What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

On payday each month, all offices stop work (provided no urgent work for clients is left unactioned) at 4.30pm to have drinks in the office as a thank you and ‘wind down' to the month. The drinks are provided by the company and are usually held in the office, however in the summer we often arrange to take drinks to the park to play softball or some other team activity. Malcolm Hollis also have a quarterly lunch in each office, paid for by the company and give staff their birthday off work, in addition to their allocated annual leave entitlement.

Malcolm Hollis want all of their employees to be confident and comfortable and to raise, ask a question or voice a concern. Malcolm Hollis understand that speaking up can be daunting for some, which is the reason they have an initiative called ‘AskJohn', a confidential system allowing them to anonymously pose your questions by email. The responses to these are published to all staff with the identity of the person asking the question remaining anonymous. Their open plan seating arrangements with senior members of staff seated alongside more junior members also naturally promotes ideas and feedback as do regular team and manager meetings across departments.

Lucion's Managing Director, Patrick Morton delivers a directors message in each newsletter. Every month Patrick will focus on a different sector and discuss the progress within this sector. He also makes reference to the company values and praises employees on their abilities to act in accordance with these. Regional Manager calls and Commercial calls take place weekly, with Patrick attending both. This enables smooth communication between all departments and ensures that employees are aware of what we are working towards as an organisation. These minutes are all saved onto Google drive, which all employees can access and make comments on. In all our offices throughout the UK there is a strategy board which shows how the company aim to progress from 2015 to 2018. For those working on site this company strategy is available on the Google drive. This strategy has been rolled out and been widely communicated, with Patrick discussing the company strategy in the monthly newsletters and highlighting key points which will help us to reach our goal in 2018. This strategy comes directly from board of directors at Lucion and helps employees to understand the plan of action and where the company has the potential to achieve.

At present, the majority of Lucion Environmental Ltd's workforce is made up as trainees. The company train these employees who have no industry qualifications and knowledge to become fully qualified asbestos surveyors/analysts. For example, in order to service a recent contract awarded by Circle Group, they opened an additional office in Cambridgeshire and recruited six new staff members. Four of these recruits were previously unskilled trainees, who have gone through Lucion's Learning and Development Programme to become fully qualified asbestos surveyor/analysts. The qualifications they hold are national, industry standard, and are the basis of providing long term, sustainable local careers for their new employees and therefore supporting their commitment to social sustainability. Everyone at Lucion, from trainee office admin to senior site surveyor, has a Personal Development Programme which must be updated on a regular basis. This is monitored by Lucion Environmental Ltd's dedicated Learning and Development team. They also encourage employees to take responsibility for their own continuous personal development. There are ways in which they are able to plan their personal development, which takes place via many types of learning experiences. These can be formal, by attending an organised training event or workshop, studying for a formal qualification or being taught to acquire a new skill by a manager or a colleague. Furthermore, employees are encouraged to agree future goals with their Manager in order to keep themselves updated and progress into higher roles within the company.

London Square has implemented the Cycle to Work scheme and has also organised corporate membership rates at nearby Hillingdon Sports Club, to help promote a healthy lifestyle to their staff. London Square has table tennis in the garden, which staff can enjoy during breaks throughout the day, giving them a chance to unwind, catch up with colleagues or even help brainstorm new ideas over a different kind of meeting table.

Each department within London Square has a weekly team meeting in which all members of staff are encouraged to feedback their ideas and suggestions. The divisional director is then given the opportunity to present these ideas to other departments for feedback at the weekly management team. Each department also has a blackboard where they can chalk up jokes, thoughts and anecdotes, with a quote from the divisional director, giving them the opportunity to share these on a daily basis with the rest of their team. Every day, the team, including the Chief Executive, eat together if they are in the office at Wagamama-style tables in the dining room or play table tennis together outside, giving staff the opportunity to discuss their ideas with other members of the company. The open plan office has a relaxed open door policy so staff can approach any member of the company when they need to, including directors in their offices, to share ideas or seek counsel.

Their most recent team event was the summer quarterly company meeting, in which they presented the Livity business plan to the whole business. They did this outdoors in the local park, and added in some fun stuff like rounders and a quiz featuring everyone in the business, so they could all find out more about one another (such as guessing who was a childhood opera singer and who has danced with Pharrell Williams). Previously they went for lunch at The Clink restaurant at Brixton prison a restaurant onsite where prisoners gain experience in a real working environment and have a higher chance of sustainable employment post-release. Following this and a company meeting they took the team out to a local venue for a themed night out. They generally have at least two out of four of their events in a local venue to contribute to the local economy. The ‘Livity Talks' team have invited many inspiring people to the office to round off the week with a Friday afternoon talk, designed to inform and inspire. The most recent one was by Rob Burnet from Kenya based Well Told Story, a social enterprise that combines the power of good stories with strategy, creativity, deep analysis and hard science, to design and produce communications that spur positive social changes that can be proved and measured. A really aspirational talk for the teams who are working on projects with similar goals.

Their most recent team event was the summer quarterly company meeting, in which they presented the Livity business plan to the whole business. They did this outdoors in the local park, and added in some fun stuff like rounders and a quiz featuring everyone in the business, so they could all find out more about one another (such as guessing who was a childhood opera singer and who has danced with Pharrell Williams). Previously they went for lunch at The Clink restaurant at Brixton prison a restaurant onsite where prisoners gain experience in a real working environment and have a higher chance of sustainable employment post-release. Following this and a company meeting they took the team out to a local venue for a themed night out. They generally have at least two out of four of their events in a local venue to contribute to the local economy. The ‘Livity Talks' team have invited many inspiring people to the office to round off the week with a Friday afternoon talk, designed to inform and inspire. The most recent one was by Rob Burnet from Kenya based Well Told Story, a social enterprise that combines the power of good stories with strategy, creativity, deep analysis and hard science, to design and produce communications that spur positive social changes that can be proved and measured. A really aspirational talk for the teams who are working on projects with similar goals.

There are a number of formal processes that take place at Liverpool Hope University, from team meetings to full departmental or Faculty forums. At these meetings, staff are encouraged to participate and make their views known. In addition, they have a corporate JCNC (Joint Consultation and Negotiation Committee) with their recognised trade unions that meet each term. At these meetings, the unions have the opportunity, on behalf of their members, to put forward any issues, ideas or comments and these are given full consideration by management. All these formal forums are minuted.

As part of their Liverpool Hope University's volunteering initiatives, staff and students host "Contact the Elderly" tea parties each summer.

An example of how Limelight support employee development was demonstrated with Alice. Alice was working as a co-ordinator in the CRM team and in the middle of 2013 she expressed an interest to develop her technology skills and asked that if there was an opportunity to work in the Technology Department, could she be considered. Following conversations between Department Heads it was decided that Alice should be given the opportunity, as she demonstrated passion, commitment and a desire for excellence and was transferred to that department at a co-ordination level. Whilst working in that team it was soon recognised that Alice had an aptitude for UX Designing and therefore, an opportunity was created to allow Alice to become a UX designer. She was put on a 5 day intense UX designing training course, which resulted in her achieving 88% in her final exams. Supporting staff who have a desire to develop in other areas is a key part of their talent management strategy and they will openly support and encourage employees who wish to develop their skills in other areas of the business. This was also seen with Rachel, now a Project Manager in their experience team who had expressed her desire to develop her live event management skills whilst working in the Marketing team. As a result she attended a CIPD course that introduced her to management and helped her to develop the skills she would require to manage a team.

An example of how Limelight support employee development was demonstrated with Alice. Alice was working as a co-ordinator in the CRM team and in the middle of 2013 she expressed an interest to develop her technology skills and asked that if there was an opportunity to work in the Technology Department, could she be considered. Following conversations between Department Heads it was decided that Alice should be given the opportunity, as she demonstrated passion, commitment and a desire for excellence and was transferred to that department at a co-ordination level. Whilst working in that team it was soon recognised that Alice had an aptitude for UX Designing and therefore, an opportunity was created to allow Alice to become a UX designer. She was put on a 5 day intense UX designing training course, which resulted in her achieving 88% in her final exams. Supporting staff who have a desire to develop in other areas is a key part of their talent management strategy and they will openly support and encourage employees who wish to develop their skills in other areas of the business. This was also seen with Rachel, now a Project Manager in their experience team who had expressed her desire to develop her live event management skills whilst working in the Marketing team. As a result she attended a CIPD course that introduced her to management and helped her to develop the skills she would require to manage a team.

Life Fitness Maintains a healthy and safe work environment for employees including the Fit for life project which is combating the growing epidemic of limited activity in the workplace, encouraging movement within the walls of Life Fitness. The Fit For Life project will be the catalyst for a cultural shift in their office, creating stronger and healthier employees, and in turn, making Life Fitness a stronger and healthier company. Keeping health and well-being records about staff, e.g. who is off sick, when and for how long for line managers to review regularly to identify problems and then take action to solve them. Encouraging their employees to live healthy lives by organising events with sports and exercise and offering healthy food in kitchen.

The working environment at Life fitness is pleasant for all employees; it's a comfortable and enjoyable space, physically and mentally, where employees feel welcome and supported by their peers. Along with being open to learning new things, they also embrace change and adapt to new demands which not only keeps the company relevant, but also presents exciting challenges for employees that can make work less routine and even boring. Life Fitness provides a very effective performance management process whereby all employees have a six-monthly and annual review with their line manager. Exceptional work is constantly rewarded though this process and motivates employees to succeed. As part of their mission for best people and culture they have a strong focus on learning and development. Ensuring all employees have the opportunity to develop and be open to learning new things. Life Fitness arrange fun and engaging activities throughout the year to encourage team participation and growth.

Last year, the company paid for each employee to have a cash plan with BUPA, this gives each individual a pot of money to which they can claim against in areas such as dentistry, physiotherapy and prescriptions. This benefit also included up to 4 children under the age of 21, each with their own pot. This has now been extended to spouses. Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd have also worked closely with Hampton Knight last year in terms of occupational health; putting together a matrix showing critical areas that should be assessed on a regular basis.

Last year, the company paid for each employee to have a cash plan with BUPA, this gives each individual a pot of money to which they can claim against in areas such as dentistry, physiotherapy and prescriptions. This benefit also included up to 4 children under the age of 21, each with their own pot. This has now been extended to spouses. Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd have also worked closely with Hampton Knight last year in terms of occupational health; putting together a matrix showing critical areas that should be assessed on a regular basis.

Together with their neighbours on Timbermill Way, Liberty Wines cover the cost of keeping the road clear, well-lit and all the local vegetation trimmed and neat to discourage fly tipping and vandalism.

Liberty Wines have an open plan office and open door policy to ensure all staff are able to speak freely with senior managers and people are aware of what is happening throughout the business. The company have weekly team meetings that are attended by all senior management where appropriate - this is led by the Managing Director to ensure feedback and issues are communicated between the teams and with customers. Everyone at Liberty is passionate about premium wine and supporting the vineyards where the wine comes from - the senior management encourage the team to share views on recent trips to producers as well as their customers. Staff will often see senior managers and their teams bringing in produce to be shared and enjoyed, such as fine cheeses and olives. This encourages everyone to be interested in the venues where their wine is served and gain an understanding about the regions where the company import wine from.

Installation of the water machines, The Colour run event and health and fitness Occupation Health are all part of wellbeing in Leven Energy Services Limited.

In Leven Energy Services Limited they have Suggestion boxes and the Employee of the month Employee Forum. They also have Dress down Fridays.