They realise the importance of recognition is essential to an engaged and motivated workforce. People want to be respected and valued for their contribution. Everyone feels the need to be recognised as an individual or member of a group and to feel a sense of achievement for work well done or even for a valiant effort. Everyone wants a ‘pat on the back' to make them feel good. Great performance at Eckoh is recognised both formally and informally. The senior management team will give a ‘pat on the back' to anyone who has done a good job and will email the company to let them know their appreciation

They offer employees to attend free massage therapy sessions and Reflexology. These are held on a monthly basis and employees are able to attend these at the cost to the company.

Draycott Nursing & Care have staff appreciation rewards and like to reward their staff in a number of ways. The company appreciates each member of staff as individuals. A recent example of this was when the company paid for flights for a long standing colleague to go home when family member passed away.

N&C believe in the 4 C's – be caring, be compassionate, be competent and be committed. This is portrayed daily by the leadership team through truly believing in the 4 C's and being examples to all staff in the organisation. Every member of staff is seen as an individual and is supported in every way possible to bring out the best in themselves.

DMC Canotec are part of an initiative called Croydon Commitment, which assists Croydon businesses to support their local community. Croydon Commitment acts as a link between local businesses, charities and voluntary groups. DMC Canotec also actively raises money for Croydon Commitment as the local charity is at the forefront of business community engagement. The company's Training and Development Manager regularly offers training and support workshops for those seeking employment in the local area. Last Christmas, a team of DMC Canotec employees raised funds for Croydon Commitment, they took part in the Croydon 100 challenge, they were given £100 and had to convert this into as much as they could. The team decided to hold a raffle, with the star prize being a signed Francis Rossi electric guitar. They also held a Christmas stall in the local shopping centre, and sold handmade filled Christmas baskets to the passing public. Many of the items for the gift baskets were donated by staff. The DMC team won this competition as they raised over £1300. The company also have their own brand of toner called Planit Green, for each toner sold; 25p goes to the Starlight Children's Foundation, a charity that grants wishes to seriously ill and terminally ill children.

The last Friday of every month at DMC Canotec is dress down and this promotes a relaxed working environment. They have a no tie policy which the men the organisation love! The company have a local gym that offers their staff members a corporate discount if they wish to join. DMC Canotec offers their staff corporate prices on AA car membership and also offer staff Costco membership through the company. DMC Canotec has an open door policy and anyone can speak to any senior manager or Managing Director at any time. The Director's Forum helps staff with any issues they may have and DMC Canotec feel this works very well for the company. DMC Canotec's MD walks around their office daily making sure everyone is ok and will even offer to make staff a cuppa!

Digital Gurus provide industry leading external training for all team managers and directors through Elite Leaders. This great programme is a peer-led mentoring group that not only challenges their managers in their way of thinking, but also provides them the opportunity to step away from their desk and focus on what is most important. They get to listen to and interact with some great industry leaders on a bi-monthly basis. With ongoing pastoral care, they have seen individuals evolve their leadership skills. In January 2015, the company were lucky enough to secure Marcus Childs, who is - in their opinion - one of the best motivational speakers on the UK circuit. He hosted a ‘mindfulness' session with their consultants, clients, and candidates, helping them to face challenges with positivity and to remember that they have the choice in how they let things affect them.

Digital Gurus provide industry leading external training for all team managers and directors through Elite Leaders. This great programme is a peer-led mentoring group that not only challenges their managers in their way of thinking, but also provides them the opportunity to step away from their desk and focus on what is most important. They get to listen to and interact with some great industry leaders on a bi-monthly basis. With ongoing pastoral care, they have seen individuals evolve their leadership skills. In January 2015, the company were lucky enough to secure Marcus Childs, who is - in their opinion - one of the best motivational speakers on the UK circuit. He hosted a ‘mindfulness' session with their consultants, clients, and candidates, helping them to face challenges with positivity and to remember that they have the choice in how they let things affect them.

It's well known throughout the company that if a person has recently contributed to the business or is excelling in their role, Helen and Damian reward their employees for all their recent efforts by inviting them along as guests to support and represent Danbro at awards and community events outside of work. This is the kind of reward which Danbro regularly reward their employees with, as it is a widely received initiative over monetary rewards across the business; it makes their employees feel appreciated and that their efforts are not overlooked. Some of their employees were invited to the Red Rose Awards in early 2015 after contributing to the Employer of the Year application form. To present their case and engage with all of their employees they sent a companywide email asking ‘why you think they should win.' Those who contributed were invited as guests with Helen and Damian to the award ceremony. The table were also lucky enough to collect the award and give a small speech on behalf of Helen, Damian and Danbro. Other events include the BIBA's awards (an evening awards ceremony held at the Blackpool Tower Ballroom), St Georges Day event on Lytham Green (where all those who gave up their Christmas holidays to help with the big office move were invited to an afternoon of food, drinks and dancing) and Lytham Festival Tickets, including VIP/meet and greet with headlining acts. Other non-monetary rewards include office treats and breakfast/meal vouchers in their onsite canteen/coffee shop.

Workplace Listening We have a devoted team of Workplace Listeners that have been trained to listen to other employees. A Workplace Listener is someone that employees can go to for a confidential chat to talk about something which may be bothering them. They offer a safe haven within the workplace when there is no one else that they can talk to. Employees can expect from a Workplace Listener respect, empathy, acceptance, openness, transparency and honesty. There is a dedicated Workplace Listening Room which ensures that there is always a private, confidential and safe environment for Workplace Listening Sessions to take place.

'Introduction to Management' programme provides support to new managers on becoming more comfortable in their role as managers. Recently, the Trust invested in a year long development programme for its senior managers, to facilitate better collaborative working. Peer coaching, action learning and 360 degree feedback were integral parts of the programme, which is based on NLP (Neuro- Linguistic) techniques.

'Introduction to Management' programme provides support to new managers on becoming more comfortable in their role as managers. Recently, the Trust invested in a year long development programme for its senior managers, to facilitate better collaborative working. Peer coaching, action learning and 360 degree feedback were integral parts of the programme, which is based on NLP (Neuro- Linguistic) techniques.

One initiative the company have found to be particularly effective in enhancing the wellbeing of their people has been our Up For Fit team. They provide fresh fruit, organise sporting activities and social events. A combination of both sporting and social elements is the annual beach games which they have taken part in for the last three years. It provides people with an opportunity to exercise, socialise and develop relationships with their colleagues in a fun yet competitive atmosphere.

One initiative the company have found to be particularly effective in enhancing the wellbeing of their people has been our Up For Fit team. They provide fresh fruit, organise sporting activities and social events. A combination of both sporting and social elements is the annual beach games which they have taken part in for the last three years. It provides people with an opportunity to exercise, socialise and develop relationships with their colleagues in a fun yet competitive atmosphere.

Annually, each year Line Manager at Compassion UK can submit nominations for team members who have contributed in an outstanding way. The formal rewards are given on an employee receiving outstanding on their appraisal. The financial gift for last year was a £250 cash bonus. The company also allow informal rewards up to the amount of £25, which is in the form of a voucher.

Annually, each year Line Manager at Compassion UK can submit nominations for team members who have contributed in an outstanding way. The formal rewards are given on an employee receiving outstanding on their appraisal. The financial gift for last year was a £250 cash bonus. The company also allow informal rewards up to the amount of £25, which is in the form of a voucher.

The organisation supports its Senior Managers through external coaching and mentoring schemes along with developing their own coaching skills through bespoke coaching programme. All managers are sponsored to achieve level 5 or above management qualifications. Access to peer support and external coaching if required.

Having a Performance Learning, Supervision system which enables staff to explore every 6 weeks in detail the development support each individual requires within the organisation. All managers have received bespoke coaching training to ensure they work in a way which supports staff development.

Many of the company's employees work on customer sites and it is therefore vital that they give them sufficient support to help make them successful and satisfied. The company does this in two ways. Number one is technology. Team members need to have access to relevant resources, collaborate with team members no matter where they are in the world and have up to date information. Along with Skype for Business, Yammer and an Intranet they also use OneNote from Microsoft. This gives every member of the project access to all the working notes, and as it is hosted in the cloud it is always available and up to date. Every project is broken up into sections such as must does, escalations, technical plans, communications, meetings and every one of the project inputs all their information. Projects can last for multiple months and involve many Columbus consultants, plus there are up to 30 projects on the go at any one time. So this collaborative tool has proved to be a great success. We also use a number of mobile apps to help the team, for example an expenses app helps the whole interaction with finance. The second key ingredient is people. The consultants in particular may not see much of their team mates even when they are working on the same project. So it is essential that the company bring the teams together on a regular basis to help build the bonds that form amazing teams. This is done on a departmental level and companywide level.

Each of the Columbus Senior Management team has worked at Columbus for more than 10 years. The Managing Director, 17 years, the Service Director 15 years and the Consultancy and Sales Director have both been employed by Columbus for over 10 years. They are all passionate about Columbus as a company, the employees and the customers. Throughout that time as the company has grown there has been a common goal around driving continuous improvement into all aspects of the company. The latest goal sums this up, “Employees and Customers for Life”. The management team continuously seek feedback from employees and customers, through surveys, roundtables, face to face meetings, suggestion boxes and brainstorming, and they act on the results. All of the team are extremely approachable and their door is always open. A key initiative for the team at present is a mentoring programme for other managers so that they can gain greater insight in to business and to help them with their career aspirations.