What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

Shaylor volunteers support Sutton Coldfield Cancer Support Group, in putting up their Christmas decorations, in time for their Christmas Fayre on 6th December every year. The company also buy the Christmas tree. They also took part in a Christmas Tree recycling project with St Mary's Hospice Moseley. This entails collecting trees from various' residences in the south of the city and putting them on a truck and taking them to a nominated recycling centre. St Mary's Hospice gets £10 for every tree collected.

Shaylor Group's recognition and reward strategy is based around the consistent management approach of praise and thanks for good work and performance. Recognition is seen as a key motivator, hence the focus on praise and encouraging “what can we do better” rather than stifle the proactive and innovative ideas and contribution of individuals and teams. This approach was confirmed during their Investors in People assessment. Recognition is given both verbally and through personal emails and letters from the CEO and Directors. Wider recognition is given in celebrations posted on the intranet, e.g. thank you letters from clients, passing a successful audit, achieving 100% customer satisfaction, attaining a high score in the Considerate Constructors scheme, entry to the national site manager of the year award etc. Examples of press releases, client letters and cards of thanks are often shared to highlight individuals' successes.

A long service award was introduced when employees attained 10 years service and for every 5 year milestone reached after that. This was in the form of additional 5 days holiday which could be taken anytime during the anniversary year,

A long service award was introduced when employees attained 10 years service and for every 5 year milestone reached after that. This was in the form of additional 5 days holiday which could be taken anytime during the anniversary year,

The Chief Executive at Salford Royal and the senior team have clearly articulated the vision for the organisation – to be the safest Trust in the NHS. This aim has remained constant for many years and all efforts are directed to this simple aim. He has engendered a culture of ‘quality improvement' by ensuring that people have the time and the tools to continuously improve the service they deliver and there has been a real drive to ensure that front line teams are empowered to make changes.

Salford Royal operate an annual Staff Awards scheme which last year saw more than 200 individuals or teams nominated for being compassionate, supportive and dedicated to providing excellent patient care. More than 600 staff attended their most recent event, which saw awards for Collaboration, Administrative worker, Doctor, and Team of the Year. Staff nominated people within the award categories and they then vote for their preferred winner when the shortlist is announced. The Patient's Star Award gives patients and relatives the opportunity to nominate a team or individual who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional care, support or treatment. The shortlist is then put to the public vote in the local paper.

Their on site restaurant partners, Europa, have worked hard to improve the healthiness of their menus across the UK, adding healthy eating options, energy profile listings and food for those with special dietary requirements. They now have more salad bar options in the restaurants, and in London, they regularly run promotions such as introducing Superfoods and souptember, a campaign to eat healthy foods. In their commercial business, they provide their employees with free, fresh fruit.

Given their size and geographic spread, it's hard to bring everyone together regularly, but they do run quarterly get together's across most of the sites shortly after financial results. These buzz sessions bring people together to find out more about the results and share the stories behind them. It's an opportunity for people to meet senior leaders, ask questions, bring their suggestions and build excitement for the future. They bring together people from different departments or sites into a room together to celebrate success together, these are people who wouldn't normally meet. On the social side, they give their leaders the power and a budget to run events locally to them. For many, this will be a Christmas social event or another kind of celebration. They havealso got a great resource in the Every One Fund, an online portal that allows people to organise volunteering events, get colleagues involved, or find out what's happening locally, as well as share their stories afterwards.

Staff parties, team/departmental nights out, sports and social club and annual staff awards.

Staff parties, team/departmental nights out, sports and social club and annual staff awards.

A key driver for Rockpool is employee wellbeing and they seek feedback from the teams. A company wide flexitime policy has enabled employees to balance their work and home life. Rockpool also value their Fridays at Rockpool -they have Cake Friday, a company tradition and Friday Beer o'clock which is an informal get together of beer, wine and food where they chat through the week or have brainstorming sessions around new client ideas etc.

Rockpool Digital's annual off site this year celebrated 10 years of Rockpool. The whole company headed down to the South Coast to do a day of treasure hunts on speed boats speeding across to the Isle of Wight. They then headed back to the spa hotel for a 6 course taster menu and annual awards such as Least likely to be a Jerk, Most likely to think Big.

In October 2013 Robin Partington & Partners introduced an employee benefit trust element into their limited company structure. Any member of staff who is with them on a permanent appointment and after one year's employment is entitled to call themselves a Partner of the firm. Once a Partner, they are eligible to receive dividends, if the Company makes profit in excess of that needed to be retained for future growth and investment. Their dividend structure is based on a points system whereby members 'earn' more points (thus a larger share of the pot) for increased salary and length of service.

To assist in giving structure to their team members development, Robin Partington & Partners implemented a career guideline which has six levels within their Company and each level has nine grades, split equally between ‘Arrivals', ‘Duty Free' and ‘Departures' . Each level has a Job Description that explains what is expected from that role. To explain the method to their madness…Arrivals is for those who have just moved into a new level and are getting used to the respective role and responsibilities, but are not yet proficient or adept and are busy finding their feet. Duty Free is for those who are comfortable in that role and are busy banking experience and expertise with Departures being for those who are ready to move up to the next level and are busy acquiring the necessary launching skills for that move. Robin Partington & Partners believe that the levels and job descriptions they have in place provide a clear and transparent structure for the practice, encouraging a strong sense of ownership of projects and the Company as a whole. They take professional development very seriously and hold performance appraisals twice annually to provide an opportunity for all their staff to review their performance from the previous year, and consider opportunities to develop and grow in the year to come, including any help, support or training that the Company can provide. Robin Partington & Partners have designed the process to help their team to think about their role using a combination of self assessment and peer feedback to encourage real, meaningful and helpful conversations….it is always good to find the time to talk. They have found that regular reality checks work for all concerned, the individual and the Company, helping to ensure that skills are recognised and individuals are valued at an appropriate level within the Company, using the job descriptions as a guide. They do their best to avoid any potential mismatch between expectation and reward. Their performance appraisals are intended to be simple, engaging and painless, but do require time and careful thought to get the most out of it. A combination of self-assessment and peer feedback encourages real, meaningful and helpful conversations, so that you know where you stand, what is expected and what to do next in order to progress.

RGL are committed to helping employees to achieve a balance between work and personal life. As part of RGL's health insurance scheme, all employees have access to free cinema tickets and other discounted leisure activities. Flexible working options and generous compassionate leave are also given to employees, when necessary, in order to help with this balance. RGL have an employee assistance programme; all employees are able to access free telephone counselling and information services at any time of day or night. Employees are able to speak to experts in bereavement, stress, depression, bullying, financial problems, relationship problems and other personal or work related concerns. To improve the everyday wellbeing of employees, RGL organise ergonomic workstation assessments to ensure that employees' desks are set up correctly and that their comfort and posture are not compromised in any way. In addition to this, employees can choose to have an on-site acupressure massage every month. This is a massage treatment designed to reduce stress and the build-up of tension in the neck and shoulders. It can also improve motivation and positive thinking. To encourage employees to be active, RGL run a cycle to work scheme and loans for gym memberships.

A twice annual staff presentation is organised to make employees aware of the short and long term vision for RGL. Over food and drinks, Partners update employees on turnover and progress over the past year, important jobs which are being worked on and the direction in which they would like to take the organisation over the next year. These presentations engage employees with the vision of the company and how it can be achieved. Partners demonstrate best practice, and encourage employees to do the same, by attending all firm-wide social and marketing events. They support employees with business development and take employees to client meetings whenever possible. Partners encourage employees to realise their ambitions and support employees in their team who are keen to learn new things. This might involve giving them permission to go to a seminar, to learn a new foreign language or supporting them in securing a place on RGL's Employee Exchange Programme. Partners engage employees by celebrating the success of individuals, as well as the success of the organisation. For example, if a Partner receives positive feedback about an employee from a client, they will circulate it to all Partners, copying the employee into the email, so that they receive the wider recognition deserved.

Proxama allow their employees to learn in all elements of their work, not just formal training but peer knowledge sharing and keeping technical experts in the business who are great at mentoring.

Proxama allow their employees to learn in all elements of their work, not just formal training but peer knowledge sharing and keeping technical experts in the business who are great at mentoring.

All staff at Provide have an annual Performance and Development Review when a personal development plan is agreed and implemented. This applies to all their staff across all pay bands, clinical and non clinical. A 6 monthly review is held to review progress with objectives and personal development plans. A range of internal and external training opportunities are available and an annual learning prospectus is produced for staff. A strategic learning and development group is in place whose main purpose is to ensure that learning & development across Provide supports the safe and effective delivery of health care to all their customers and patients and also supports the vision and values of the organisation. A blended learning approach is in place so that staff can learn and update their training in different ways. E learning is in place and can be used for the majority of essential training updates as well as CPD and clinical updates. Monthly lunch and learn sessions are held, using in house specialists or external speakers for a range of topics and updates.

In the last year the company have focused on building relationships between Senior and Middle Managers. In June they held a very successful event called Appreciating Managers where they facilitated lively debate between peer managers on what they valued and what could be improved to make their working lives better. They were also asked what they would like to be appreciated for and a letter was subsequently sent to the delegates by their own manager thanking them for this. As part of the workshop, teams were given a cake, icing, glitter and other decorations and asked to compete against each other to decorate the best cake before eating it at tea break. This exercise was highly successful in getting managers to work together and getting people talking to colleagues they did not know well.