Academy's directors operate a door always open policy and ideas and suggestions are encouraged from the teams.

Academy Insurance Services offer health insurance to all employees and a cycle to work scheme

David and all senior managers at AAT ensures they are always accessible and visible by working and spending time at all of their work locations. David and all senior managers also attend local team meetings and keeps in touch with employees via the Intranet. David also keeps everyone informed via Twitter and our Ability Facebook page.

Ability Housing continually review how they can support their employees whilst at work. They believe by having and creating a work life balance, their employees will continue to give excellent support and service to their customers. All employees are aware of their health care cash plan as well as the support and advice which can be accessed by their Employee Assistance program. All Managers are empowered to listen and seek feedback and to take appropriate action. In addition as part of AbilityPOSITIVE+ they have set up a Wellbeing group which has enabled them to review their current practises and reward schemes. A Wellbeing group as been set up as part of AbilityPOSITIVE+ to review their current practices and benefits. Recently they enhanced their health plan to include an Employee Assistance Program as well as enhanced gym membership.

The organisation has a number of processes in place that allows colleagues to feedback their ideas and suggestions. Firstly, the organisation makes use of the intranet, Sharepoint and social media, Yammer, as tools for knowledge and idea sharing. All employees have access to these sites. A suggestion facility allows employees to share and feedback any ideas and suggestions they may have on any area of the business. This is a straightforward and effective process to allow all employees to be heard. The organisation also holds regular ‘town hall' meetings, which all employees can attend. In these meetings, a brief executive report is made about the current status of the business. Employees will then have the opportunity to ask any questions they have, discuss any emerging issues, voice their concerns and feedback on any ideas and suggestions they may have. The meeting is usually fairly informal, allowing the employees to take the lead and discuss the topics they feel are necessary. Abellio also aims to gain feedback from employees by conducting yearly engagement surveys. A gap analysis is used to understand areas for development and the feasible measures necessary to close the gap.

One of the many ways Abellio seeks to reward employees is through the Abellio Annual Achievement Awards. The awards evening is for all of the Abellio Group, including the operating companies. This special ceremony which is a formal black tie event, is a time for Abellio to award their employees for their efforts in a number of areas such as Excellence, Values, Innovation, Leadership, Teamwork, Employee of the Year. The awards have been established to celebrate the amazing job that their people do everyday for Abellio and for their customers. A particularly unique feature of the Abellio Awards, is the extra mile that the organisation goes to show how much they appreciate the efforts of the employees. As well as receiving an award for their efforts and a special evening out, Abellio also supply the winners with a gift experience voucher of their choice to the value of £350 per person and to a maximum of £1,750 for the team entry. Finalists who attend the Awards Ceremony also have all their expenses paid for to attend this, including travel, subsistence and overnight accommodation. If required, formal attire costs are also repaid.

AMV Grow saw 102 of their employees transform a neglected urban site into a community market garden over a two week period. This involved demolishing three garages, shifting 17 tonnes of soil and two tonnes of gravel, using 85 scaffold boards, 25 oil drums, 39 planters and planting over 380 plants. The project was in aid of the charity Tomorrow's People, who work to rehabilitate ex-offenders and help the unemployed into work. Tomorrow's People have now begun to place young people in horticultural training programmes on site. Secondly, AMV's charitable programme ‘Bud' encourages AMVers to make a difference to the world we live in, by helping others realise their potential. Over the past 12 months, this has included working with school pupils to guide them with their career choices, providing work placements for disadvantaged young people, and providing interview and job application advice to homeless clients of charity Crisis. Coordinating large-scale fundraising events, such as AMV BBDGO – 412 AMVers took part in a long-distance relay which involved the entire agency and raised over £30,000 for Brain Tumour Research. Pro-bono brand consultancy for charities such as The Prince's Trust and Mediatrust. AMV have a long-standing commitment to The Big House - a unique residential facility for London's long term homeless. This ‘second stage house' facilitates the final step back into mainstream society and is the result of a fifteen year innovative partnership between AMV and the West London Mission. AMV now act as an independent advisor for Social Work Mission and help with fundraising and branding advice.

Allowing the people of AMV to have a voice, is embedded in the company's culture. They have several processes in place to enable people to feedback ideas and suggestions. One example is the Account Management department suggestion box, in which everyone within that department is encouraged to post suggestions for improvements. The box is regularly checked and all suggestions are considered. Secondly, all employees at AMV have a free voice. It is engrained in their culture and everyone is supported and encouraged to share their ideas, thoughts and feedback to members of the management team. Thirdly, AMV use Survey Monkey surveys to conduct reviews of particular AMV offerings, which provides everyone with the opportunity to share anonymous feedback and insights and to share their thoughts on possible improvements.

The health and wellbeing of 1st Credit staff is extremely important to 1st Credit. They understand that sometimes throughout working life and personal life times can be difficult. Through ample communication with their staff during return to work interviews and one to one meetings they try to establish and eliminate any cause for concern. 1st Credit has established an open and honest ethos which encourages staff to share any concerns to prevent them escalating further. Working alongside a local doctor's surgery they obtain advice on dealing with work related stress in guidance of the HSE (Heath and Safety executive). 1st Credit also offer an Occupational Health service via the surgery; this enables staff to gain professional medical advice and provides further guidance to 1st Credit in making any further adjustments. They provide behavioural workshops at all levels in the company that address stress in the workplace and provide practical solutions on how to avoid and cope with the demands of the job. These courses are essential for teams who deal with sensitive issues faced by their customers such as bereavement, critical illness, and mental health. This level of development is not only about equipping employees with the skills, knowledge and confidence to deal with such issues but it also ensures that their employees are given a degree of resilience.

For the past 2 years 1st Credit have been visiting Oakwood School in Horley to provide financial awareness training as part of the educational curriculum. Nine sessions were delivered this year by employees who volunteered their time to provide lectures on Credit and Debt awareness, Credit Scoring and Credit Histories, as well as how to be aware of managing Credit as a young adult. In addition to this they also support a work experience programme as well as a kick start your career programme where they offer support and careers advice. Oakwood School is an important project for 1st Credit as it's not just a community initiative, but an opportunity to contribute to the future of their local community by providing sound career advice, debt management awareness and an opportunity for the students to experience a real working environment. 1st Credit hope the partnership that has developed with Oakwood School, will continue for many years to come.

Managers hold informal one to ones with their staff and formal quarterly reviews and both of these are used as methods to thank staff for a job well done. Some Managers also choose to use team meetings as a way of thanking staff in front of their colleagues so everyone is aware of what they have done. One Manager has her own set of thank you cards and she takes the time to write a personal message to the staff member thanking them or praising them for the action they have taken. All of their Managers use the mantra that they would not ask any of their team to do something they would not do themselves.

Wulvern Housing support employee development by their internal coaching development programme - this year they have trained 10 managers to become coaches so they can help and develop staff from across the business. Each coach had to complete a two training course on the basics of coaching, undertake a minimum of 10 hours coaching practice and report on the benefits to the business and the individual of the coaching experience before being added to the coaching bank. The coaching bank are now used to support staff identified by Managers as wanting additional development to progress or where they need performance improvement support. Coaches are now working across the business with staff from all team including Apprentices, Rising Stars and general colleagues needing support. They intend to run their second cohort of coaches training in February to widen the scope of this resource as they want coaching to be a key way that managers support their teams to develop and learn to make decisions and decide actions for themselves. Additionally they run quarterly updates for their coaching bank to give them insights to other methods and style of coaching to give them flexibility and alternatives to the GROW model they learned on the initial two day course. December will see the coaches exploring the Time to Think philosophy and methodology developed by Nancy Kline.

The organisation celebrate Thanks giving, Christmas, Eid and Divali.

The organisation celebrate Thanks giving, Christmas, Eid and Divali.

They have monthly awards for staff who have demonstrated the behaviours which fall in line with their values, passion, integrity and partnership (PIP). The Managing Director presents the winner with an award and they promote it through their news magazine, News at the Core, and the monthly company up date held for staff members. They have mugs, stress balls, stickers and posters all promoting the values.

They have monthly awards for staff who have demonstrated the behaviours which fall in line with their values, passion, integrity and partnership (PIP). The Managing Director presents the winner with an award and they promote it through their news magazine, News at the Core, and the monthly company up date held for staff members. They have mugs, stress balls, stickers and posters all promoting the values.

Colleagues took a break from their day jobs to help create a community garden just minutes from Walsall town centre. WHG leased a plot of land to Caldmore Village Festival Group to create an outdoor space for use by the whole community. In time, it will be used by local residents for growing fruit, vegetables and plants, outdoor education and recreation. Work to transform the site received a boost when WHG announced it would hold a community benefit day to support the venture on the ground. Colleagues from across the organisation turned out in force to do their bit, despite the wet and windy conditions. They rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in by digging, weeding, laying paths, clearing and tidying, trimming and pruning. Mohammed Arif, Vice-Chairman of Caldmore Village Festival Group, stopped off at the community garden during the event and said: “The WHG volunteers had turned up on a rain soaked day and impressed me with their dedication and commitment. On behalf of the group, I wish to thank WHG colleagues and sub-contractors who assisted them once again to make their community garden a reality. All the partners in this project have stood tall and really contributed; I have nothing but admiration for everyone. “

Walsall Housing Group have a recognition scheme called Going the Extra Mile (GEM). “Going the Extra Mile” is defined as activities that have a positive impact on WHG's customers, colleagues or both. The recognition is not for ‘doing the day job' but for activities that are seen to be above and beyond what would normally be expected. GEM in the Community is a colleague recognition scheme that promotes community benefits and rewards positive, community-minded behaviour. The scheme is based on colleagues' voluntary involvement in groups or activities outside working hours. The Emerald GEM recognises teams who go the extra mile to protect and improve the environment by minimising the impact of the company's activities, promoting sustainability initiatives, or suggesting innovative ways for them to become a greener organisation. Colleagues can be nominated by anyone within the business and, if approved by the individual's line manager, their achievements are shared their ‘outstanding colleagues' wall in the main office. They also receive a prize, tailored to the team or the individual and have included restaurant meals, gift vouchers, flowers and days out.

Walker Prestons Solicitors offers an enjoyable and positive working environment with regular team-bonding and building exercises.

Walker Prestons Solicitors offers total flexibility to employee development, allowing employees to take sufficient time off for their training. Significant paid training allows them to further their development.