What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

DCH's first staff conference saw all their staff from Devon and Cornwall come together to celebrate their successes, embed their values, understand their aims and contribute to a variety of workshops. Launched by their group management team on a selection of percussion instruments, including a step ladder, drumming everyone into the auditorium, it was apparent from the start that this was a different sort of event reflecting the growth, ambition and aspiration of DCH. Their key note speaker, John Bird, founder of the Big Issue, struck a chord with many, talking about the importance of each person's contribution to an organisaiton and, of course, reflecting the social ethos of their own company.

DCH recognises that the engagement and commitment of skilled and enthusiastic staff is absolutely essential to the achievement of their group strategy and the long term success of DCH. They want to be a high achieving employer that people aspire to join, enjoy working for and where all staff feel recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Their reward strategy outlines the core principles that will shape their pay structures, benefits, terms and conditions together with associated initiatives. To attract skilled and enthusiastic staff and to motivate everyone in the group in supporting achievement of group strategy, its aims and values.

The H&S Forum meets every 6 weeks and includes wellbeing as part of its agenda. Actions that have arisen are improving the environment so that employees can make the most of their break times, sharing information on mental health and well-being as well as promoting seasonal flu jabs which are funded by the organisation.

The Annual employee conference recognises employees for their exceptional contribution either to Cross Keys customers or colleagues. This year's conference celebrated their achievements over the past ten years (in celebration of their tenth birthday), and included special 'ten year awards' and a celebration in the afternoon. The conference was also be followed by the staff Christmas Party.

Regular, and whenever necessary, daily meetings are held to discuss objectives, progress and obstacles. Underlying these meetings is the philosophy that it is the managers' responsibility to ensure that their reports have the best possible environment in which to succeed. Notice is also taken of individual working preferences and where possible these are accommodated. The current flexi time policy was a direct result of manager feedback and a desire by the company to accommodate individual preferences. The company ethos is to demonstrate how they are all working towards a common goal and how all the various working parts are vital to the overall success. Informally, managers are encouraged to hold informal sessions with their team or individuals within the team if they see any signs of under performance or symptoms of any kind of problems and difficulty.

All staff have flexi-time options and just have to be in the office for the core hours of 10.00am-4.00pm. Other than that, staff can come in as early as 8.00 am and stay as late as 6.00pm as long as they do a minimum of their allocated 7 hours per day for their 35 hour week. Any type of medical appointment i.e. doctor/dentist are also no issue with staff just asked to make up the time missed into their work schedule.

All staff are offered the option to enrole in PruHealth Vitality scheme as part of their private medical offering. This scheme provides members with a wealth of wellbeing information and offers them rewards in the form of cash bonuses and discounts for engaging with it. It also subsidises gym membership and schemes such as 'Fitbug' to promote exercise. They have also turned a currently empty office space into a relaxation lounge where people can rest, read, eat, or just chat. It is basically made up of bean bags and second hand couches that people can nest into for times when they need to be out of a strict office environment.

All staff are offered the option to enrole in PruHealth Vitality scheme as part of their private medical offering. This scheme provides members with a wealth of wellbeing information and offers them rewards in the form of cash bonuses and discounts for engaging with it. It also subsidises gym membership and schemes such as 'Fitbug' to promote exercise. They have also turned a currently empty office space into a relaxation lounge where people can rest, read, eat, or just chat. It is basically made up of bean bags and second hand couches that people can nest into for times when they need to be out of a strict office environment.

Employee development is supported through Paid Training Active Succession planning, in which 4 out of the 5 general managers and 3 out of the 5 head chefs have worked their way up through the ranks to these senior positions. They have a rising stars initiative where they develop and train individuals at junior level who have been identified as having the potential to grow into their future managers. 60 senior and middle managers have completed an inventory of individual work attitude, motivation and behaviours assessment and as a result have then had a personal development and training plan specifically designed around their needs and skills shortages. From this process around 20 management development training modules have been drafted and are open to all people within the organisation, regardless of their position level. There are training journeys in place for each and every position level in the business with a series of core and developmental training modules which act as steps on the ladder to their next promotion. Such courses are run with sufficient frequency on the monthly training calendar so that everyone can take their journey at their own pace.

The organisation seeks to reward employees through supplier and cultural trips on an annual basis where approximately 160 staff have the opportunity to go on overseas trips to places such as France, The Netherlands, Italy and The Czech Republic, to meet at first hand the producers of the food and beverages that they prepare and serve in the restaurants and hotels. This is a highly prized reward and has numerous benefits: it feeds the passion their staff have for their product; it increases their product knowledge; it engages them in a relaxed and social environment with other staff from other locations that they perhaps do not know; allows them to learn from each other; fosters friendships and team spirit and it creates opportunities for career advancement, exposing staff to possibilities in the other restaurants. The trips are highly prized. Staff are nominated by their Heads of Department and decisions on the final nominations are made by the Directors.

Cooper Lomaz hold events in Dublin, Marbella and Prague. They hold a summer social BBQ and have an annual awards ceremony. They have the Cooper Lomaz football Cup and the Cooper Lomaz bake off.

As an organisation Cooper Lomaz have a very strong commitment to employee development, encouraging promotion from within, taking risks to give staff new opportunities and investing generously in training. One of the clearest indicators of this is the Sales Director and the Operations Director both of whom started their careers at Cooper Lomaz as consultants and have achieved director status in as little as 5 years. Progression is based on merit rather than length of service and Cooper Lomaz are constantly reviewing their staff to see what their next step could be. Last year 38% of their staff received a promotion. Much of this progression is achieved by mentoring and whenever they identify a rising star they will buddy them up with someone already in the role they are aspiring to. Cooper Lomaz run internal training on sales, recruitment and management topics, and have training boards in both offices where anyone can sign up to offer training on a given topic or to request it. They also invest in external training, and currently have staff working through their CIPD and taking Prince 2.

Colchester Borough Homes continues to support employee development and employ a Training Co-ordinator. A wide suite of training is available to Staff and the most highly praised and valued is that of the annual ILM L3 First Line Management programme for new and aspiring managers. Managers carry out annual appraisals identifying objectives and L & D required to meet objectives and regular 1-2-1s to measure performance and identify ongoing training or support required and to listen to employees aspirations. CBH have a strong commitment to Health and Safety training and the multiskilling of their trades workforce where practical and possible. Professional qualifications supported by Colchester Borough Homes include University degree courses, AAT, CIPD, CIH, IOSH, NEBOSH, M.A, ILM3, ILM 5 and ILM7.

Colchester Borough Homes continues to support employee development and employ a Training Co-ordinator. A wide suite of training is available to Staff and the most highly praised and valued is that of the annual ILM L3 First Line Management programme for new and aspiring managers. Managers carry out annual appraisals identifying objectives and L & D required to meet objectives and regular 1-2-1s to measure performance and identify ongoing training or support required and to listen to employees aspirations. CBH have a strong commitment to Health and Safety training and the multiskilling of their trades workforce where practical and possible. Professional qualifications supported by Colchester Borough Homes include University degree courses, AAT, CIPD, CIH, IOSH, NEBOSH, M.A, ILM3, ILM 5 and ILM7.

The senior management team, as part of a workshop to decide how best to lead in a systems thinking organisation, have agreed a set of principles which guide their daily practices and which they share with staff , for example they are put up on the wall and used to inform behaviours in meetings and in the work. These principles show how the values inform their work in practice and that senior managers, are clear about organisational purpose and communicate it, understand the work and remove obstacles so that they can deliver the right service at the right time, make decisions based on knowledge and learning, trust that people doing the work are the best placed to understand it, ask the right questions, are comfortable with challenge, manage the external environment pro actively, act based on measures and data, will not judge or blame and when things go wrong see this as an opportunity to learn, will not assume what matters to people, facilitate change by giving people direct experience, and opportunities to try things out and innovate Senior managers appreciate that frontline staff understand our customers best and therefore managers are there to help, support, mentor or deal with external issues. Managers trust and empower staff to get on with the job. Because they are still learning and growing the principles are also open to discussion, challenge and re-working if they think this helps us live our values better.

Coastal Housing Group believe the key to wellbeing is to ensure employees enjoy their jobs, playing to their strengths, ensuring they are in the right job, provided with the resources and training to undertake their work, involved in projects across the organisation. Lean/systems thinking means that employees are empowered to make decisions, providing a rapid customer response without bureaucracy. When problems are encountered or employees need additional support, they have an absolute right to delegate upwards. Coastal Housing Group demonstrate that people come first by ensuring everyone feels valued and recognises that their efforts are appreciated by offering a positive, upbeat and comfortable working environment where the sound of lively chatter and laughter is welcomed, as they believe that informality induces creative, innovative behaviours. They offer competitive terms, including flexible working for all employees, encourage a healthy work life balance through discouragement of long-hours and actively promote a lively social life to help build good relationships. They provide a range of support: funding of various practitioners offering differing ways to combat stress; free annual health checks, BP, cholesterol and weight clinics; free yoga classes, rugby and football; a range of workplace fitness classes and complementary therapies; corporate gym membership, cycle-to-work scheme; car club, parking facilities; salary sacrifice initiatives and staff retail discounts. They enable staff to ‘give something back' through work – there's no better feeling than knowing you have just changed a life by giving them the home they want - as well as a whole range of fund raising events chosen by staff.

Coast and Country's biggest community initiative this year has been the development of a Furniture Reuse Scheme, Refurnish Emporium. The scheme, at the site of former sale rooms, was opened in September 2014 by Wayne Hemingway. Offering low cost household goods that were otherwise destined for the tip, it reduces the amount of furniture going to landfill but also offers training and volunteering opportunities. Over the few weeks of being open, 15 volunteers have joined, taking up a range of training courses including first aid, manual handling, paint effects and furniture restoration. The volunteers get involved in the repair, cleaning and sometimes the up cycling of the goods to get them ready for resale as well as the helping in the shop. Their community hub, Westfield Farm, continues to support people in the community. People come along to get involved in their local community and volunteer in the garden for example, growing food for the local food bank. Some come along to get themselves on-line with help from Coast and Country's digital champions and their free IT suite. Most come along to get help with finding training and employment opportunities through their work hubs, a range of free training courses and their employment initiative, Forging Futures. Forging Futures, part of the Journey into Work Project, offers up to 70 guided learning hours in self-enterprise skills and then offers a number of paid work placements to the participants to help them gain valuable experience that they can use on their CV.

Coast and Country Housing know that their people are their most important asset. They have a Health and Wellbeing focus group that meets regularly. The group have set up bike maintenance workshops so employees can have their bikes maintained and fixed. Also, the wellbeing group also suggested the Laughter yoga and Hypnosis sessions. These have been a great success with high take up. They support employees who take part in races, sporting activities. It is also acknowledged that focus on health and wellbeing and excellent customer service go hand in hand. People who are engaged in work are able to offer better quality service. As such Coast and Country Housing offer excellent opportunities for flexible working as they realise they are a huge help to people with children and those responsible for caring for others. They recently paved the way with their partnership with Carers Together. They are a local charity who seek to support Carers. Since this partnership was formed they have been able to support two Carers to remain in employment with Coast and Country Housing. This includes a year long sabbatical so the employee can take time to care for their disabled child. By supporting employees with a holistic approach Coast and Country Housing find the overall wellbeing of their workforce is vastly improved.

Clearswift seeks to reward employees for their efforts in a variety of ways. They offer total rewards statements, pay reviews, pay benchmarking and recognition awards. One example which has been particularly effective is Hero of the Month and Presidents Club.

Clearswift seeks to reward employees for their efforts in a variety of ways. They offer total rewards statements, pay reviews, pay benchmarking and recognition awards. One example which has been particularly effective is Hero of the Month and Presidents Club.