it takes to sustain high performance in business and ensure they're investing enough in themselves on a day-to-day basis to perform at their best and manage their own positive wellbeing. The holistic approach of the day involves elements which help support wellbeing, including tips on diet, sleep and physical exercise.

Monthly and quarterly financial awards to specific employees for specific achievements (best deal, greatest case study, highest rated deal, best team work etc.).

Monthly and quarterly financial awards to specific employees for specific achievements (best deal, greatest case study, highest rated deal, best team work etc.).

All of the staff at Town and Country Housing Group are familiar with the vision and values of the group, there are posters all around the building and all new starters receive a copy of the vision and values in their induction pack. The values are replicated on mouse mats, calendars and even sweets! that are given to new starters. The values were central to the development of competencies for managers and staff and to the development of the customer experience programme. Living the values is a key theme and links into the company's customer service goals; responding to queries promptly, respecting others, being responsive and taking ownership. The values are also held on the website and are part of the golden thread that links what Town and Country Housing Group do in terms of service delivery to their values. Pride is the first value and the one most people identify with. The Buddies, who mentor new staff, go through the values with them at a face to face meeting. New managers have a delivery plan that stems from the company vision and values and is monitored through the leadership group on a monthly basis. The company's internal training programmes will also be aligned more closely to their values from next year.

All of the staff at Town and Country Housing Group are familiar with the vision and values of the group, there are posters all around the building and all new starters receive a copy of the vision and values in their induction pack. The values are replicated on mouse mats, calendars and even sweets! that are given to new starters. The values were central to the development of competencies for managers and staff and to the development of the customer experience programme. Living the values is a key theme and links into the company's customer service goals; responding to queries promptly, respecting others, being responsive and taking ownership. The values are also held on the website and are part of the golden thread that links what Town and Country Housing Group do in terms of service delivery to their values. Pride is the first value and the one most people identify with. The Buddies, who mentor new staff, go through the values with them at a face to face meeting. New managers have a delivery plan that stems from the company vision and values and is monitored through the leadership group on a monthly basis. The company's internal training programmes will also be aligned more closely to their values from next year.

Senior management are required to adhere to TotalMobile's core 'People Values'. These are 6 behaviours that were identified as being core to the success of the business. The company recognise that while skills are important to the organisation, so too are the behaviours and attitudes that their people exhibit, in every position. The company refer to these as the ‘HOW' in terms of how they achieve their objectives, not just ‘WHAT' they achieve. The 6 values include how: They need smart people with the right attitude, they are all committed to continuous learning and improvement, and they support their people through the performance culture. Reward people for excellence and are socially responsible To reinforce the importance of the values, the Top Team of senior managers took part in a video which promoted the values and explained their importance. Senior managers and staff are measured against adherence to these through the performance review process. Where there are not being exhibited, then an action plan is agreed to address the shortcoming. In addition to this all managers must exhibit separate 'management and leadership values which include: I support staff and manage their performance, I make decisions effectively, I empower staff to come up with solutions to problems, I behave with integrity and treat people fairly and consistently, I treat people with respect and with empathy, I am approachable. Again, these are reviewed during performance reviews and remedial action taken where necessary.

Senior management are required to adhere to TotalMobile's core 'People Values'. These are 6 behaviours that were identified as being core to the success of the business. The company recognise that while skills are important to the organisation, so too are the behaviours and attitudes that their people exhibit, in every position. The company refer to these as the ‘HOW' in terms of how they achieve their objectives, not just ‘WHAT' they achieve. The 6 values include how: They need smart people with the right attitude, they are all committed to continuous learning and improvement, and they support their people through the performance culture. Reward people for excellence and are socially responsible To reinforce the importance of the values, the Top Team of senior managers took part in a video which promoted the values and explained their importance. Senior managers and staff are measured against adherence to these through the performance review process. Where there are not being exhibited, then an action plan is agreed to address the shortcoming. In addition to this all managers must exhibit separate 'management and leadership values which include: I support staff and manage their performance, I make decisions effectively, I empower staff to come up with solutions to problems, I behave with integrity and treat people fairly and consistently, I treat people with respect and with empathy, I am approachable. Again, these are reviewed during performance reviews and remedial action taken where necessary.

In addition to a discretionary annual staff bonus and an additional bonus once an engineer completes their Chartership, the Directors rewarded staff with a unique event to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. All UK staff were taken to the Wyboston Lakes Hotel in Bedfordshire on Thursday and the celebration started with a gala dinner on that night. The next day there were a number of team building exercises followed by a barbeque before the staff headed home for the weekend. This inevitably adds to the high level of engagement within Tony Gee and, in turn, a lower than average staff turnover rate. In a feedback survey after the event, the company received many positive comments including the example below: “Just a little note to thank you for a brilliant get together for the 40th Anniversary celebration. As well as having a lot of fun, I especially enjoyed meeting up with colleagues I deal with on a daily basis, it really has enhanced the working relationship. It's good to be a part of Tony Gee.”

In addition to a discretionary annual staff bonus and an additional bonus once an engineer completes their Chartership, the Directors rewarded staff with a unique event to celebrate their 40th Anniversary. All UK staff were taken to the Wyboston Lakes Hotel in Bedfordshire on Thursday and the celebration started with a gala dinner on that night. The next day there were a number of team building exercises followed by a barbeque before the staff headed home for the weekend. This inevitably adds to the high level of engagement within Tony Gee and, in turn, a lower than average staff turnover rate. In a feedback survey after the event, the company received many positive comments including the example below: “Just a little note to thank you for a brilliant get together for the 40th Anniversary celebration. As well as having a lot of fun, I especially enjoyed meeting up with colleagues I deal with on a daily basis, it really has enhanced the working relationship. It's good to be a part of Tony Gee.”

The company have moved to open plan, cross departmental project teams, Friday office bar, flexible working hours.

The company offer site massages for staff and more flexible working options including more home working when needed.

Communication is top of the agenda at Thomas, and they have invested a lot of time and effort in ensuring it is of the highest quality. The monthly forums from the CEO and a guest speaker ensure that every employee is fully aware of what is going on across the business, and offers the opportunity for them to respond to the message. The company encourages cross-functional working as regularly as possible at Thomas. Projects usually involve employees from a variety of departments, ensuring that they are working as one team towards a collective goal, and creating an environment of collaboration. Groups such as the product lifecycle group, a committee focusing on the development of new products, bring representatives from across the business together to encourage innovation and dynamism. The company also hold monthly social events, which recently have included an evening at Windsor race course, paintballing, bowling, and a quiz night. These socials are chosen by employees, and help the company to further foster the team environment.

The company values were created through an exercise at the company-wide conference at the beginning of 2014. The company elicited from staff personal values that were common to the majority of employees and used those as a basis for re-writing their company values. Through inclusion and clear communication, our staff are now able to live the Thomas values through their work. These values formed the basis of the company awards categories, and have been introduced to all performance review templates. The company recently held a 2 day strategy meeting to plan their strategy moving forwards. They have significantly increased their ambitions for the future, changing their target from £50 million to £250 million.

The company work with their Senior Associates each year who are the talent for the future and each year they decide upon and run a project within the firm which is linked to strategic objectives. It is a great way to develop their leadership and project skills whilst delivering on important employee engagement initiatives. For example in 2013/2014 they ran a campaign called your voice where they held lunch time sessions with the staff without management present and gathered feedback and ideas for improving recognition. These results were presented to the leadership team and many of those ideas have been implemented in 2014/2015.

The company work with their Senior Associates each year who are the talent for the future and each year they decide upon and run a project within the firm which is linked to strategic objectives. It is a great way to develop their leadership and project skills whilst delivering on important employee engagement initiatives. For example in 2013/2014 they ran a campaign called your voice where they held lunch time sessions with the staff without management present and gathered feedback and ideas for improving recognition. These results were presented to the leadership team and many of those ideas have been implemented in 2014/2015.

The company run regular "off sites" for teams in the business. For example, once a quarter the Internal Comms team organises an IT team offsite. This will involve all 100+ members of staff from IT. The event usually takes place in the purpose built auditorium and in the staff restaurant and takes a full afternoon. Typically it includes: Information share - members of various team or project groups will present short updates on their project and share learnings. The company survey staff before the event and ask them to put forward topics that they would like to know more about. They also have non IT speakers, such as the MDs of the business units, who will come and talk about their plans for their business. Ideas generation - the teams will split into groups to brainstorm a particular topic and will then present back Team building - usually some sort of game-based team. The company deliberately engineer the teams to bring together people who don't work together day-to-day. Social, each event ends with beer / wine and pizza being served in the staff restaurant. At the end there is a follow up with another survey to assess the event.

For many years Think Money Group has been a Platinum payroll giving provider. However, this year the company decided to move away from Charities Aid Foundation to a new scheme administrator, Give All. There are three main advantages: Give All doesn't charge a fee so all donations make it to the charities; Give All operates entirely online and staff can administer their own accounts and, finally, Give All distributes money to charity with 48 hours rather than weeks. To make the move the company have to get staff to sign up to Give All. The company automatically set up their accounts with Give All - all they needed to do is to login, confirm their charities and confirm their donation amounts. 82% of staff did just that - matching the number that donated on the old system. In fact the company asked staff to increase their donations and many did - so they now give more than ever each month. After many years of supporting Seashell Trust in Manchester staff voted for a new local charity this year - Cash For Kids. Through Cash For Kids the company can support deprived children across Greater Manchester.