What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

We held a staff BBQ on 9th September 2011 that all staff, family and friends were invited to attend. Locally sourced food proved a hit with many coming back for extra helpings. Games and other fun actives were arranged proving for a very enjoyable evening.

We held a staff BBQ on 9th September 2011 that all staff, family and friends were invited to attend. Locally sourced food proved a hit with many coming back for extra helpings. Games and other fun actives were arranged proving for a very enjoyable evening.

Supporting local residents to transform their neighbourhoods through environmental projects such as multi award winning Kingfisher trail project. In the 1960's this 1.75 mile area, known as ‘The Brook' was a place of beauty, where local people would often go to escape the bustle of urban life. Over the last few decades, the area was neglected and it became overgrown and a dumping ground for rubbish. The stream clogged up and became filthy and foul smelling. Four years ago, a group of local residents decided they would bring the area back to the place of beauty it once was. Working with the local community, Trent & Dove Housing, the Heart of Burton Partnership, East Staffordshire Council and Staffordshire County Council, they have achieved a tremendous amount. The area has now been transformed, and is once more a place where local people can come to relax, enjoy and escape from the stresses of urban life.

Supporting local residents to transform their neighbourhoods through environmental projects such as multi award winning Kingfisher trail project. In the 1960's this 1.75 mile area, known as ‘The Brook' was a place of beauty, where local people would often go to escape the bustle of urban life. Over the last few decades, the area was neglected and it became overgrown and a dumping ground for rubbish. The stream clogged up and became filthy and foul smelling. Four years ago, a group of local residents decided they would bring the area back to the place of beauty it once was. Working with the local community, Trent & Dove Housing, the Heart of Burton Partnership, East Staffordshire Council and Staffordshire County Council, they have achieved a tremendous amount. The area has now been transformed, and is once more a place where local people can come to relax, enjoy and escape from the stresses of urban life.

The theme of this October's Senior Management Team Roadshows was the 2020 Strategy, providing staff with the opportunity to hear as well as contribute to the goals and vision of the organisation. Senior Management asked staff what their involvement means to them giving them the chance to be more involved in preparing plans with colleagues on operational delivery. Nine roadshows took place across England in six locations; London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Exeter and Southampton. A survey was also sent out to staff to directly feed into the strategy. After staff consultation over childcare costs, The Children's Society has now implemented childcare vouchers for working parents. They can save parents up to £933 a year. The vouchers are a scheme where staff exchange part of their salary for tax and NI-free childcare. Staff have fed into organisational wellbeing and set out their requirements for good occupational health initiatives. The Children's Society has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to the health of its staff and now offers a confidential, free counselling service available to all staff, volunteers and their families. Many factors, including outside work may increase stress. Help has been arranged for free access to a specialist DAS Counselling Helpline. A voluntary employee discount scheme, Xtras has been introduced with offers spanning everyday essentials such as groceries, fuel, clothing and holidays that could make a big difference to staff's bank balance. Xtras is part of the UK's biggest and most generous employee discount scheme.

The theme of this October's Senior Management Team Roadshows was the 2020 Strategy, providing staff with the opportunity to hear as well as contribute to the goals and vision of the organisation. Senior Management asked staff what their involvement means to them giving them the chance to be more involved in preparing plans with colleagues on operational delivery. Nine roadshows took place across England in six locations; London, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Exeter and Southampton. A survey was also sent out to staff to directly feed into the strategy. After staff consultation over childcare costs, The Children's Society has now implemented childcare vouchers for working parents. They can save parents up to £933 a year. The vouchers are a scheme where staff exchange part of their salary for tax and NI-free childcare. Staff have fed into organisational wellbeing and set out their requirements for good occupational health initiatives. The Children's Society has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to the health of its staff and now offers a confidential, free counselling service available to all staff, volunteers and their families. Many factors, including outside work may increase stress. Help has been arranged for free access to a specialist DAS Counselling Helpline. A voluntary employee discount scheme, Xtras has been introduced with offers spanning everyday essentials such as groceries, fuel, clothing and holidays that could make a big difference to staff's bank balance. Xtras is part of the UK's biggest and most generous employee discount scheme.

Fishbowl reward scheme - The purpose of this scheme is to instantly reward behaviour that demonstrates their core CII values and /or shows development of personal competencies. It acts as an incentive as well as a form of recognition. Each department has a 'fishbowl' (lucky dip) containing tokens for a number of rewards such as; cinema tickets, lunch out, half day leave, shopping vouchers etc. A total of 10 rewards are placed in the bowl for each department (and are refreshed as used). When a member of staff is considered, by their manager or department head, to have excelled in demonstrating one of the values through their work, the staff member is invited to pick a reward. This reward scheme runs in addition to the regular bonus scheme and instant recognition (monetary) reward scheme. The scheme has proved popular with both staff and managers being well used with 63 rewards given since the scheme was launched in August 2010. The instant nature of the scheme and the fun and social nature of the rewards marks this scheme out from other rewards on offer in the organisation. It encourages staff to do their best every day and in every part of their work, not just when working on high profile or lengthy projects, and realise that this is recognised and valued.

Fishbowl reward scheme - The purpose of this scheme is to instantly reward behaviour that demonstrates their core CII values and /or shows development of personal competencies. It acts as an incentive as well as a form of recognition. Each department has a 'fishbowl' (lucky dip) containing tokens for a number of rewards such as; cinema tickets, lunch out, half day leave, shopping vouchers etc. A total of 10 rewards are placed in the bowl for each department (and are refreshed as used). When a member of staff is considered, by their manager or department head, to have excelled in demonstrating one of the values through their work, the staff member is invited to pick a reward. This reward scheme runs in addition to the regular bonus scheme and instant recognition (monetary) reward scheme. The scheme has proved popular with both staff and managers being well used with 63 rewards given since the scheme was launched in August 2010. The instant nature of the scheme and the fun and social nature of the rewards marks this scheme out from other rewards on offer in the organisation. It encourages staff to do their best every day and in every part of their work, not just when working on high profile or lengthy projects, and realise that this is recognised and valued.

Taunton School hold an end of year barbecue and farewell drinks. There is also The Armed man Concert at Wells Cathedral for everyone to attend.

John Newton leads with enthusiasm, energy and belief in what Tauanton School do.

St Wilfrids' education department provides an excellent programme of training and development that has a strong reputation for providing end of life care education. All courses here are offered to the external market but are available to employees of the Hospice to attend at no cost to the individual. Each member of staff has an annual performance review meeting with their line manager and training and development will be discussed as part of that meeting and on an ongoing basis through the year. External courses are supported where budget allows and they are also able to apply to Help the Hospices (National membership body for hospices) for professional development grants to support the costs of external courses. All employees attend an annual in house training session and other training is set up in response to identified needs e.g. shop managers have recently been trained in dealing with conflict.

St Wilfrids participate in activities promoted by the Dying Matters coalition which aims to promote increased awareness of the need to discuss issues relating to end of life and encourage everyone to plan for this and discuss their wishes and plans with their loved ones. An additional campaign was launched by Help the Hospices this October and Hospice Awareness Week was marked here by an open afternoon with the theme 'Be Surprised'. This event was held to promote better understanding of hospice care as well as encourage members of the public to discuss end of life issues.

At St Oswalds they believe wellbeing begins with the line manager/staff member relationship, underpinned by a range of support tools that can be accessed by either the line manager or member of staff. Contact and dialogue through one to one sessions and team meetings means that staff wellbeing is monitored on a regular basis. To support this the St Oswalds Staff Support leaflet is issued personally to each new member of staff by the HR Director when they join St Oswalds. She talks through in detail the range of support mechansisms in place to support them during their employment. Two examples are access to complementary therapies delivered by volunteer therapists at very low cost, appointments at end of day to fit in with working patterns, making use of the skills of volunteers. St Oswalds also offer referrals to external counselling with no questions asked about reason for referral so they remain highly confidential. Up to six sessions are offered but can be extended.

Claud Regnard, one of Consultants has just received a Lifetime Achievement award from Help the Hospices - the national umbrella organisation representing the hospice sector. Claud is renowned regionally, nationally and internationally for his expertise in specialist palliative care. He is also known for sharing his knowledge and learning with colleagues within palliative care. Claud has devised A Guide to Symptom Relief in Palliative Medicine, which is used by professionals aross the world, as a bedside textbook. Claud helped establish the UK's first Macmillan Nursing post for people with Learning Difficulty and they pioneered the development of DisDAT (Disability Distress Assessment Tool). It has been validated by Northumbria University and is now used by over 15 LD and mental health trusts, as well as by university research teams. It is included in the Mencap website and has its own website – www.disdat.co.uk In 1999 Claud developed CLiP. CLiP - Current Learning in Palliative Care – is a flexible education programme aimed at healthcare professionals. CLiP is now widely used in palliative care settings. It is available free online at www.helpthehospices.org and has been formally evaluated by Open University, which showed that it is an effective means of delivering learning and improving learning outcomes. Finally, Claud also devised a clinical response to the potential threat of ‘Pandemic Flu', which was shared with other hospices and and subsequently shaped Help the Hospice advice, as his paper was made available online to all members during the Swine Flu crisis in 2009.

St Nicholas sets an annual operational plan with clear objectives for each department which should then link to team and personal objectives. Budget setting for the year is done collaboratively with managers e.g. fundraising targets are set by what the team believe they can achieve.

St Nicholas Hospice are a charity and many of their social events are linked to fundraising. These activities do bring staff from all disciplines together in either participating in the event or helping or organising. They also hold an annual Christmas review where different departments including the Trustees secretly prepare acts. These are then performed to the whole organisation, patients and volunteers and this year's was another hilarious success.