Pride Powers Performance

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KMT the Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KM&T = Knowledge, Management and Transfer. The Leadership Team are all experienced Consultants who have progressed through the organisation. For this reason, they are respected amongst their peers. Equally they are respected by clients for their commercial awareness and professionalism. They conduct themselves with integrity and lead by example.

The very best example of how the organisation supports employee development is through a full time Talent Co-ordinator. The Talent Co-ordinator is in the process of designing the career staircase and writing the internal training modules to support all Employees. These modules have been written in coordination with their Consultants to ensure they are fit for purpose. The Talent Co-ordinator is currently dedicated to supporting 25% of the UK Team of who are currently on succession plans. The Talent Co-ordinator operates a Buddy System which allows new starters to be ‘buddied' with an experienced employee to provide them with support as needed. This has received positive feedback which is measured through their induction survey as Employees have stated that the buddy system has allowed them to feel at ease. Within the Senior Management Team, there is over 60 years of consultancy experience that is used through internal coaching and mentoring to develop the talent of the future.

All consultants are supported by a Practice Manager who is constant contact with them to ensure that they have everything they need on a practical and personal level to perform their role. This is especially necessary in a remote working environment. As careers with Kloud often incorporate remote working this is often a huge benefit to the wellbeing of employees. Being able to significantly reduce or eliminate commuting time enables our consultants to have more leisure time.

All consultants are supported by a Practice Manager who is constant contact with them to ensure that they have everything they need on a practical and personal level to perform their role. This is especially necessary in a remote working environment. As careers with Kloud often incorporate remote working this is often a huge benefit to the wellbeing of employees. Being able to significantly reduce or eliminate commuting time enables our consultants to have more leisure time.

EAP schemes are available across the firm and include access to online portals where helpful advice is immediately available. Face to face counselling is included, in addition to the 24/7 helpline. Kinetic have annual flu jabs, organising a nurse to come into the office to administer the vaccinations to encourage as many of the team as possible to take advantage of this benefit. Anyone who cannot take advantage of the on site programme has access to a drop in clinic where they can have the jab at their own convenience. Kinetic have gym membership as one of their flexible benefits and encourage staff to use this benefit to encourage well being and exercise in the firm. They also support a charity run every year where around a quarter of the office run in a 5K fun run fully subsidised by the firm called the 'Chartered City Race'. This is a great way of building team spirit, keeping fit while supporting a good cause. They try to arrange wellness weeks annually to raise the team's awareness of what is on offer and how they can benefit.

Kinetic Partners is very good at giving employees the development they desire. People are trusted on projects that stretch them all the time and therefore learn a lot. They are coached/monitored by extremely strong leaders. Kinetic also provide more structured training through their KP Academy which focuses on online training and individual skill sets required to succeed in their industry. Training has included: sales and business development, leadership, excel, word and more industry specific training courses. Kinetic are a great company for knowledge sharing as well and regularly have ‘lunch and learn' sessions to ensure that everyone within the firm has a sound knowledge of their global service offering. Kinetic also hold regular sessions on latest legislation and developments within each service line. Kinetic expect their employees to be proactive in their development and include a PDP in their appraisal process where leaders need to ensure that their teams are stretched by setting objectives that enable both short and medium term personal development goals to be realised. Kinetic's online training portal is accessible to everyone and they encourage the team to spend 2 hours minimum each month on personal development which is linked to the achievement of their objectives as detailed above. Their planned global training matrix will map every level in their organisation and the training required to achieve job success. This will also be a great tool where employees can see how, and in what areas, they need to develop in order to progress in their careers.

The senior management team are directly contactable on a day to day basis by anyone in the organisation. They aim to live by the values which means they value everyone equally and everyone is included. Everyone has a right to express themselves and be respected for who they are and they can influence the way the organisation works. Also each Senior manager has a team who they are nominated to link with in a back to the floor style and celebrate successes or raise issues at senior level.

They update their staff regularly as to changes and improvements which are made as a result of their feedback. Particularly useful is a document created to address the different areas staff wanted to see improvements in over the past few years. They have a Learning Programme called KeySteps. This lays out how someone's development progresses from their date of join. Its starts with Induction, moves through Mandatory training and role related training, leadership development and coaching etc. This is supported by the new Appraisal process, the Personal Development Star.

The Customer Services team raised funds using their crowd-funding product to help re-plant a community garden in local Southwark area, using their 'Make a Difference' days - 3 volunteer days a year.

The Customer Services team raised funds using their crowd-funding product to help re-plant a community garden in local Southwark area, using their 'Make a Difference' days - 3 volunteer days a year.

JMC has a strong culture of ensuring that staff look after their well-being. All staff are offered a health scheme that can be used to fund a range of health related treatments including physiotherapy. JMC also provide a wide range of resources and support for those that wish to take a break from the working day and improve their fitness and/or relax. Their facilities include on-site gym, circuit training sessions at lunch, two table tennis tables, a badminton court, three mountain bikes that can be used for lunchtime rides, pool table and darts board. Anyone taking part in any competitive activities can do so under the “JMC's Team JMC banner”, and receive a range of free support options including funding, a branded weatherproof gazebo, their Team JMC van, branded clothing. Getting people involved in the above has been hugely beneficial for the business and the people involved. From just letting off some steam at lunch, to developing new skills and interests, through to getting to know people within the business that you wouldn't normally meet. JMC have also uncovered some real stars amongst the team that have gone on to achieve some amazing results including one of their engineers Jason Miles, who has won many 24-hour mountain bike races and Alex Lawton who is now Team GB triathlete.pasting

JMC has a strong culture of ensuring that staff look after their well-being. All staff are offered a health scheme that can be used to fund a range of health related treatments including physiotherapy. JMC also provide a wide range of resources and support for those that wish to take a break from the working day and improve their fitness and/or relax. Their facilities include on-site gym, circuit training sessions at lunch, two table tennis tables, a badminton court, three mountain bikes that can be used for lunchtime rides, pool table and darts board. Anyone taking part in any competitive activities can do so under the “JMC's Team JMC banner”, and receive a range of free support options including funding, a branded weatherproof gazebo, their Team JMC van, branded clothing. Getting people involved in the above has been hugely beneficial for the business and the people involved. From just letting off some steam at lunch, to developing new skills and interests, through to getting to know people within the business that you wouldn't normally meet. JMC have also uncovered some real stars amongst the team that have gone on to achieve some amazing results including one of their engineers Jason Miles, who has won many 24-hour mountain bike races and Alex Lawton who is now Team GB triathlete.pasting

The senior management team are committed to acting as advocates for the 7 Jelf Guiding Principles during their day to day activities. They act as role models to show that their clients needs are paramount and that the company's objective to be their Trusted Adviser should drive the behaviour of all their staff. They guide, coach and support their direct reports to ensure that their people are managed well throughout all stages of the employee life cycle. They frequently "walk the floor" in order to understand employees' issues and thoughts about matters which concern them. They demonstrate that they are in touch with current issues and have an "open door" policy allowing staff to approach them too.

Being very proactive in supporting company-wide events, for example the Jelf Sales Conference and Central Services Conferences. The conferences give employees the chance to meet and network with their colleagues, sharing ideas, opinions and best practice.In 2014 these events also gave employees the opportunity to put forward suggestions to improve various practices within the company through a "Dragon's Den" workshop. As a result there is a clear action plan of initiatives sponsored by the Group Executive Board, many of which have already been implemented.

J N Bentley invests over 1% of annual turnover in employee training and development. In 2014 this totalled over £1.4m. As a company they recognise the importance of building and maintaining a happy and skilled workforce to ensure they are able to readily resource schemes with talented people who can deliver works of a high quality. They work to ensure employees realise their potential and support them in their efforts to achieve their goals. They run their own Apprenticeship Scheme for young people entering the industry, working in partnership with Craven College, Skipton. In 2014, they welcomed 7 new apprentices who have been utilising their new training facilities in Shifnal, learning essential site skills. They have their own in-house development schemes for Civil Engineering, Mechanical & Electricial Engineering and Quantity Surveying for employees that want to learn new skills and responsibilities whilst working towards a professional qualification. Support employees through HE and Professional Qualification. 20 employees are currently working towards a variety of qualifications, including HNC in Civil Engineering, BSc in Civil Engineering/Construction Management/Quantity Surveying, BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and MSc in Geotechnical Engineering. They also support employees who are earmarked to take the next step up or who J N Bentley wants to give additional skills to enable them to fulfil their role to the best of their abilities. This is done through courses like Integral Leadership and ensuring succession plans and suitable talent pools are in place.

J N Bentley invests over 1% of annual turnover in employee training and development. In 2014 this totalled over £1.4m. As a company they recognise the importance of building and maintaining a happy and skilled workforce to ensure they are able to readily resource schemes with talented people who can deliver works of a high quality. They work to ensure employees realise their potential and support them in their efforts to achieve their goals. They run their own Apprenticeship Scheme for young people entering the industry, working in partnership with Craven College, Skipton. In 2014, they welcomed 7 new apprentices who have been utilising their new training facilities in Shifnal, learning essential site skills. They have their own in-house development schemes for Civil Engineering, Mechanical & Electricial Engineering and Quantity Surveying for employees that want to learn new skills and responsibilities whilst working towards a professional qualification. Support employees through HE and Professional Qualification. 20 employees are currently working towards a variety of qualifications, including HNC in Civil Engineering, BSc in Civil Engineering/Construction Management/Quantity Surveying, BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering and MSc in Geotechnical Engineering. They also support employees who are earmarked to take the next step up or who J N Bentley wants to give additional skills to enable them to fulfil their role to the best of their abilities. This is done through courses like Integral Leadership and ensuring succession plans and suitable talent pools are in place.

Raving Fans is the most effective and significant process in place for engaging staff in giving and receiving feedback and implementing changes that they would like. The process itself has been changed and adapted based on direct feedback from staff using it to now be a fun, creative, easy and effective feedback and action too. The achievements from Raving Fans are numerous, invaluable and include increased inter-departmental communication, praise and thanks for support, constructive feedback to each other and action taken to improve working practices and processes. Raving Fans has given everyone across the business a voice, the opportunity to listen and to take pro-active action based on feedback from their colleagues, in return to give constructive feedback and praise, creating a win/win for everyone in the company and a much greater sense of team spirit. In addition, there is a bright ideas email address with several managers as recipients. Staff members can email ideas and suggestions at any time, which is reviewed monthly by the senior management team where financial support is required. Where there is no financial approval required managers empower and encourage the ideas and suggestions to be actioned.

Each year ITC hold a staff party at the end of their financial year and as this year they were celebrating their 40th year, they celebrated in style. ITC paid to transport all their staff to a sailing club on the beach and hosted a Caribbean themed beach party with a live steel band, hog roast, surfboard simulator, authentic rum punch, volleyball and limbo dancing. All food and drink were paid for. As a result of the success of this year's sailing party they have, as a company, committed to next year hosting 'dash for a splash' as a thank you to all of their staff which will be held abroad.

IPU enlist the support of a local company to provide a well being service for all employees who wish to access it. This involves a health screen and personalised health report with advice on healthy living.

IPU have recycling in the office. They encourage a paper free zone as much as possible. They use the most cost effective methods of lighting. IPU Group are ISO 14001 Accredited.

The International Tennis Federation's Christmas Party was organised around a fun team building event instead of simply going to a restaurant or bar. They have organised a team event in the style of Masterchef where all staff have to work with people they don't usually work with and there is a competitive edge to it too. Additionally, across the Federation, a number of charity fundraising events have taken place, including entering the Corporate Challenge in July plus various other social events which are open to everyone and included representation from all Federation departments.

The International Tennis Federation's culture encourages a healthy work/life balance with flexibility offered around sickness and recovery periods, working time flexibility if needed and support from managers at all levels around physical activities, particularly taking part in lunchtime sporting activities. A daily lunch allowance is provided to all employees for use at on site restaurant facilities or a sandwich ordering service which encourages healthy eating, with a wide variety of both hot and cold food options plus other healthy options such as fruit available. Sports facilities are available onsite, some free and some subsidised, and include use of tennis courts, gym, swimming pool and fitness classes. Their location also encourages activities as they are a few minutes from Richmond Park. Employee safety and wellbeing is taken extremely seriously and a taxi is provided to transport employees to the nearest mainline station at the end of each working day, which is particularly helpful during the darker winter months. 24-hour security is provided around the office which is reassuring for those working or visiting out of standard office hours, a common occurrence within an international organisation. The International Tennis Federation also offer a free employee assistance prorgamme, full medical checks - at some levels and they have in the past paid separately for private counselling or therapy for team members.

Interchange and Consort Hotel's cultural values were identified by colleagues across their business, through a CEO sponsored project. Their SMT endeavour to ensure that business decisions are congruent with their values and that all colleagues are supported in, and recognised for, displaying behaviours in line with their values. Their main meeting rooms and CEO's office prominently display their values, and these are referred to during discussions. Many business visitors are given an overview of their values along with a set of “values cards” - business cards displaying their values. Every candidate is told about their values in the early stages of their recruitment process, and selection always includes questions related to these values. The company have ongoing values nominations where colleagues can nominate each other for behaviours in line with their values. Nominations are displayed on their Intranet and in their atrium, a prize draw is used to recognise nominees every few months and annual values awards are judged and presented by our SMT.

The company have a 'Celebrating Success' awards evening. There is an annual Christmas party and a lunch time hog roast event. Company wide initiatives are fully supported and it is encouraged that teams have regular team events. Most departments/teams within the last 18 months have had away days which have included army-type assault courses, chocolate making, Belbin team activities including facilitation by a Belbin facilitator, drumming workshop, Haka taught by a Maori warrior. These have taken place off-site away from the office.

The first themed week to be held as part of Shine, was Giving Back Week – a topic specifically identified as an area of importance to employees. Giving Back Week in July was launched by an introductory email to all staff from the CEO, Dean James. It encouraged everyone to get involved and prompted many staff to make full use of both their personal and team community giving days. The contact centre in Oban maintained the gardens at a local parrot sanctuary, the compliance team transformed a community space in Leeds, planting flower beds and litter picking, Derby colleagues spent the day in a local school, passing on CV and interview advice and the Midlands management team cleared pathways, chopped wood and fed the animals at a city farm.

The first themed week to be held as part of Shine, was Giving Back Week – a topic specifically identified as an area of importance to employees. Giving Back Week in July was launched by an introductory email to all staff from the CEO, Dean James. It encouraged everyone to get involved and prompted many staff to make full use of both their personal and team community giving days. The contact centre in Oban maintained the gardens at a local parrot sanctuary, the compliance team transformed a community space in Leeds, planting flower beds and litter picking, Derby colleagues spent the day in a local school, passing on CV and interview advice and the Midlands management team cleared pathways, chopped wood and fed the animals at a city farm.

The Informa Awards recognises the achievements of individuals and teams across the entire Informa Group worldwide. In previous years, this has been held at Claridges, where they stream the award event live to all employees globally via the intranet. This year's awards will be held at the Shard, London's iconic 87-story skyscraper. Key categories are Employee of the Year, Leading Innovation, On Brand, Intercom, Show me the Money, Unsung Hero, Acting with Responsibility, Leading Innovation Excellence, Customer Satisfaction, Leading the Way and Teamwork.

In 2013, Informa became more focused on the issue of mental health in the workplace and all their UK HR directors have now received Mental Health in the Workplace Training. As one in four British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one year, Informa believe this is a valuable focus for them and also becomes a business issue. Flexible working is also supported around the Group and they have had a flexible working policy in place since 2006. Between 2012 and 2013, the proportion of Informa employees working part time increased from 7.5% to 8.6%. In a 2012 survey on flexible working, out of 141 respondents, 112 gave Informa a top rating of creating work/life balance and 84% said they couldn't continue working without the flexible working policy.

Through customer feedback imago realised the customer journey could be enhanced by improving the effectiveness of the processes and relations between their sales and operations functions. In order to address this, they invited the lead from each customer ‘touch point', 14 in total, to a meeting, dinner and overnight stay at Burleigh Court, their four star hotel. One of the main topics for discussion focused on identifying areas for improvement, especially in terms of communication and understanding, between the various teams involved in the customer journey. This company wide team building exercise served to bring all the appropriate people together in a positive, non-confrontational environment and gave them the opportunity to consider issues with their colleagues in the wider team, to air concerns and to discuss imaginative solutions. The event was a huge success. People began to view issues from a different angle and to understand the impact of their role on other teams. In particular, they gained a better understanding of how customers experienced the journey through their organisation. They began to think more as a whole team working together to improve the customer experience, rather than working in isolated units where they didn't always have the opportunity to engage with other teams or understand the impact of their roles on others. Using the outcomes of this team building exercise, this work has been used to remodel the processes and teams to improve the customer experience which will also increase staff engagement and motivation and ultimately company success.

Through customer feedback imago realised the customer journey could be enhanced by improving the effectiveness of the processes and relations between their sales and operations functions. In order to address this, they invited the lead from each customer ‘touch point', 14 in total, to a meeting, dinner and overnight stay at Burleigh Court, their four star hotel. One of the main topics for discussion focused on identifying areas for improvement, especially in terms of communication and understanding, between the various teams involved in the customer journey. This company wide team building exercise served to bring all the appropriate people together in a positive, non-confrontational environment and gave them the opportunity to consider issues with their colleagues in the wider team, to air concerns and to discuss imaginative solutions. The event was a huge success. People began to view issues from a different angle and to understand the impact of their role on other teams. In particular, they gained a better understanding of how customers experienced the journey through their organisation. They began to think more as a whole team working together to improve the customer experience, rather than working in isolated units where they didn't always have the opportunity to engage with other teams or understand the impact of their roles on others. Using the outcomes of this team building exercise, this work has been used to remodel the processes and teams to improve the customer experience which will also increase staff engagement and motivation and ultimately company success.

As one of our core values is to be human, they ensure that the way in which they live the values is done so in a human way too. All new team members attend induction sessions from departments across the agency, allowing them to meet the wider team and get a better understanding as to how the agency runs day-to-day. They run a new starters lunch that also includes a long serving team member, with their CEO and CFO so that new team members can meet the senior team members in a relaxed, yet exciting venue. They get together as a whole agency every quarter to spend time together and hold quarterly company meetings as well as regular team meetings with their direct team. One such event was their Momentum roadshow lead by their global president where teams worked on various client problems alongside team members they never usually work together day to day.

One of the initiatives they introduced in 2012 to give something back to their staff and thank them for their ongoing hard work was their sports and social club. The club aims to provide a happy and healthy working environment, with plenty of opportunities for people to relax, enjoy something new or favoured past time in the company of colleagues, friends and family. As a company they acknowledge their duty of care as an employer to provide their staff with different ways to improve their health and well-being but, with the sports and social club, took this one step further to empower staff with ownership and an increased range of activities that staff truly enjoy. Employees are regularly asked which activities they would like to be offered by the company, which are then all employee organised. iCrossing contributes between 50% - 100% of the cost. These complimentary and subsidised activities, open to all, aim to promote a healthy and balanced working life. We've been sailing to the Isle of Wight, gone go-karting, regularly take part in football, basketball and volleyball leagues, visited the opera, comedy, plays, then music festivals, beer festivals, poker nights, gone Back to the Future at the Secret Cinema and chilled out with yoga and massages.

The Health and Wellbeing group are a sub group of ICAS' main staff committee which aim to support staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle and will therefore focus on issues of concern to their employees. Following on from the success of the Global Corporate Challenge they again sponsored as many of their staff who wished to participate in the 16 week, GCC event. This year they had 28 people in four teams, one more than last year. The aim of the challenge is to improve staff health, wellbeing and performance at work. The teams covered either walking, swimming or cycling, an overall distance of 33,213km over the 16 week period. In the feedback received 91.4% now exceed the 10,000 steps recommended. They promote healthy eating and supply fruit to their offices for all their staff to enjoy on a fortnightly basis. While they provided tea, coffee and water to all staff, following requests, ICAS have now added herbal and other decaffinated teas to this selection.

The Health and Wellbeing group are a sub group of ICAS' main staff committee which aim to support staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle and will therefore focus on issues of concern to their employees. Following on from the success of the Global Corporate Challenge they again sponsored as many of their staff who wished to participate in the 16 week, GCC event. This year they had 28 people in four teams, one more than last year. The aim of the challenge is to improve staff health, wellbeing and performance at work. The teams covered either walking, swimming or cycling, an overall distance of 33,213km over the 16 week period. In the feedback received 91.4% now exceed the 10,000 steps recommended. They promote healthy eating and supply fruit to their offices for all their staff to enjoy on a fortnightly basis. While they provided tea, coffee and water to all staff, following requests, ICAS have now added herbal and other decaffinated teas to this selection.

Hunter Adams social committee put together a wide range of events with several of them focused solely on the wellbeing of their team. They have entered teams into several 10k races. Their main charity event was a kayaking expedition with a total combined distance of 96 miles. Managers have set their teams pedometer challenges and have organised local hill walking trips. The team also take on personal challenges such as the London Marathon and two of the team have successfully completed the trek up Kilimanjaro. Hunter Adams encourages their team to be fit and active and live healthy lifestyles.

Hunter Adams' Managing Director leads from the front in every aspect of their business. His style of communication is open and transparent and he has openly shared the business strategy with all employees. For the past two years Hunter Adams' number one strategic objective has been the retention of the team and the Managing Director puts employee engagement at the forefront of the agenda to ensure they continue to do this. He provides honest and transparent monthly business updates on how they are performing to plan and invites comments and questions from the wider team that he is happy to answer in an open forum. He is passionate about communication and engages with the wider team using a variety of communication mediums. His drive and energy acts as a real motivator to the team and his commitment to growing and developing the business is evident from his actions. The development of the team is also one of his priorities to ensure that Hunter Adams attract, develop and retain the very best HR talent in the markets they operate in. He was instrumental in the creation of their own HR Academy helping to develop their own talent. He empowers his Leadership team and challenges them to be accountable for the growth of their service area whilst providing an entrepreneurial vision for the future growth of the organisation.

By creating an environment that is informal and friendly, and where people genuinely love coming to work because they get on with the people and like doing the work.

Hugo & Cat are a straightforward company where great people really count. For the right people there's a real opportunity to make a difference and to be given real responsibility. Their structure is non-hierarchical, and they listen to their staff to create an environment and culture that everyone has helped shape.

Employees will get £50 - tax paid by employers, as bonus when they are recognised for their outstanding service by their guests.

Hoxton are happy to and encourage their employees to seek out training courses, both external and internal which they will then pay for.

There are company wide and local suggestion box initiatives. Continous improvement teams within HCVS have created the culture and empowered everyone to deliver small changes through the Kaizen methodology. These mall changes equated to 805 improvements delivering a benefit of 879k in 2013/14. The employee forum held on a monthly basis is one of the most effective tools they have for feedback however. Hosted by an SMT member this forum allows the opportunity to provide direct feedback with updates from the feedback provided the following month. Out & About -Directors and SMT members walking the floor.

Hitachi have recently implemented visual performance boards. These help teams plan their workload, share their vision/mission, cross train and celebrate success. They have enabled workload to be levelled across team reducing pressures and enabling them to deliver a better customer experience. Other new working practices include Qbuster, refreshed Star awards, incentives, call evaluations, career progression structure and functional plan sharing.

All teams within the organisation take it in turn to hold events called 'Thirsty Thursdays,' which occur every 6 weeks. This event is usually themed and hosted by a different team on each occasion. The hosting team will welcome new starters and introduce them to existing staff members across the organisation. The event is paid for by the company and a wide selection of food and drink is available to all. The event is always a big success and most importantly allows the growing company to interact.

All teams within the organisation take it in turn to hold events called 'Thirsty Thursdays,' which occur every 6 weeks. This event is usually themed and hosted by a different team on each occasion. The hosting team will welcome new starters and introduce them to existing staff members across the organisation. The event is paid for by the company and a wide selection of food and drink is available to all. The event is always a big success and most importantly allows the growing company to interact.

Directors of each area of Havens Hospice gave feedback and put in place action plans to improve on issues that needed addressing.

Directors of each area of Havens Hospice gave feedback and put in place action plans to improve on issues that needed addressing.

Hangar Seven run an Employee of the Month award whereby everyone votes for a crew member who has really gone the extra mile and delivered against their company values. It's a great accolade and the winner receives £100 to spend as they wish. They also have a yearly overall winner who receives £500. This is a person with the most votes over the year. Hangar Seven operate a company wide profit share scheme and they have the most elaborate fully paid for Christmas parties in the industry.

Hangar Seven's leader speaks with everyone as much as possible on a daily basis. He knows about their families and their social life outside of work and he misses nothing. He picks up when they are struggling and if possible offers help. This might be financial or time off, or simply a word in the right manager's ear. He is extremely caring and treats everyone with respect.

All Senior Management staff have shared their own motivations for working at Groundwork as part of their “Little Green Book” guide, with some motivated by the concepts of sustainability and others by social justice.

Groundworks West Midlands hold two staff away day events for all staff including Sessional Workers. On the 9th September 2013 they held it at Keele Hall, Staffordshire. This included presentations in the morning session from the Chair of the Board, Executive Director, Head Teacher of their school, HR Director and two project leads. After lunch, the afternoon was spent having team building fun activities ranging from building communications and listening skills by use of blindfolds to supporting each other by having to eat chocolate! In addition, staff spent an hour on a guided nature walk delivered by the Ranger across the Country Park that they manage. 21st July 2014 – The Welcome Centre, Coventry - Again, this included initial information sessions, including from the Chair of Board and the Executive Director, thanking people for their involvement in the recent awards they have won and an external presentation from a trainer on Managing Stress in the Workplace. This was followed by a riotous speed networking session. After lunch the afternoon included taster sessions on some of the projects delivered by Groundwork staff to their client groups. These included ‘The Smoothie Bike', healthy eating choices by understanding fat content in food, practical household budgeting and an Urban Wildlife Walk with staff creating head wear from flowers and leaves! GWWM provided transport from each local offices, food and refreshments and, of course, activities for the staff away days. The second event featured more hands on project activities following positive feedback from staff about this element. Also a company funded Christmas event which was in works time and involved indoor ten-pin bowling and a meal which was centrally located and well attended by the work force. In addition a company supported Cycle ride which was in works time and included a paid for halfway lunch for all riders and supporters.

Griffiths & Armour have always taken a view to not only fund raise for local and national charities but help in the form of volunteering. Their local charity KIND has a Christmas campaign each year to raise funds for Christmas hampers and toys for families in the local community and a number of staff volunteer to help pack those hampers and deliver them to the families in need. Staff members have also taken part in bag packing events in local supermarkets.

Griffiths & Armour have always taken a view to not only fund raise for local and national charities but help in the form of volunteering. Their local charity KIND has a Christmas campaign each year to raise funds for Christmas hampers and toys for families in the local community and a number of staff volunteer to help pack those hampers and deliver them to the families in need. Staff members have also taken part in bag packing events in local supermarkets.

Grand Union Housing are buying bicycles for each office, there is free fruit in offices once a month, there are water fountains, health check machines, they are testing standing desks, there is Yoga, Pilates, walking group and access to telephone and face to face counselling (mental health training).

Grand Union Housing have so many community initiatives as their organisations have a strong social purpose and one of their key corporate strategies is building and maintaining sustainable communities: ‘Project Mackenzie Community Cafes', two food bank partnerships, strive wheels to work, community kitchen, credit union partnerships, charitable donation funds, environmental improvement projects and ‘Giveagift'.

Golin and Virgo are led by President Matt (Golin) and two CEOs/MDs Sarah and Angie (Virgo). All three are all very well respected in the communications industry and this is a definite draw for employees who choose to join Golin/Virgo. They are all very hands on and accessible, encouraging team members to come and pick their brains about any challenges they may be facing as well as actively mentoring junior members in order to nurture their raw talents. They all bring the values to life setting an example to the team and perpetuate an environment where hard work and outstanding performance is rewarded and success is celebrated on a regular basis. The senior leadership has high visibility at team meetings in both office locations, presenting, sharing and demonstrating excellence and best practice across the company.

Golin/Virgo have ‘G4 Superhero' and the ‘Veritable Virgo' awards. These awards are announced publicly at team meetings and the winners are chosen from a short-list of peer-nominated candidates which are reviewed by the leadership team to find the winner. The awards recognise and reward individuals who model the company values and behaviours to achieve exceptional results. The winner receives a bottle of champagne, and the choice of an experience, either dinner in a top London restaurant, a spa day, a trip to see a west end show, a flight in a hot air balloon or a chance to drive a top sports car. The overall winner at the end of the year gets the opportunity to travel to one of their global offices - recent winners have travelled to New York and Chicago for a week of cross-office/cultural learning.

GGHT has an appraisal system setting 5 objectives for each employee. If these are scored as having been met, the employee receives an additional incremental pay increase on top of their cost of living rise.

GGHT has an appraisal system setting 5 objectives for each employee. If these are scored as having been met, the employee receives an additional incremental pay increase on top of their cost of living rise.

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 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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

The Financial Ombudsman participated in National Fitness day, focusing on simple ways to inspire their people to be more active. They ran free power half hour sessions in their on-site gym every hour from 7.00 am and made these available to non-members. They had a high take up and more people have taken up membership of the gym as a result of this. They also ran a series of lunchtime walks for people; they had a number of walk leaders who took their groups on a tour of the local area of between 30 and 60 minutes. These were very popular and also a networking event as people met other people from the organisation. A number of people that took part in the lunchtime walks now meet regularly to go for a walk. They have impacted people at the ombudsman by taking part in this initiative as people are taking exercise that they were not before. They ran a Back Care and Posture Awareness Event in partnership with Nuffield Health and their health and safety department. They put in place a demo desk set up so that their health and safety advisor could show people how to make adjustments to their own work stations for better posture. They were also made aware that they could have a desk assessment. Nuffield did back check with a spinal mouse and there was a physiotherapist to give advice and demonstrate strengthening and relaxing exercises.

The Financial Ombudsman really values the importance of team building. You can see managers doing this in a variety of ways from using their reward and recognition budget to arrange an event for the team, to team meetings to allow everyone in the team to get to know one another. It's something they encourage at all levels. Across the organisation they have put a lot of energy and thought into planning events they arrange for their people. As a not-for-profit organisation it's really important there is a purpose and value. They regularly hold events for their management team including their “the big questions” where managers have the opportunity to meet and network and ask their executive questions about the work of the organisation. This is their way of getting their managers together to talk about what's happening in their area. Following great success last year, they took all their managers off site again this year for an event that included various workshops to share knowledge and develop their skills, to focus on their purpose as an organisation and working together on what this means they expect from people working here. This involves a range of different interactive workshops and talks led by senior leaders and inspirational speakers.

For the first time in the Trust's history, every member of staff shared in the success of the financial year 2013/2014 with a 2% bonus. The record breaking year was a triumph of dedication and hard-work from the whole team which was recognised by the board of directors.

Team building takes place at both company and departmental level and includes their annual Christmas party, their 20th Anniversary Staff Reunion, staff quiz and talent nights and team away days. They have provided time management training, work life balance talks, and nutrition talks. This initiative was designed to encourage staff to work more efficiently, to take breaks and to eat healthily - all of which should help productivity.

Fairpoint have set up a charity committee containing 16 self nominated charity champions. The purpose of Fairpoint's charity committee is to make a difference in the local and wider community through fund raising, volunteering and taking part in activities that help their community. The role of the charity champions that make up the charity committee is to organise fund raising events across the business They will lead and promote fund raising activities across the business, contribute to the monthly charity newsletter, attend monthly charity meetings, promote the Making A Difference framework across the business, produce promotional material to promote various charity events, encourage ideas across the business to help make a difference in the local community and promote and organise any social events across the company. A charity calendar is produced at the start of the year created by the charity committee based on feedback from employees on what charities should be supported this year. This meant that the company has a set charity or charities to support each month. Fairpoint set a target to reach £15,000 through fund raising activities, sponsorship and workplace giving in 2014. They were on target to reach this as they raised over £13,000 to September 2014 with more events planned during the last quarter of the year. The fund raising events and sponsorship that takes place in the company encourages employees to work together as a team and also makes employees feel proud to work for a company that helps the local and wider community.

Fairpoint have set up a charity committee containing 16 self nominated charity champions. The purpose of Fairpoint's charity committee is to make a difference in the local and wider community through fund raising, volunteering and taking part in activities that help their community. The role of the charity champions that make up the charity committee is to organise fund raising events across the business They will lead and promote fund raising activities across the business, contribute to the monthly charity newsletter, attend monthly charity meetings, promote the Making A Difference framework across the business, produce promotional material to promote various charity events, encourage ideas across the business to help make a difference in the local community and promote and organise any social events across the company. A charity calendar is produced at the start of the year created by the charity committee based on feedback from employees on what charities should be supported this year. This meant that the company has a set charity or charities to support each month. Fairpoint set a target to reach £15,000 through fund raising activities, sponsorship and workplace giving in 2014. They were on target to reach this as they raised over £13,000 to September 2014 with more events planned during the last quarter of the year. The fund raising events and sponsorship that takes place in the company encourages employees to work together as a team and also makes employees feel proud to work for a company that helps the local and wider community.

Excelian's two year partnership with Inspire has allowed all staff to volunteer throughout the academic year helping primary school students gain knowledge in presentations and marketing. They also offer work experience to secondary schools. These schools are all within their working community the students are vulnerable learners with multi-agency involvement, many of whom are statemented or on school action plus. These include learners who have been excluded from mainstream school or other Pupil Referral Unit provision or who are school refusers. Excelian also have a partnership with Careers Academies where staff volunteer to mentor a student over an 18 month programme assisting them on coursework, reinforcing classroom learning with real life examples, expanding their understanding of business culture and workplace etiquette. They practise employability skills such as time management, problem solving, CV writing or interview techniques and widen their network of business contacts for the future.

Excelian understand that in the current economic climate getting the most out of their people is more important than ever. Due to the nature of their business, almost half of their employees are not from the UK. This means that many of them are not registered with a GP, therefore Excelian provide there employees with unlimited access to a top private GP practice with offices across the city. They also offer healthy breakfast at their London HQ, providing a selection of healthy cereals and wholemeal bread for toast, to set them up for the day.

Energy & Utility Skills' staff play a vital role in contributing to the overall success of the EU Skills Group, delivering objectives as an organisation, as a team and as individuals. Their Performance and Development Review process places importance on ensuring that everyone who works at the EU Skills Group understands how the work they do contributes to the overall delivery of their Vision, their Business Plan and their business success. They want their staff to share the success of the organisation. Alongside the Annual Review Process, their Performance-related Bonus Scheme recognises and regards employees' collective contribution to the delivery of the EU Skills Group's financial and business objectives by providing the opportunity for them to earn a personal bonus.

Every Christmas, Energy & Utility Skills ask their staff to donate an unwanted gift or buy a little something extra when doing their Christmas shopping so that they can donate them to Solihull Women's Refuge. The Refuge provides a range of services for women and children from six months of age to early teens who have been affected by domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, who have to leave their homes, often with very little. Thanks to the generosity of staff over the past few years giving back to the local community, their donations have meant that many local families could have a happier Christmas. Energy & Utility Skills is a relatively small organisation with limited resources to focus on fundraising activities, but in fact, they do an incredible amount of fundraising work. As well as raising funds every year for a broad range of worthy causes, they also recycle their old IT equipment by donating it to local charities, schools and groups who need it. They're immensely proud that with the help of their staff, they've raised so much money and most importantly, made such a difference to so many good causes.

EMaC is a hands-on highly personal business. The experience delivered to customers is consciously personal. This ethos is reflected by the SMT. The SMT walk the floors and walk the talk. ‘Catching people doing things right' is an approach designed to reaffirm confidence and empowerment. Having grown from 2 to almost 100 people in ten years, the Values are very much part of the business DNA. Deeply embedded into business processes and procedures under the banner of ‘doing the right thing' team members are empowered to act in a way that supports the values and the needs of EMaC's multiple customer layers.

EMac encourages wellbeing by the Support for Stop Smoking, Free flu jabs a Clean, fresh, light environment which is decorated /painted twice a year and they have Bright furniture.

Managers at Elmhurst support the wellbeing of employees by giving paid time off for medical and dental appointments, working from home to support domestic challenges, and paid time off for funerals and bereavements. The company also offers its premises for weekly yoga classes.

Managers at Elmhurst support the wellbeing of employees by giving paid time off for medical and dental appointments, working from home to support domestic challenges, and paid time off for funerals and bereavements. The company also offers its premises for weekly yoga classes.

Linked to Elior's multi-award winning eXperience programme, Training Journal and Personnel Today, the “You Made a Difference” recognition scheme was introduced in the spring of 2012. Its goal was to move the spotlight from the negative to positive and designed to reinforce and encourage positive behaviours, recognising progress being made by their colleagues by thanking them each time a job is well done. Noticing, and thanking their colleagues for doing jobs well and with a warm, friendly and genuine attitude creates job confidence and satisfaction, colleague engagement and commitment to Elior UK. This in turn drives positive results for all. When an Elior colleague is seen to be “Making a Difference”, and demonstrating something exceptional, they are immediately recognised with a ‘thank you' and issued by their Manager with a ‘You Made a Difference' thank you cheque. The Manager then records the entry on their internal extranet giving the colleague an opportunity to win one of 40 gift vouchers each month. This scheme has been so successful and well received by the business, that it has been incorporated as a distinctive category in its own right at the annual awards ceremony where those individuals who have made a unique difference are recognised. Last year's winner introduced a healthy eating ‘points mean prizes' initiative which was so successful at site, that it was replicated across other operating sites.

The senior management team has fully embraced the You Made a Difference scheme, using it to engage with colleagues for a job well done. There is a genuine warm and friendly approach adopted by the senior leaders that makes colleagues at all levels comfortable with approaching them. It is an informal yet clear approach that makes colleagues feel that they are not simply a number in the organisation. This is clearly demonstrated by the back to the floor days during which a member of the senior team spends a day at site, where they really get their hands dirty. Elior's HR Director, Arran McDowell was the most recent member of the Leadership team to show his commitment, spending a full day in the kitchen preparing food for service. It is also important to note that 60% of their board has been promoted internally – there is a real focus and dedication to colleague development.

East Thames Group's performance briefings are organised by the senior management team to ensure all staff have the information they need on East Thames' performance. The quarterly presentations are delivered by the Chief Executive, alongside other senior members of staff who present on the important issues affecting East Thames. As well as providing important information they are often interactive and aim to educate staff about various areas of the business. During the briefings there are frequent opportunities for staff to ask the senior management team questions and ensure two-way communication is taking place.

East Thames Group's performance briefings are organised by the senior management team to ensure all staff have the information they need on East Thames' performance. The quarterly presentations are delivered by the Chief Executive, alongside other senior members of staff who present on the important issues affecting East Thames. As well as providing important information they are often interactive and aim to educate staff about various areas of the business. During the briefings there are frequent opportunities for staff to ask the senior management team questions and ensure two-way communication is taking place.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The company seek to enhance the wellbeing of employees by offering EAP Service Fresh Fruit, wellbeing days and a wellbeing workshop.

Civica UK Limited reward employees by giving them awards, C Star Points and thank you boxes.

At CIPD they firmly believe in the correlation between employee engagement and employee wellbeing. They hold health and wellbeing events twice yearly where they engage with the community and invite local businesses offering complimentary taster sessions for their products and services. This ensures staff have the opportunity to focus on their personal well-being both inside and outside of the workplace. These days are well attended by a cross section of staff as they work hard to provide something for everyone. Alongside this, they also arrange free of charge influenza vaccinations for all staff who wish to have them on site and offer staff eye care vouchers. Another aspect of how they try to enhance the wellbeing of their employees is by offering all staff every day a free lunch. These are freshly made on site and very balanced and varied.

Our Values are Purposeful, Agile, Collaborative, Expert (PACE) and the Senior Management Team role model these by setting clear direction for their teams, meeting regularly with their teams and direct reports, seeking feedback and input on a range of organisational activities including on their own behaviours and being accessible. For example, the senior team meet every month with their direct reports to discuss strategic priorities and get input and then cascade these discussions to the wider business and their commitment to digital developments is led from the top and promotes agility. On a daily basis, senior directors promote a non-hierarchical and friendly culture by interacting with staff at all levels, eating in the staff café, walking around the building to speak to people and participating in online staff chats.

CAP reuse scrap paper. Many of their employees car share and are encouraged to do so. They have switched to energy-efficient hand dryers. They switched to Mac minis from PCs as they were more energy efficient. They also have a “sleep” policy for the computers at night, as with Mac minis the difference between “sleep” and off is negligible. CAP have an ethical action team (EAT) for all environmental issues. Matt Barlow, their Chief Executive is part of this team. They have implemented a number of charity-wide environmental awareness days, educating and informing employees of how they can become more environmentally friendly in their work and personal lives. Matt Barlow is also leading a consultation into environmental travel to work. They also ensure that their tea, coffee and biscuits are all Fair Trade.

Matt Barlow hot desks around the office, deliberately working his way round various departments, ensuring he gets to engage with all staff members. He does not even have his own office, and simply books a meeting room if he needs to work on something confidentially. Matt and John also operate an open door policy, both literally and metaphorically. Their email addresses and phone number are posted on the Intranet and anyone can pop in or book some time through their PAs. This is regularly encouraged and Matt also hosts Munch with Matt. This is a regular monthly lunch time slot in his diary when staff can join him for lunch and raise any issues or ideas in an informal setting – ensuring that staff are making the most of his open door policy. Matt also writes a regular blog on the Intranet, often inviting direct response, either in person or via email. On a social level all staff are invited to Matt's house for a meal. He holds these regularly, with priority being given to new staff, or those he has not connected with for a while, but all staff have the opportunity of joining him for one of these meals. Both Matt and John also make a habit of using the staff break room and joining teams for lunches or staff birthday celebrations. Matt also makes sure to enter the staff pool and table tennis tournaments, alongside joining in with social events.

Senior Management at ChapmanBlack demonstrates their commitment to the values of the organisation through everything that they do. Every member of the Senior Management Team has come from inside the company and they would not have got to the position that they are in now, without demonstrating the values that the company holds dear. Their attitude every day is the best daily practice they use to demonstrate their commitment to the values of the company. ChapmanBlack have a strong ethos around leading by example, which sees senior managers prepare to, for example, mark up a Whiteboard with gridding tape or create a PowerPoint document; there is no job too small to not apply the values of the company to. This willingness to "get their hands dirty" and to perform even the smallest task with excellence, is the best daily practice.

ChapmanBlack took the entire company away for a "Summer Holiday" team building weekend. This was a weekend stay at an adventure activity ground in Suffolk. The guys spent the day on activities such as working together as a team to navigate swamps, transport liquid from one area to another as fast as possible without spilling any, abseiling and zip wiring. A lot of ChapmanBlack's incentive trips are based on individual performance, rather than the performance of the team so the winners often go with a mixture of people from the company which they find really beneficial in bringing different parts of the business together. Regularly as a company, ChapmanBlack go out for drinks. They find this, as a young company, to be the most effective way of bringing people together. They have a bar in their office as well and provide drinks for people there on a Friday before everyone goes out together. ChapmanBlack let their employees take the lead in the activities that they want to do. They don't believe in "enforced fun" but they try to act as facilitators to the needs and desires of their employees.

During transition, Stephen Bell, the Chief Executive, has managed to maintain a consistent leadership style. Time is prioritised to attend every corporate induction not only to outline his vision but also to engage with new starters about their previous experiences and feelings about joining Changing Lives. He also attends every national staff council meeting. He champions the involvement of all employees in generating ideas and suggesting improvements. Stephen Bell remains highly visible, visiting each of their 38 projects at least once a year and spends time with not only managers, but also colleagues and service users. He also takes retiring employees for lunch. Stephen Bell is highly committed to encouraging the employment of ex service users into employment aiming to increase the levels from 26% to 33% in the next three years.

In order to consolidate in times of change, as well as prepare for future growth, Changing Lives recognised the need to develop the senior leadership team to become more strategic in the running of the organisation. They therefore embarked upon a journey to develop their leadership capability. This involved a number of key initiatives. Firstly, they recognised the need to clarify exactly what skills, knowledge and behaviours are required at every level of management. So, they developed a Management Skills Matrix setting these out from the level of executive director to team leader. They also redefined the authority levels that each level of management should have in the various facets of their work. Recognising that to enable their senior people to progress, they needed to upskill the managers below them, Changing Lives are now in the process of developing a Project Manager Development Programme which will be launched in January 2015. Each of their senior team has had a personal profile completed through Insights, aiding greater self awareness and enhancing understanding of others to assist in really effective team working. They are also taking part in individual development reviews, involving 360 degree feedback from a range of both internal and external colleagues. Each will then have a personal development plan, which will encourage the use of coaches and mentors, shadowing, taking on projects out of their usual remit as well as formal training.

In line with their company vision, mission and values, they have developed the monthly 'Value Champion Award' which can be for an individual or a team. The latest award was given to a cross discipline team of individuals for their sterling efforts in implementing their new account; Houses of Parliament. They received fantastic feedback from the client about the way in which they worked together and demonstrated the value that the Chambers brand portrays. Each staff member was given a £50 voucher, an award and dinner with the CEO. Their pictures now take pride of place on the 'Value Champion' board on the company wall - alongside previous Value Champions. At the bi-annual staff conferences, staff are recognised and rewarded across a wide range of disciplines and categories for work ethics, performance and going that extra mile.

The CEO, owner holds quarterly breakfast meetings with pre-selected staff which change for each event, so they can share ideas, be recognised etc. The CEO has an open door policy and all senior management work in their respective areas in an open plan office amongst their teams which creates an environment of sharing and invaluable discussion. The COO asks for feedback, news and ideas for the monthly company update which goes out electronically to all staff.

Cerner via First Hand Foundation gives back to community as much as possible. First Hand Foundation does various fundraising activities such as internal cake sales, movie nights to associates entering competitions such as Tough Mudder and The Strongest Man. There is also First Hand Foundation Football series and last but not least The Three Peaks Challenge. All the physical challenges resonate Cerner's efforts, as a health company, to keep associates healthy and active. Funds raised go to qualifying individual cases that have been referred to First Hand Foundation or on regular basis to Stephen Hawking School for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties where they primarily fund Sensory integration therapy that would otherwise not be available at the school. The company have also done a couple of nonmonetary activities - The Buddy Bag programme, which provides and helps children begin the process of restoring a sense of security and safety into their lives easing their transition through tough situations. The bags provide children with belongings they can call “their own”. The Christmas Wish Tree for Stephen Hawking School where the school identified appropriate gift for each child, this got then transferred onto a little card, put on a little Christmas trees around the office and each associate could pick up the card and buy a particular present for a particular child. All the presents were delivered to the school for their last assembly before Christmas.

Over the course of the year the company have put together a small working group to engage on this topic. They have spent the first half of the year: - reviewing the data - planning key actions - working on Org Clarity - Diving deeper on a number of topics. The second half has been undertaking key actions that help move the meter on Engagement.

Along with regular team meetings, the firm holds an annual employee communications event, which features presentations from the partners and senior managers. Amongst the topics covered are the performance of the various fee earning departments, information on future plans for the business and strategic projects. There is a question and answer session with employees being able to put forward questions and suggestions to the partners leading the discussions.

Carey Olsen has a multi stranded approach to underpinning the well being of its employees. This includes the security of a comprehensive employee benefits package with gold standard private medical cover, permanent health insurance, on site gym/gym membership subsidy, free eye tests, annual flu jabs, free fruit, the most modern IT and workstation equipment to name a few. There is a collective strength in all these elements which gives employees a security that the firm cares about their well being both inside and out of work. These tangible aspects are enhanced by a management focus on flexibility and understanding particularly when employees may be experiencing difficulties in their lives. The firm offers an employee assistance programme through UNUM and internal counselling and support where this is needed.

Accessibility to the executive and senior management is seen as essential to the culture within Calyx. As such, none of the executive or senior management have their own office. Everyone works together in one open plan environment. All senior management are expected to attend social events with staff. Staff are actively encouraged by the CEO to seek out and question management about decisions or issues that they want better to understand. The reward scheme, which is agreed by the executive team, is based on which member of staff has best demonstrated the values of the company.

Accessibility to the executive and senior management is seen as essential to the culture within Calyx. As such, none of the executive or senior management have their own office. Everyone works together in one open plan environment. All senior management are expected to attend social events with staff. Staff are actively encouraged by the CEO to seek out and question management about decisions or issues that they want better to understand. The reward scheme, which is agreed by the executive team, is based on which member of staff has best demonstrated the values of the company.

Annually C P Hart canvass all of their people and ask what charity they would like to support. This year, they voted for Scope. As a result, events have taken place throughout the year with the company matching contributions made. Their people make suggestions all year as to events they would like to host. So far they have supported every suggestion to help raise money for their charity. Events have include keepy uppy, Jenga challenges at their Summer BBQ, sandwich and cake sales, Guess the weight of the cake, Steptember Challenge, HQ and Showroom BBQ's, Christmas Raffle. C P Hart also support individuals raising money for their own charity, by allowing them to ask for sponsorship and posting information on noticeboards and the bulletin. C P Hart publish their achievements and any funds raised in their weekly bulletin. If one of their people supports a team or club outside of work hours, they will sponsor them to enable them to purchase uniforms or equipment that they need. Recently they had a team that took part in a charity football event, in which the company paid for the kit.

C P Hart have always had a training budget, even through difficult times they believe the development of their people is paramount and integral to the business. Their bespoke training academy at their Waterloo showroom provides their sales people with support throughout their career from new joiners to their top sales people. They provide a structural learning programme supporting them through different stages in their career, along with external product training, and visits to manufacturers/suppliers in the UK and Europe. Their sales and non sales teams, have the opportunity to take up an apprenticeship scheme in partnership with their training providers and are encouraged and supported to complete their programme to gain numerous qualifications. They also offer apprenticeships to young people within their local area, and currently have two apprentices at present and are looking to take on more when suitable vacancies become available. Individual development needs are identified through 1-2-1 meetings. This can be provided through formal training, mentoring or being a buddy for a new joiner. They will even support their people if they need an external qualification such as AAT in accounting. C P Hart have a succession plan in place, and will look to see if any of their people are suitable for the vacancy before looking outside of the business, promoting from within wherever possible.

Instant recognition: Employees are nominated for and awarded a bottle of champagne or a gift voucher for exceptional performance contribution, in particular living the Firm's values. Awards are communicated on the intranet.

The Buzzacott Stuart Defries Memorial Fund (the Fund) – in 2003, the Partners set up a charitable trust in memory of a former Partner, Stuart Defries, who was killed in a tragic accident. Volunteering initiatives and community programmes under the auspices of the Fund. These include The Access Project, which helps bright but disadvantaged teenagers to improve grades and access to university, New Horizon programmes for NEET youngsters and a local primary school reading programme. One-off volunteering activities/team events this year included activities with KidsCo, with a local football summer school and with a city farm. The Fund also awards grants every year to charities, chiefly supporting disadvantaged communities in boroughs bordering the City, with a particular focus on children and young people and also through the staff suggestion and matched giving scheme.

At BDHT they try never to say ‘no' to anyone's request for development. They believe that the motivation and goodwill created by actively supporting staff on meeting their personal work related ambitions is invaluable. Each year their corporate sponsorship programme ensures that any member of staff is given the opportunity to achieve their ambitions ranging from a GCSE in English to a professional qualification. In the last five years 78% of their staff have engaged in the corporate sponsorship scheme. Using the MC3 tool as the starting point BDHT developed a bespoke Leadership Development Programme focusing on motivation energy, prioritisation, encouragement, engagement and empowerment. This learning was used to examine BDHT's current structures and system, and consider how to best support the development of staff.

At BDHT they try never to say ‘no' to anyone's request for development. They believe that the motivation and goodwill created by actively supporting staff on meeting their personal work related ambitions is invaluable. Each year their corporate sponsorship programme ensures that any member of staff is given the opportunity to achieve their ambitions ranging from a GCSE in English to a professional qualification. In the last five years 78% of their staff have engaged in the corporate sponsorship scheme. Using the MC3 tool as the starting point BDHT developed a bespoke Leadership Development Programme focusing on motivation energy, prioritisation, encouragement, engagement and empowerment. This learning was used to examine BDHT's current structures and system, and consider how to best support the development of staff.

At BrightHouse, they recognise that the talent and diversity of their people is the foundation of their success, so they are committed to helping all colleagues develop their personal and professional skills in order to bring out their strengths. With their vision to be an employer of choice, it goes without saying that their people are the masters of their own destiny. Supported by us, they can drive their own learning, their own development and their own career. From day one, BrightHouse treat all colleagues as individuals. They ensure that their induction programme offers a comprehensive introduction to their role and how they fit within their business as a whole. To equip colleagues with the right learning and development at the right time, BrightHouse offer a range of learning opportunities.

There is a tangible commitment by Leo McKee, the Chief Executive to be visible across the organisation. He has visited every Brighthouse store. He spends at least one day every week visiting stores, service centres and distribution centres, thereby ensuring he has a chance to regularly meet colleagues and customers and find out more about them and their families. The entire senior management team follow similar principles to ensure they are visible to the teams and functions they head up. All managers are encouraged to operate the principle, ‘don't say something to someone over email if it can be done over the phone, or over the phone if it can be done in person'. Senior Managers lead by example, keep the Green Sheet with them at all times and seek to treat others as they would like to be treated. On the Green Sheet there is a section ‘Four words or phrases Senior Managers should learn'. They are: please, thank you, I'm sorry – it's my mistake and I don't know.

Brandbank held a companywide end of year event in May 2014 offsite. During this event, Directors and senior managers gave an overview of the previous year and discussed the strategic direction and plans for the coming year. After the meeting they had a party in the evening which was attended by all senior managers and Directors. This enabled them socialise and engage with staff who they might not ordinarily interact with on a daily basis. This gives them a chance to get to know staff on a personal level and is greatly appreciated and noted by all staff. This whole event really motivates and engages all employees.

Brandbank receive approximately 125,000 product samples a year. They have ‘staff shops' where staff are asked to donate at least 30p per item, and in the past 12 months they have raised over £47,800 for charity. Brandbank give a lot of products to local housing trusts and soup kitchens. They give Easter eggs, toys and chocolates to local Children's Hospices, animal food to animal shelters, etc. The local East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH) receives a weekly donation of products, which has helped them to cut their costs significantly. Staff are invited to nominate charities to whom they would like to send the money they raise. Staff are all invited to take part in things such as Children in Need and Movember during work time. They also do fundraising activities throughout the year at work to help raise funds, such as fancy dress days, MacMillan Coffee Mornings and cake sales.

The Box UK Handbook, which is home to all process and policy, has a forum in which staff can submit questions about any of the documentation to the Personnel team. These submissions are reviewed and actioned monthly. Additionally, Box UK utilises Trello as an online suggestion box which can also track further comments and feedback from the entire company, ensuring maximum visibility. Most importantly, Box UK runs regular company meetings, focus groups and internal sessions to have face-to-face discussions about current issues, including those raised by employees where relevant.

Box UK hosts external events and activities on a quarterly basis, paid for by the organisation and to which all employees are invited. In the past 12 months these events have included a company BBQ, end of year party and go-karting. They also hold quarterly internal company ‘mingles' where employees are encouraged to take time away from their desks to get to know each other and celebrate successes. These events are catered for by the organisation and company time is also allocated to facilitate them. These mingles often coincide with internal competitions organised by the Personnel team. Previous competitions have included a photo competition, caption competition and “guess who?” competition, with the results revealed at the mingle so all team members are encouraged to participate and share in the celebration.

Demonstrably, the senior management team are seen to work well with one another, treating all individuals with respect, whether they are members of the company, suppliers or customers, striving to achieve high levels of customer service. They recognise that they are part of a larger business organisation through their willingness to engage and share information with other managers in the group, being seen to be flexible and adaptable to changing business priorities and pressures.

HR at Botanix issued in August 2014 a reward statement to show all employees what benefits they can take advantage of. Each year Botanix has a financial advisor come in to ensure all employees are aware of the advantages of joining the Botanix Pension, and if applicable receive advice from them on their personal circumstances. When new joiners start as part of the induction, HR ensure they are aware of Botanix benefits package and encourage sign up soonest.

The construction of BMW change groups has created a mechanism for collecting real life feedback from key individuals and also the opportunity for those giving the feedback to also have the power to make recommendations for improvements and the authority to bring these recommendations to life.

BMW believe development should be access by all through each year, therefore they ran a range of learn at work sessions are short, snappy and on a diverse range of topics that are accessible to all in the company. They are delivered locally, run for up to half a day and book able by anyone that wants to come. In 2014 they also ran a Leadership programme for 200 of their managers focusing on cultural change and their leadership style. This programme was connected to the wider change programme in the business and also allows managers to prepare for the change in environment when they move to their new home in November. This is in additional to normal more formal training that is on a needs basis.

blu eCigs changed “you time” to “blu time.” As a thank you, they give each employee £100 to spend on themselves as part of their new wellbeing scheme. This money, which will be awarded every year, can be put towards anything that keeps people healthy and happy. This could be anything from playing sports, cooking classes, yoga or dance lessons. They also provide a healthcare scheme for employees offering gym memberships throughout the UK as part of their private healthcare account.

blu eCigs changed “you time” to “blu time.” As a thank you, they give each employee £100 to spend on themselves as part of their new wellbeing scheme. This money, which will be awarded every year, can be put towards anything that keeps people healthy and happy. This could be anything from playing sports, cooking classes, yoga or dance lessons. They also provide a healthcare scheme for employees offering gym memberships throughout the UK as part of their private healthcare account.

Biogen undertook a community project this summer to refurbish a former local pub in order for it to be used as a tea room and training centre for a charity that supports adults with learning difficulties - Beds Garden Carers. Employees from across the business were able to take part, giving up their time both inside and outside of working hours. Biogen also supports the local Bedford Christmas Food Bank where staff are encouraged to donate food that goes to the homeless at Christmas.

Biogen strives to be an open organisation and to communicate frequently and openly with the wider employee population. This is an increasing challenge as the business grows, but in order to maintain this high level of engagement the leadership team and CEO hold bi-weekly 'Speed Updates' at which many members of the Biogen team contribute the achievements of the past fortnight. In addition there is a monthly Bulletin which provides an opportunity for the CEO to communicate key thoughts, milestones and forward looking challenges across the entire business.

Big Ideas' staff are important to them and so is their development. Line managers meet with their team members regularly to discuss their personal development. Each person is issued with a training road map containing set objectives. These objectives are always decided with the employee and if training/certifications are involved the company will reimburse the cost upon successful completion of the training/exam and they will also receive a £200 salary increment per exam they pass. Big Ideas also take an interest in staff participating in non-work related training. Each term they offer to pay for a range of evening classes. Each person can pick one course each term and these range from languages to art, dancing, sport and massage.

Big Ideas have introduced something called '90 day sprints' where each team is targeted to work towards between each quarterly meeting. Each team has a list of goals they need to achieve within the next 90 days and progress reviews are discussed weekly during management meetings. At the end of each quarter each team presents their progress on their previous 90 day sprints to the company at the quarterly meeting and then announces their new 90 day sprints for the next quarter. These 90 day sprints help to align their business goals and objectives across all of their teams and departments and by regularly communicating these in weekly management meetings and quarterly meetings this helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and the strategy of the company is understood by all parties.

Two Action Learning Sets are organised monthly between the CEO and front-line staff to spot early the challenges that BHA's people face day-to-day that might previously have isolated and stressed them. These are now aired and reflected on. Ideas generated are taken to their respective team meetings, but what has made these sessions so highly valued is that people know that no tension or difficulty they face goes unnoticed and that there is always a solution to be found. In the process, BHA have found for example that words spoken in anger by a customer, often have deeper significance. Taken at face value they can demotivate and leave staff and customers feeling dissatisfied. As a result of these reflective discussions front line staff are being more proactive by anticipating customer stresses and dealing with them before they become a problem.

BHA's annual Star Awards is now the most eagerly anticipated event of the year. It combines an afternoon of fun with a series of individual and departmental awards, voted on by customers, colleagues and board members. This gives high visibility recognition to BHA's people's efforts. Throughout BHA they have a culture of saying ‘thanks' and recognising instantly those little deeds and efforts that can go unnoticed. All their managers and team leaders are trained to do that.

Employees have the opportunity to feedback at monthly staff meetings and company off site events. As well as this individual teams welcome direct feedback. In addition, there are regular e-mails seeking feedback as well as annual employee surveys.

They have put together a group which comprises people at all levels within the investment team to focus on the specific development needs of their investment professionals. This group is in the process of consulting directly with all members of the investment team about what they consider to be their individual training needs and the needs of others.

'Be More' is a Benfield initiative to encourage their various dealerships to get involved with local community initiatives. In the main, this has been raising money with matched funding from Benfield. For example, at Head Office employees have chosen to support CHUF and Tiny Lives charities. Funds have been raised by holding an Hawaiian social event in the Summer, a Halloween social event is planned in October and in the past they have held cake sales. Benfield also have a 'News' website where anyone can see what is happening in the organisation http://about.drivebenfield.com/news.

Benfield's Chief Executive operates with a very strong desire to see the Values of the company living and breathing across the company. He has an infectious manner and his family values are delivered and received in a very inclusive and warm way. He always acts with integrity and respect to the company values serving the broader company purpose, which sets out objectives for all stakeholders of the business. He has demonstrated this through extensive consultations with every member of staff, which is demanding in terms of time, and in a way that seeks to break down the barriers that management hierarchy can sometimes create.

The best example of how the organisation supports employee development is through a supportive and approving culture.

BDRC Continental has held a variety of team building events. These have included a Christmas Party; a summer day out and charity work with their favourite charity.

The business is completely transparent in respect of business performance to turnover, margin parameters and targets. When the business has experienced good or exceptional performance, rewards and recognition are given to all staff. For example the business achieved a record month in August and everyone had the attached thank you Rapper style poem from the Directors together with a bottle of Prosecco. The thank you was headed 'Record Month Rapped Up!' in a Rapper style theme and involved a poem. Each one was signed by the Directors with 'Rapper' titles. This type of reward is common place and can vary based on Company performance or to reward individual performance. The one off individual rewards can be anything from spa days, one off bonus payments, theatre tickets and hotel breaks to more public recognition and reward for high sales performance in front of peers with a themed awards ceremony.

Bauder support CRASH, the Construction Industry Charity for the Homeless. They provided roofing materials for Step by Step Centre in Aldershot a residential and training unit for young homeless people. They provided a design and waterproofing package that took into account the current structure and thermal performance but also ensured the lowest maintenance solution. This project provides training in life skills to enable the young people to regain self esteem, stabilise their lifestyles and enter back into the community with a job or college placement. Bauder continually donate materials to CRASH in conjunction with other Construction partners right throughout the year and this is a charity very close to their hearts. Bauder also work with St Elizabeth Hospice, a local children's hospice, to support their work in the community.

A really good example would be the training scheme they have in place for the Finance team. They encourage employees in the finance team to undertake professional qualifications such as CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). Currently three employees in their finance team are studying such qualifications. I think this really shows that they encourage employees to better themselves and that they are happy to invest in employees so that they can flourish in their roles.

In their last companywide team building event the whole company was put into teams randomly so that teams were mixed with people who don't normally work together on a daily basis. Each team were given iPads and an array of props and asked to create a short film entitled 'A Day in the Life of a Badooer', with a view to winning the grand prize and a self-styled Oscar award. After a couple of frantic hours running round, filming and editing, there was a film screening and prize giving, followed by dinner, drinks, music and dancing well into the night! Since then, they have concentrated on departmental team builds to foster good relationships within teams. These have included taxi treasure hunts around London, Go Ape zip-lining and Hint Hunt (a fun live escape game where you get locked in a room and have 60 minutes to solve the clues and get out!)

Talking to the people. As a family orientated firm, the directors have recruited their senior people on the basis that they will be able to engage with their employees and positively impact their day to day working lives. As strong and effective communicators, they hold ‘morning huddles' and weekly ‘team briefs' that set up the day with a positive outlook and share key information to provide employees with a feeling of management transparency. Asons truly believe that their new management structure has provided employees with a means to engage with the firm.

It is Asons family mentality that is the glue in supporting their employees' development, which can become in effect before their employment with Asons. They offer work experience for high school, college and university students, which can then be progressed through their graduate scheme which they aim to place every graduate with a permanent position. Every employee undergoes an induction, and is then given weekly training and support from management throughout their employment. Asons also encourage their staff to pro-actively develop their skills and encourage internal progression through their management development programme and training contracts that they offer on a quarterly basis. Asons have re-launched their training programme this year, including their mascot "Trainer-Tron", centralising all training resources, producing relevant and engaging training material and resources for each area of the business. Every employee also has access to their internal training system that allows them to view their Training Card that is bespoke to the individual when they start with Asons, highlighting any training needs that are outstanding and allows their employees to request training that they want. Asons have different difficulty levels of training: beginners, intermediate and advanced, that help fast-track their learning and aid them in feeling more confident with their work.

The ASK Italian Journey has had a major impact on our business results and HR metrics as well as employee development and engagement. The Journey is open to everyone and it provides an opportunity for self-driven learning and career progression from waiter to operations manager and from kitchen assistant to chef trainer. The journey provides clarity around the responsibilities, knowledge and skills required for every role, with training before graduating into a role or taking up a promotion. This year they have added further development modules to the journey for managers to develop as area support trainers and a special programme called Spotlight that prepares managers for high volume sites and managing large teams. The journey is enhanced by a bespoke 12 month leadership development programme for high potential head chefs, a bespoke 12 month leadership programme for high potential restaurant managers, and leadership development for their operations managers and senior department heads. In addition they use Myers Briggs for team building and developing collaborative working across all functions.

Senior Managers and Directors are available and accessible, listening to ideas and feedback and genuinely doing something about it. Face to face feedback and collation of more ideas via the we are ASK Italian engagement tour. You can never over communicate, continuing to evolve their communication processes, checking how to reach all employees by testing new communication channels and asking what works and what doesn't for their teams. Striving to increase their green credentials and sustainability and telling everyone what they have achieved. Focussing on what they do well including team events, team and individual development, non hierarchical inclusive culture personal contact in restaurants, making time for everyone. They have a clear career path, they continue to make it as visual as possible. Adding in new elements regularly to the ASK Italian journey, to keep it fresh and providing opportunities for promotion.

Asidua works closely with the Simon Community in order to help the homeless. This includes raising funds and also providing gifts such as scarves, hats, gloves etc. for distribution. The company promotes a 'switch-off' policy for all electrical equipment not in use and energy efficient practices are included in all employee induction programmes. Equipment such as the photocopier, printers etc. have low power stand-by or sleep features enabled. The purchase of energy efficient equipment is kept under ongoing review and considered at the time of purchase in line with business needs. Asidua has also undertaken a server consolidation programme to switch off servers which are either older and inefficient or no longer required.

The most distinctive way Asidua's leader engages colleagues in their organisation is through empowerment, encouragement and open communication. Asidua management team have a focus on empowering and engaging employees hence highlighting commitment to the values of the organisation.

The leader of the organisation attends each directorates team meeting to talk about the delivery plan. The leader has an open door policy. The leader attends all Corporate Induction Training sessions to talk about the key objectives of the organisation. The leaders meets with all new staff individually for half an hour. The leader takes a keen interest in staff and presents certificates to staff who have undertaken training or achieved a qualification, and most recently presented the winners of the fitness challenge. The leader delivers breakfast briefings.

The leader of the organisation attends each directorates team meeting to talk about the delivery plan. The leader has an open door policy. The leader attends all Corporate Induction Training sessions to talk about the key objectives of the organisation. The leaders meets with all new staff individually for half an hour. The leader takes a keen interest in staff and presents certificates to staff who have undertaken training or achieved a qualification, and most recently presented the winners of the fitness challenge. The leader delivers breakfast briefings.

The Group's induction process ensures learning and development is supported throughout the induction and probationary review process. They also have “Be Our IDEAL Candidate” which ensures their employees are given the best support and advice when applying for internal job opportunities and developing their careers across the group. Every job vacancy is advertised internally and includes a link to supporting information on how to complete an internal job application, and hints and tips on carrying out a successful interview, giving all candidates the best chance of success. Employees also have regular one to one's with the line managers and formal reviews are carried out as part of the annual and interim personal development review process. Learning and development opportunities are sought as part of this process and employees have personal development plans to support their personal development.

The last Friday of every month is a dress down day for charity when all staff donate £1 to that month's nominated charity. Employees are able to make nominations for a charity of their choice. The Group match whatever money is raised across each of the Group's locations. No upper limit has been placed on this initiative. The Group have also matched money being raised by individuals for various charities of their choice outside of work.

Arrows Group held its inaugural Arrows Group Sales Conference in October, bringing together the current and future leaders from all offices. The overall aim of this conference was to revisit the group strategy, explore best practices across the business and gain some in depth feedback from each division around how they are doing and how Arrow Group can improve. The event focussed on representing everyone within the company and the majority of the work done on the day was designed to take away practice improvements that were shared with everyone, so all colleagues can participate in building a world-class company. One of many reasons for appointing Greg Searle as Board Advisor for Coaching and Development, was to ensure Arrow Group could use his expertise in eliciting maximum engagement from employees to achieve the company's vision. One method involved offsite sessions for two days with team leaders, spending time with them to share the company's vision and performance goals, and encouraging participants to commit to actions and processes that contribute to these goals. These were then fed back for review against ongoing initiatives. The company's Personal Development Plans provide the primary route for a tailored approach to developing Arrow Group's employees' careers. Feedback is a critical component to the PDPs, ensuring the employee has a voice in their career path, and how their career contributes to the company's success. Feedback is gathered by each manager, and implementation is assessed in terms of practicality, relevance, and scope.

Arrows Group held its inaugural Arrows Group Sales Conference in October, bringing together the current and future leaders from all offices. The overall aim of this conference was to revisit the group strategy, explore best practices across the business and gain some in depth feedback from each division around how they are doing and how Arrow Group can improve. The event focussed on representing everyone within the company and the majority of the work done on the day was designed to take away practice improvements that were shared with everyone, so all colleagues can participate in building a world-class company. One of many reasons for appointing Greg Searle as Board Advisor for Coaching and Development, was to ensure Arrow Group could use his expertise in eliciting maximum engagement from employees to achieve the company's vision. One method involved offsite sessions for two days with team leaders, spending time with them to share the company's vision and performance goals, and encouraging participants to commit to actions and processes that contribute to these goals. These were then fed back for review against ongoing initiatives. The company's Personal Development Plans provide the primary route for a tailored approach to developing Arrow Group's employees' careers. Feedback is a critical component to the PDPs, ensuring the employee has a voice in their career path, and how their career contributes to the company's success. Feedback is gathered by each manager, and implementation is assessed in terms of practicality, relevance, and scope.

On the company's recent floatation on the London Stock Exchange, all employees received a grant of free shares in the company, giving them a vested interest in the future success of the organisation.

Arrow Global has a multi-tiered learning and development framework, which starts at core skill training, progresses through tailored training and top talent development, and peaks with executive development. In addition, internal knowledge sharing is key, the company runs a series of lunchtime master classes where leaders from different teams across the business give an overview of their area of responsibility to employees from other areas. The free lunch provided is a bonus. They also offer team specific breakfasts, mini master classes where technical skills/best practice is shared.

Arqiva believe that each employee should be regularly recognised for their individual contribution and that effective recognition is a key ingredient in creating a great place to work and increasing engagement. They have a range of recognition programmes to help with this including excellence awards and exceptional bonuses - over 20% of the company received at least one of these in the past 12 months, a generous long service award programme. Arqiva recognised 270 employees and 4,455 years of service during the past year and, most recently, introduced a Thank You scheme. They have already advised their employees of their FY15 bonus schemes so they are aware of the targets that they need to meet. The Thank You scheme is an intranet based tool which provides a fun and easy way for all employees and managers to send a personalised electronic thank you card to a colleague - a copy is also sent to the recipient's manager. The scheme has proved extremely successful with over 3,500 Thank Yous being sent in the first 6 months and this rate of usage continues. Arqiva have seen an increase over 14% in their Gallup score on recognition which increased by over 14% between 2013 and 2014 and they continue to look for opportunities to recognise their employees in ways that are meaningful to them.

Arqiva believe that each employee should be regularly recognised for their individual contribution and that effective recognition is a key ingredient in creating a great place to work and increasing engagement. They have a range of recognition programmes to help with this including excellence awards and exceptional bonuses - over 20% of the company received at least one of these in the past 12 months, a generous long service award programme. Arqiva recognised 270 employees and 4,455 years of service during the past year and, most recently, introduced a Thank You scheme. They have already advised their employees of their FY15 bonus schemes so they are aware of the targets that they need to meet. The Thank You scheme is an intranet based tool which provides a fun and easy way for all employees and managers to send a personalised electronic thank you card to a colleague - a copy is also sent to the recipient's manager. The scheme has proved extremely successful with over 3,500 Thank Yous being sent in the first 6 months and this rate of usage continues. Arqiva have seen an increase over 14% in their Gallup score on recognition which increased by over 14% between 2013 and 2014 and they continue to look for opportunities to recognise their employees in ways that are meaningful to them.

AKA have a full company meeting on a monthly basis where Adam the Group Chief Executive addresses all the staff with updates on new and existing business and also progress on key business objectives and information sharing. At their Annual Management presentation to the full company there is a Q&A session with Adam. Questions are submitted anonymously and asked of him sight unseen, as well as taking questions from the floor. They have an open plan office and Adam frequently walks around the full company, as well as operating an open door policy. Every 3 moths they have a drinks reception for all new staff which is hosted by Adam, where he and the board meet new starters

AKA have a full company meeting on a monthly basis where Adam the Group Chief Executive addresses all the staff with updates on new and existing business and also progress on key business objectives and information sharing. At their Annual Management presentation to the full company there is a Q&A session with Adam. Questions are submitted anonymously and asked of him sight unseen, as well as taking questions from the floor. They have an open plan office and Adam frequently walks around the full company, as well as operating an open door policy. Every 3 moths they have a drinks reception for all new staff which is hosted by Adam, where he and the board meet new starters

AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.

AgilityWorks have annual training budgets of £2500 for every employee and encourage training and development at all levels. They encourage employees to book training courses to ensure they use their allocated budget.