The company offer ‘supply chain & quality employee of the month' voted for by staff, and annual company wide awards which recognise achievement and performance. They celebrate success in a company newsletter and noticeboards and give ‘thank yous' from team members to thank colleagues who have gone the extra mile. All these factors increase engagement in addition to the contractual and monetary benefits like salary increase, discounts and bonuses.

A bursary is offered to employees who would like to participate in team sports activities (e.g. football teams). This bursary is also used to support and encourage charitable events such as breast cancer walks. In addition to this, they offer subsidised fruit and soup to employees in order to encourage healthy eating and the money raised goes to charity.

The development and implementation of a core skills programme, integral to the development of Managers for the future of the company. An outside company is used to give their Management Team regular external residential training to focus their Management Abilities and enhance Team Performance.

They are committed to developing the career of every team member within the Company, and are continuously seeking new ways in which they can support individuals with their chosen career path. An example of this would be the recent award for The Microsoft National Apprentice of the Year Award, whereby one of their apprentices was awarded ‘runner up' out c.7,000 applicants directly employed and trained by Microsoft Partners and Customers. In conjunction with the Company Wide PDP scheme, they have found that recruiting and training apprentices is not only beneficial to the Company, but it also improves the lives of young people.

Office space at the company is open plan to encourage collaboration among staff. Welcome drinks are held for all new starters with the team following their '3 Questions' done by all new employees to every single staff member as an icebreaker exercise. The company holds a ‘waffle Wednesday' each week for internal knowledge sharing. Digital Ps is an agency wide twice a year all-day event for knowledge sharing and learning as an entire company. Digital EDGEucation is the annual conference for clients which the team present to showcase their knowledge & best practice while networking.

Office space at the company is open plan to encourage collaboration among staff. Welcome drinks are held for all new starters with the team following their '3 Questions' done by all new employees to every single staff member as an icebreaker exercise. The company holds a ‘waffle Wednesday' each week for internal knowledge sharing. Digital Ps is an agency wide twice a year all-day event for knowledge sharing and learning as an entire company. Digital EDGEucation is the annual conference for clients which the team present to showcase their knowledge & best practice while networking.

The company host events throughout the year to encourage teamwork like work shadowing, activities run during values week, mentoring, internal newsletters, charity volunteering. Fun Central is the company's sports & social committee organising activities such as quiz nights, barbecues and fundraising events such as an abseil which raised over £2,000.

The company volunteers in the community and raises money for their charity, St Peter & St James Hospice via events and activities. They work with local colleges for work experience and support The Girls' Network which is a local charity supporting girls from low socio-economic backgrounds. They also financially support community events.

Zurich recognises its employees are best placed to identify and rectify issues within the business and have in place a range of processes to allow their concerns to be heard and dealt with. One of the key innovations is the introduction of the 3Cs – Concern, Cause and Countermeasure. This allows colleagues to raise any issues they have, with for example their working practices or working environment and if they can, suggest solutions. Each issue is held on a central database which tracks their progress and highlights any trends affecting areas of the business. Once an issue is raised it is discussed in weekly meetings and the colleague raising the issue is then empowered to implement the solution. If this is not possible it may be passed to a manager or further up for a solution. Zurich also places great emphasis on the results of the Best Companies survey. The effectiveness of these changes are then monitored through feedback and mini surveys. In addition, some departments have set up Quality Circles to facilitate the changes highlighted by the employee survey on a more micro level. The Circle is made up of managers and employee representatives and solutions are communicated back and monitored by Circle.

Payroll Giving to Zurich Community Trust is on a pound for pound basis with no upper limit. Office based or individual fundraising by employees for the Zurich Community Trust is matched 100% with no upper limit. Team fundraising for nominated external charities is matched 50% and capped at £10,000 per event. Individual fundraising for nominated charities is matched 50% and capped at £500 per event. Children of staff fundraising is pound for pound and capped at £50. National charity days such as Red Nose Day or Children in Need are also matched 50% with no cap.

YHA hold a People Forum every quarter, which enables employees across all levels of the organisation to offer input, feedback and ideas. They also hold monthly Team Briefs in each region and Managers in all regions have the opportunity to feedback on business initiatives. There are monthly Directorate Meetings held at National Office for all employees within the Directorate to attend and actively participate in. In hostels, there are daily 'huddles' where the Hostel Manager communicates relevant information to Team Members and asks for ideas.

YHA have held numerous team building events within their hostels and national office to underpin the values of the organisation and celebrate the achievements of the last year. These include an organisation wide awards ceremony, a national office Summer BBQ and individual team building days for their teams and departments.

Mark Brown, Managing Director, hosts quarterly improvement meetings with the objective of meeting the challenges consultants face on a day-to-day basis. Each representative canvases their colleagues for challenges and suggestions which are communicated at the meeting. Action points and minutes are distributed with timelines for suggestions that can be implemented. The quarterly Marketing forums allow consultants to feed back ideas they have about that aspect of the business. They also have a suggestions box. All suggestions are taken seriously and many of them have been implemented as a result.

Mark Brown, Managing Director, hosts quarterly improvement meetings with the objective of meeting the challenges consultants face on a day-to-day basis. Each representative canvases their colleagues for challenges and suggestions which are communicated at the meeting. Action points and minutes are distributed with timelines for suggestions that can be implemented. The quarterly Marketing forums allow consultants to feed back ideas they have about that aspect of the business. They also have a suggestions box. All suggestions are taken seriously and many of them have been implemented as a result.

Both founders, Jonathan and Nick, are completely accessible and operate an open door policy for all employees. Having been there at the start, they are both fiercely protective of the company's culture and ethos, and insist that their standards remain as high as day one and as they grow. Jonathan and Nick are often spotted walking round the office chatting to the various teams about how they are doing, both in and out of work. Staff are actively encouraged to share ideas about the company and many of these ideas have shaped the way they work today. From day one at the company, employees get an induction talk from Jonathan and he imparts the company's culture and values on everyone, engaging new hires in the organisation. Jonathan also holds monthly round ups to keep everyone in touch with how the business is doing, so everyone feels that are in touch with the company's performance, not just management. He is also on-hand to celebrate the On Your Side winners – making them feel extra special for getting the attention of the CEO. Finally, both Jonathan and Nick always attend company parties and events, where they chat to everyone and make any newcomers feel welcome. At the company's recent tenth birthday party, they both made a short speech highlighting the best, worst and funniest moments of the last ten years which further drew employees into the World First family.

World First are dedicated to giving something back to the community, and have an energetic workforce that always enjoys getting behind their initiatives. The company's ten-strong Corporate Social Responsibility team is always proactive in looking for ways in which they can help in the community, but any member of staff who has any ideas about organisations they can help, is always encouraged to come forward and let the company know how. For over a year, World First has teamed up with the London based homeless charity We Are Trinity. They have been involved in events like sleep outs in the streets and helping serve Christmas dinner to those that We Are Trinity helps. Also last Christmas, they delivered stockings of useful things to those that had just come off the streets and needed to kit out their new home with essentials. At Easter, some of their staff member donned their bunny ears and went to the Demelza Hospice For Children, and gave out Easter eggs to the children and their families.

We Are Social share the UK and Global vision with the whole agency and have given real understanding of what the key changes were going to be to staff to ensure they achieve this. The company ensure that the global senior management team physically meet twice a year at summits to ensure they all have an opinion and are part of the vision/strategy/how to execute it all.

We Are Social's have an annual Winter Conference and ski trip. All EU offices head to Austria for 3 days, paid for by the agency. The company has quarterly social events; Miami Vice yacht party, who wants to be a WAS-illionaire quiz night (for charity) and an annual Lovebox festival afternoon. The whole agency is provided with festival tickets and refreshments. They have a Christmas party which has a 1920's theme, with make-up artists, hairdressers, casino, agency wide secret santa, awards ceremonies, a photobooth & breakfast the following morning.

The senior management team have a strong work ethic and feel that transparency is key. Everyone at WE has a voice and the senior management team allow and encourage people to be heard. The new daily hot desking initiative also means that the senior management team sit with people at all levels within the business and are available to answer questions and share best practice. The SAM get involved in office fun and encourage others and join in themselves on MaD. The SAM regularly lead training sessions within the business and share their knowledge to the agency as a whole in our all hands meetings.

The senior management team have a strong work ethic and feel that transparency is key. Everyone at WE has a voice and the senior management team allow and encourage people to be heard. The new daily hot desking initiative also means that the senior management team sit with people at all levels within the business and are available to answer questions and share best practice. The SAM get involved in office fun and encourage others and join in themselves on MaD. The SAM regularly lead training sessions within the business and share their knowledge to the agency as a whole in our all hands meetings.