What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

Long service awards - This is an annual event which rewards and recognises staff contribution through long service, loyalty and commitment. At the annual Long Service Awards Banquet, Botanic Inns recognises 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years service, through the awarding of additional holidays, presentation jewellery, holidays and cash rewards. This event is attended by staff receiving the awards, their partners and the Senior Management Team. To recognise the importance of this event and to emphasise the contribution made by staff, the Lord Mayor is invited to say a special word of thanks and to underline the part that staff play, not only toward company success but also to the community in which they work.

The company held its Annual “Celebrate Your Success” event which celebrated and recognised training achievement and individual staff development. This event was attended by over 200 staff who undertook a variety of training programmes ranging from customer services to professional cookery. Staff who attended the event were addressed by the Managing Director who personally thanked each member of staff and awarded certificates to mark their achievements. The Celebrate Your Success event was also attended by a representative of the Pubs Federation who emphasised the importance of the Companies' reputation, not only within the trade but also in the wider community in which it operates. Attendees at this event had the opportunity to meet staff from different areas of the business and to see for themselves, how they as a staff team which is responsible for the continued success of the Company. Feedback from staff in terms of the “Feel Good Factor” has been excellent and it has resulted in an increase in morale as demonstrated in this year's annual survey.

Visitors to Boots' Support Office in Nottingham are greeted by a “Hall of Fame” that extends along numerous walls. This shows the names and faces of the hundreds of their colleagues in the Stores, Support Office, Logistics teams and Opticians who have been recognised for their exceptional performance. The achievements of these individuals and teams are celebrated annually at the company ‘Best of the Best' awards and whilst not everyone in the business can attend these events, Boots make sure everyone gets to hear about their achievements through cascades and magazine articles that follow soon afterwards helping showcase the great work that goes on across their business.

In 2012 thousands of Boots' colleagues and customers all over the country took part in events to raise money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support. These events included climbing mountains, running marathons, a virtual cycle ride from Nottingham to Monaco on exercise bikes, walking Hadrian's Wall and the Welsh coastal path. Their ambition is to cover 290,000 miles – one mile for each person diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. Macmillan's Big Walk at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire on 8 September was Boots' biggest event yet. They promoted the walk through a variety of communications, including an invite from their CEO and donated £10 for every colleague who signed up. Over 1,400 people took part, including the entire Executive team. Over 50 Boots colleagues helped as volunteers.

Bolton Lads and Girls Club have created a Staff Forum, which has a representative from each department and ensures the majority of employees have the opportunity to influence change within the Club.

Bolton Lads and Girls Club ensure all managers have sufficient skills to conduct professional and productive supervisions and formal reviews, which are used to track an individual's needs, development and career ambitions.

Managers undertake a formal bi yearly review and have regular performance conversations to ensure that the objectives remain specific, realistic and achievable based on the individual team members' roles. These formal reviews are documented and completion is reported to the BMS Group Board. BMS performance management process includes the setting of SMART objectives to ensure that what is expected from their employees is realistic and achievable. The completion of these objectives is linked to the bonus reward to recognise those that have performed well.

BMS introduced a number of new Well Being initiatives in 2012 and these included the subsidised funding of a well being activity and an annual health assessment. The comprehensive health assessments were held on site and each employee received a personalised health report giving the overall status of their well being and advice and recommendations on appropriate individual health targets and ways to maintain or improve their health. Both options were well received and take up was higher than anticipated. The activity funding was attractive because it allows individuals to do an activity of their personal choice rather than being limited to gym-based options and the health assessment was attractive because it was convenient to schedule in a welcoming environment and only took an hour out of the employee's day.

Bibendum run regular group discussions which are chaired by the Managing Director. These sessions are open forums for a small group of employees to ask questions and make suggestions. A lot of their developments over the years have come about as a result of these sessions such as an increase to the holiday allowance and the introduction of long service awards. The MD has an open door policy and genuinely encourages employees to speak to him whenever they want. Bibendum run a series of values workshops where a group of employees goes away for a few days to discuss the company values and how they affect the day-to-day lives at Bibendum. These workshops are great ways of getting feedback from employees and as a result a number of group-led initiatives have emerged such as reworking the employee reward programme.

Bibendum run regular group discussions which are chaired by the Managing Director. These sessions are open forums for a small group of employees to ask questions and make suggestions. A lot of their developments over the years have come about as a result of these sessions such as an increase to the holiday allowance and the introduction of long service awards. The MD has an open door policy and genuinely encourages employees to speak to him whenever they want. Bibendum run a series of values workshops where a group of employees goes away for a few days to discuss the company values and how they affect the day-to-day lives at Bibendum. These workshops are great ways of getting feedback from employees and as a result a number of group-led initiatives have emerged such as reworking the employee reward programme.

Reward for performance is a key facet of the remuneration strategy and therefore there is an opportunity for each employee to achieve a significant amount of their annual compensation through commission on sales. This is, however, a fairly rigid scheme and does not really achieve the relevant in company recognition desired. In order to address this the business has for some years run an annual incentive. This is launched each year at the annual conference and takes the form of the top ten employees/managers going on an all expenses paid overseas trip for four nights. The purpose of this trip is to engender healthy internal competition, create a high achiever business forum - one day of the trip is devoted to a business improvement workshop and recognise performance within the business. Every employee, whether in sales, administration or management is included in this incentive and there are regular monthly updates as to how each employee is doing against their objectives. For the first time in 2012 Berkeley Scott also introduced a silver and bronze level to reward individuals who over performed but did not make the overseas trip. This involved cash prizes and extra holiday days and was extremely well received

As a company Berkeley Scott strives to ensure that all of its employees are set challenging targets to get the best out of them, that are both realistic and achievable. The Managers of the business are given the autonomy and freedom to set their own financial targets, budgets and Key Performance indicators, which are benchmarked internally across the parent company and then externally across the sector. All managers are encouraged to operate an open door policy to facilitate open and approachable relationships with their teams. The Managing Director has individual 1:1s with each employee at least twice a year, to ensure that they have a clear understanding of how they feel within their role, which is then cascaded to the managers.

To encourage BCM employees to report safety violations or close calls. They incentivise a periodic reporting system by raffling £100 every 4 weeks.

To encourage BCM employees to report safety violations or close calls. They incentivise a periodic reporting system by raffling £100 every 4 weeks.

Project teams regularly complete volunteering activities in their local area to give back to the communities BAM are working within. e.g. BAM Plant redevelopment of a school playground into a beach themed play area.

Project teams regularly complete volunteering activities in their local area to give back to the communities BAM are working within. e.g. BAM Plant redevelopment of a school playground into a beach themed play area.

Avanta has a monthly team-based incentive scheme that seeks to reward employees collectively for achieving increases in performance. The main aim of the scheme to increase the number of job starts that can be sustained into claimed outcomes and sustainments. Each branch is set a monthly target based on a benchmark of their previous three months' performance. Performance is measured by the number of job starts, including first and subsequent jobs, as well as the number of starts on the Enterprise programme. In each of the five regions, the branch that demonstrates the highest level of improvement against their benchmark will receive the incentive. Measuring improvement on performance means that small branches have an equal chance of winning compared to their large branches. Each eligible member of a winning branch will receive £400.

In November 2011 Avanta held a Managers Conference for all Line Managers across the business. It was at this event when they officially launched their new vision and values, thus it provided the perfect opportunity for the Chairman and Managing Director to be clear about the strategy and the future direction of the business. All the Managers broke out into groups to discuss how they would practically implement the vision and values. This enabled the Managers to think creatively and share ideas with their peer group. Avanta also had an external motivational speaker at the conference, who spoke about their personal journey, to inspire their Managers to strive to excel in everything they do. In the evening the Senior Leadership team hosted a dinner and dance for all the delegates. This was particularly enjoyable, as the Managers were able to socialise outside of business hours and network with their peer group from different parts of the organisation.

Astbury Marsden think it's important to continually invest in their people to equip them with the skills to always be at the top of their game. The company have been recognised with a Bronze Investors in People award.

This year, Astbury Marsden top billers were rewarded for their hard work with an all expenses paid trip to Ibiza. The group left the office on Friday morning for their flight to Ibiza. They stayed in the world renowned 'Pacha Hotel' and were given free entry to the VIP area of a number of clubs. The next day was spent lounging on the beautiful beaches of Ibiza and was followed up with a delicious meal in one of Ibiza's most exclusive restaurants. As usual, the people on the trip said it was one of the best weekend's of their lives, you can't ask more than that!!