What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

At Global Reach Partners they ensure all of their staff receive a comprehensive induction programme, to give them all the skills to be successful in their role as well as giving them the training and exposure to understand what the organisation does and how departments work together to produce the end result via their job swap timetable. Their induction programme is made up of a variety of line manager training, departmental job swaps, education on company policies and procedures and a session about the companies mission, vision, core values and culture. Global Reach Partners' sales team are currently going through an internal, in-depth training programme which has been hosted by a number of senior sales managers and team members. So far they have covered off communication filters, buying signals and will cover products and security of funds for the remainder of the year. They encourage their sales team to continue their own development by using the resources and experience around the business by planning training such as call coaching and meeting preparation.

Global Reach Partners reward their credible employees in more ways than one and focus on these awards not only throughout the course of the year but month by month. Every Monday afternoon the management team gather to discuss and vote for a member of the admin team who stood out above all others for the previous working week. Over the course of the month, the votes are counted to establish the winner for a very competitive place of ‘Admin of The Month'. This is then announced at their monthly “Round Up' where the companies successes for the month prior are discussed and the top performers from sales, dealing and admin are presented with congratulations and a trophy where their name will be engraved and will be placed on their desk for the remainder of the month. They receive a £400 bonus and an invitation to an exclusive ‘over achievers' breakfast with their CEO at a top London venue to kick start their working day.

GLH Ltd have two major community investment partners, who they work closely with to develop and run initiatives. At the Archer Academy they provide them with more strategic level support and assist in embedding sustainability into their three year Development Plan. They are also co-creating and delivering a series of thematic learning sessions based on sustainability and stakeholder engagement with this academy. This involved their lead for sustainability sharing her experience of addressing sustainability. Within the last three months they have fully funded the new library and ran an employee engagement campaign to secure hundreds of donated books. GLH are now in the process of establishing a Literature Buddies Scheme. At Totteridge Academy GLH support the on-going development of the John Scott Nature Reserve. This challenging project has seen students, teachers and their employees convert an untamed and unused wilderness area of the school grounds into a thriving eco-system and outdoor learning space, that is accessible to around 3000 students locally. Activities include undertaking a thorough litter pick, mapping and sampling the biodiversity across the seasons, clearing lots of brambles, creating habitats, a pond area and small vegetable growing site, as well as installing benches and tables for learning. Alongside this they run workshops to build students understanding of biodiversity and eco-systems. This project is part of the wider Eco-Mission sustainability education programme, this enables young people to secure the knowledge, experience and skills to become leaders in the emerging sustainable economy, as well as providing employee volunteering opportunities.

GLH are more than happy to make any necessary adjustment to employees' working hours, conditions and arrangements, including installing a BT line, providing a laptop and network access to support employees with working from home. Again their Second Eleven meetings are important component of this work – employees are invited twice a year to give feedback directly to the Directors. They provide subsidised memberships to sports clubs and have company wide tennis and football teams.

Gentoo's Group Chief Executive Peter is a very conceptual thinker and uses this to challenge and inspire those people around him. He regularly asks both his direct team and those in the wider organisation to re-imagine how they work or the services that they offer. He is very good at spotting talent and taking people out of their day job to work on projects or activities. Peter was central to the development of Genie, their product that is neither a mortgage or rental but a brand new way of owning a home without the need for a mortgage or deposit. This has resulted in 86 people to date choosing this as their way of owning their own home in Sunderland. This product was developed by Peter locking a team away for 6 weeks to come up with a solution to the current housing crisis. He has recently been asked to be an ambassador for HRH the Prince of Wales as a reflection of the work that Gentoo have done as a ‘responsible business' and he is focused on making an impact in the next two years that he will have this role.

Gentoo believe in celebrating all of their successes as well as the hard work and dedication of their staff. Each year their Chief Executive hosts their annual Grafta's black tie dinner. This year's event saw 190 of their staff attend and some receive awards from one of nine categories which include the Phoenix Award, the Bright Spark award, the Facilitator Award, the award for Collaboration, an award for Blue Sky Thinking, the Acrobat award, outstanding leadership and the One to Watch award for their up and coming stars. The awards have been designed to inspire the right behaviour in their employees. At the event they also celebrate the academic achievements of colleagues and the long service of colleagues. The Housing sector has faced a very challenging year and like many organisations both within their sector and across the UK in general, Gentoo has had a tough year but they've survived. In fact they've grown, and continue to make a huge difference to the lives of the people who live in their properties. In order to do this Gentoo's staff have given all they've got to deliver their challenging goals. In recognition for this hard work the Groups Chief Executive has given all staff an extra days holiday which is not only to recognise their hard work and commitment but also to improve their art of living by enabling them to spend more time away form work with their family and friends.

The company look at reducing their electricity consumption wherever possible, with measures such as the ‘Switch-Off' campaign, which promotes employees to switch off all non-essential equipment outside office hours e.g. printers, lighting and IT equipment. They encourage staff to switch their laptops to the eco or power saver mode and do quarterly audits to monitor this. Their IT team has installed the relevant technology which enables them to provide data on energy consumption across the various equipment within the office, from laptops to servers. This provides greater clarity on current consumption levels and better use of equipment to reduce consumption where possible. They look at business travel and try to encourage staff to use low carbon methods when travelling to and from work and client meetings. This is measured by an annual survey of staff travel patterns and recording the business travel to each client meeting. The company also have a policy to encourage staff to cycle to work, so if a new bike is required, employees can purchase one through our cycle to work scheme. All of our paper is 100% recycled and they measure staffs printing consumption on a monthly basis. They recycle as much of their waste as possible and this includes confidential paper waste which is measured and recycled, and goes towards reducing their carbon footprint. The company have an annual carbon footprint survey and offset their equivalent carbon emissions via a donation to Pure the Clean Planet Trust.

The company holds an annual ‘Company Away Day' where all employees attend an offsite fun and exciting team building day, followed by an evening meal and disco. This year they hired out a hotel in greater London for the event. Employees, in their groups spent the day completing team activities ranging from cooking challenges alongside more informative wine tasting sessions……the end result was the whole Company contributed to producing their evening meal which made the food taste even better than usual! Due to their recent growth, this day was a great success and provided employees with a chance to meet and interact with people outside their departments. The results of this have transcended and are visible in the office, with their kitchen and dining space (known as ‘the hub') buzzing with cross departmental groups lunching and taking breaks away from their desks. The away day reinforced their office culture of networking across departments and taking breaks and lunch away from desks.

GB Group continue to focus on core markets through Business Unit structure. They link all GB messages and propositions together around the common theme of identity, use innovation, quality and excellence in everything they do to deliver unique value proposition. They deliver all of GB Group's principle products online in every area of the business, recruit, retain and develop top quality people who instinctively deliver innovation, quality and an excellent experience to every stakeholder. GB Group deploy the necessary resources across their working environment to ensure they can meet all the above objectives.

GB Group continue to focus on core markets through Business Unit structure. They link all GB messages and propositions together around the common theme of identity, use innovation, quality and excellence in everything they do to deliver unique value proposition. They deliver all of GB Group's principle products online in every area of the business, recruit, retain and develop top quality people who instinctively deliver innovation, quality and an excellent experience to every stakeholder. GB Group deploy the necessary resources across their working environment to ensure they can meet all the above objectives.

The company offer complimentary healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks and as previously mentioned offer access to exercise. They are looking into a new idea of giving each employee a pair of slippers to show that we care about them from head to toe

The company offer complimentary healthy breakfasts, lunches and snacks and as previously mentioned offer access to exercise. They are looking into a new idea of giving each employee a pair of slippers to show that we care about them from head to toe

Christine Allen, the CEO is a truly inspiring leader who takes the time to get to know all her staff team on a personal level. It is true to say that staff know she genuinely cares and has an interest in what is happening in their families. Chris operates with an open door policy and staff know they can access her should they need to. Chris is very keen for all staff to develop their learning and encourages staff to develop their talents and expand their knowledge. Staff have confidence in the leadership skills of Chris and acknowledge that she steers the 'Forum Ship' allowing them to give their best everyday. In May 2013 Chris received a British Empire Medal in recognition of her tireless work across a wide range of communities.

Christine Allen, the CEO is a truly inspiring leader who takes the time to get to know all her staff team on a personal level. It is true to say that staff know she genuinely cares and has an interest in what is happening in their families. Chris operates with an open door policy and staff know they can access her should they need to. Chris is very keen for all staff to develop their learning and encourages staff to develop their talents and expand their knowledge. Staff have confidence in the leadership skills of Chris and acknowledge that she steers the 'Forum Ship' allowing them to give their best everyday. In May 2013 Chris received a British Empire Medal in recognition of her tireless work across a wide range of communities.

The most high-profile initiative for fostering their values is their annual team–building and strategy Expo: In 2014, all 235 staff from across Flamingo's 7 offices came together for their global Expo, themed around Intersections (in Istanbul, the City of Intersections). This is by far the most unique and innovative way to reward and recognize employees and the most anticipated event in the Flamingo company calendar. It brings together their global team to share knowledge and achievements, foster relationships between offices and strengthen their distinctive culture. It strongly reflects their company values of connecting culturally providing a common sense of purpose, community and inspiration. Flamingo's key to success in reward and recognition also lies in their focus on the career paths of team members and the creation of a sense of community. Flamingo continue to achieve staff retention rates of 90%+. Employees value the reward of learning including time off to attend inspiring internal talks, overseas learning exchanges as well as budgets to pursue language and learning goals which tie into commercial aims. Flamingo's secondments programme include overseas exchanges as well as to client organisations, marketing communication agencies and charities. A recent innovation has been a quarterly Promotions Board which brings the senior team together to ensure that promotions are timely, fair and well considered . There is a new quarterly Salary Board which ensures consistent and equitable decision making. In September 2014, they launched Total Reward Statements which have had very positive feedback across the whole company.

Staff development takes many forms at Flamingo: They believe learning and development should be broad, encompassing, and tailored to the needs of each individual. They deliberately use the language of ‘learning' rather than ‘training', to communicate that staff development should be ongoing, self-directed, and participatory. The core of their business lies in understanding people, culture and brands, and their learning programme encourages staff to develop their understanding of these pillars in the broadest way possible. So, naturally, Flamingo senior staff run regular sessions on core skills internally, and they encourage staff to attend external sessions, but they also encourage a wide range of activities which, though they may not look like ‘training' as such, are hugely beneficial for staff development. Flamingo encourage staff secondments to both their own and their clients offices, all over the world. They encourage staff to write for their blogs, and present internally on subjects of interest to them in informal, lunchtime sessions. Flamingo encourage staff to learn languages, to read about the industry, to mentor other staff, internally and externally, to attend conferences, and museum exhibitions. Crucially, they acknowledge these as great learning experiences, ensuring their staff feel they have both individual freedom, and a wide range of resources to help their development in a way that is right for them. Flamingo share all of their learning resources on their intranet (which also provides a space for discussion and commentary), and discuss staff development at each review, ensuring open and continuous discussion and guidance

Firefish have an annual company team-building event, known as Fireflung. This year's event took place on Osea Island, a former wartime base just off the coast of Essex, which is connected to land by a causeway that disappears as the tide comes in. In the build-up they kept the location secret and created a huge amount of intrigue by giving the event a wartime / 1940's theme. On arrival they spent the morning firstly delivering an update on their progress since the last Fireflung, and then results from the staff survey. Firefish then worked together as a group on a couple of key issues for the business - maintaining growth in their client list and creating more time for people to focus on their primary tasks. This process included splitting out into smaller groups defined by different levels of the business, ensuring that ideas from more junior members of the team were given as much 'airtime' as those of more senior colleagues. Following lunch, they then ran a team-building game where 8 teams competed against each other to defuse bombs hidden all over the island! This involved much running around, pedaling down country lanes on bone-shaker bikes, a few gin and tonics and an almighty bundle to grab the last 'bomb'. The evening was then a 1940's themed dinner and party. Firefish all revelled under the stars and by campfires till the small hours and then those with most stamina kept going until dawn in one of the various cottages.

Firefish' value set is completely driven by the people they are, they are not nice ideas that make them sound like an interesting and caring place to work, they are how they meet the world every day. So, to some degree, everything that they do shows their commitment to the values, however they do recognize the importance of making this commitment explicit... Specifically, they used the values as one component for the leadership team's annual reviews. 360 feedback was gathered from across the business, and part of the feedback captured each degree to which each board member lived each of the values. So, for each value the individuals were given a score on a five-point scale ranging from "they never demonstrate this value" to "they always demonstrate this value", and then examples were given to illustrate the score. This provided informative feedback on where each member of the leadership team needed to increase their efforts to be seen as living a value, and also highlighted who could be seen as a 'standard-bearer' in each value. In addition, they refer back to values in meetings of all descriptions - from company-wide to individual groups - and use them as a guide or moral-compass when making decisions. If managers with in the business are unsure about how to progress with certain issues, they often ask "what do their values suggest you should do".

Working with Participate projects FinancialForce.com have built sensory gardens for blind children, converted elderly residents of a local villages gardens to a more manageable space, built disabled paths and walkways from Leeds and Liverpool canal to a local mill.

Working with Participate projects FinancialForce.com have built sensory gardens for blind children, converted elderly residents of a local villages gardens to a more manageable space, built disabled paths and walkways from Leeds and Liverpool canal to a local mill.