They take a genuine interest in their people and want to encourage every individual to be the best they can be. If someone has a disability or medical concern they will look as far as is reasonably possible to support that person. They understand it can be daunting to speak out and some people could be worried about how the firm, or their manager, might react if they asked for help. Therefore, last year we introduced Disability Champions who are available to help fellow employees by offering confidential, non-judgmental support and encouragement. This support will vary depending on the individual's situation and wishes but may just be providing a sympathetic ear or offering practical support by knowing where they can get appropriate help and guidance. They also support employees who are going through fertility treatment, which is an exceptionally stressful time, by offering confidential support by way of someone to talk to who has some understanding of what they are going through and time off for treatment and flexibility for appointments.

They take a genuine interest in their people and want to encourage every individual to be the best they can be. If someone has a disability or medical concern they will look as far as is reasonably possible to support that person. They understand it can be daunting to speak out and some people could be worried about how the firm, or their manager, might react if they asked for help. Therefore, last year we introduced Disability Champions who are available to help fellow employees by offering confidential, non-judgmental support and encouragement. This support will vary depending on the individual's situation and wishes but may just be providing a sympathetic ear or offering practical support by knowing where they can get appropriate help and guidance. They also support employees who are going through fertility treatment, which is an exceptionally stressful time, by offering confidential support by way of someone to talk to who has some understanding of what they are going through and time off for treatment and flexibility for appointments.

As well as providing free fruit and reduced cost gym memberships to employees, Wolters Kluwer has launched 'My Benefits'; a flexible benefits programme designed to fit in with employee's lifestyles. Covering Health & Wellbeing, the programme includes Dental Insurance, Health Assessments, Private Medical Insurance, a Medical Cash Plan and a cycle to work scheme. They also provide a free and confidential Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). This service offers expert advice, information, specialist counselling and support for employees and their immediate family. The service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week and can provide wide ranging information and guidance on topics such as buying a new home, having children, relationships, managing money, retirement personal and family crisis and staying healthy to name but a few.

The Executive and Senior Management Team have actively improved communication methods to engage employees with the Company's mission and values. Cathy Wolfe, CEO, and the senior managers deliver regular road shows at the two main head office sites in the UK. At these they give a business update on the different businesses, outline the main priorities for the present and future and offer employees the opportunity to ask questions to the Executive and Senior Management Team. In addition to these employee road shows the organisation has developed monthly newsletters and blogs from senior managers to keep employees up to date with business activity. These newsletters are also used for more informal updates such as introduction to new starters in the business, announcement or marriages or births and so forth. There has also been the recent addition of social media communication tools. Yammer has proven to be a successful way of engaging employees to have informal business conversations with colleagues from across the business. The Senior Management Team proactively encourages these online conversations.

Over the last 12 months, the Senior Management Team has been broadened and now includes a representative from all parts of the organisation and meetings are held monthly. This has enhanced communications between departments and also from the top down and has been driven by a desire to make sure that everyone in the business is informed about the decisions that are being made and developments within the business. The chairman, Tom Bloxham MBE is committed to hard work, fresh ideas and building relationships and he is well known and respected across the company for these reasons. He is open and available to all staff. One of the things he always tells new recruits is that no question is trivial and if a question is important to them then it is important to him. From his open door policy, induction presentations, staff lunches or quarterly staff meetings, he is open to ideas, feedback, criticism and questions.

In 2008, they set up the Urban Splash Charitable Trust. The overall ambition for the trust is to be involved with local organisations and charities that are poorly funded. It was set up to fund projects related to deprived communities, the arts and urban regeneration. The trust is funded from the profits of the Urban Splash Group. At the moment, the main activity of the trust is the operation of a scheme whereby each member of staff can nominate his or her favourite charity to receive a donation of up to £100 in any one year. Staff often request help with sponsored events in which they are personally taking part.

Trend Control runs an "Attitude Apprenticeship Scheme" that currently has 65 apprentices enrolled and 60 Apprentices graduated. They are undertaking training to become a Building Energy Management Engineer. Trend Control employs a scheme manager and a scheme administrator to devise the training schemes, oversee apprentice progress, providing mentoring where necessary. This is the only scheme of its kind in the industry. The scheme is available to everyone in Trend Control and they have had a number of internal employees, several from the factory who have joined the scheme and have developed into qualified engineers.

Managers often mentor high performing employees from other departments in the business, providing support guidance and a sounding board to support employee development. As part of the Enhancing Service Excellence training, Trend Control run an additional module for managers called "crediting". This is where they train managers on how to recognise their employees with words so that they can understand the impact their work has had on others and the wider business.

The Toolbank News Letter which is sent out every 3-4 months in the year has worked really well as employees are constantly informing them of any fund raising they have been doing, welcoming new staff, congratulating colleagues on their nuptials or new arrivals. The news letter has allowed employees to get involved and the feedback from employees has been that the news letter has been very well received as it is great to know what is going on in the other branches.

The Toolbank News Letter which is sent out every 3-4 months in the year has worked really well as employees are constantly informing them of any fund raising they have been doing, welcoming new staff, congratulating colleagues on their nuptials or new arrivals. The news letter has allowed employees to get involved and the feedback from employees has been that the news letter has been very well received as it is great to know what is going on in the other branches.

The company provide staff with access to gyms at a discounted rate via PruHealth, their medical insurance provider. They have enrolled their company in the PruHealth ‘well-being' programme, through which staff can accrue points for living a healthier life-style. Staff can use these points to get discounts for holidays, cinemas, etc. The company also have a relationship with Occupational Health professionals and if appropriate will refer staff to these professionals at company expense (for example, to assist staffing in receiving specialist assistance relating to difficult-to-diagnose medical conditions).

The company organises bi-weekly 'retrospective' meetings where employees collectively look at what they have been working on - what went well, what could be improved and any other areas that employees would like to discuss. The company gives quarterly Core Values awards to staff members who demonstrate behaviours that are consistent with their Core Values.

The company have a structured charitable giving approach which incorporates the following: * Duke of Edinburgh charity - as a company they donate 20k per year to the charity, as well as employees partaking in events, and raising money for the charity, during the course of the year. A charity and CSR committee that are dedicated to raising money for events and ensuring they are doing all they can as a business to reduce their impact on the environment.

The company have a structured charitable giving approach which incorporates the following: * Duke of Edinburgh charity - as a company they donate 20k per year to the charity, as well as employees partaking in events, and raising money for the charity, during the course of the year. A charity and CSR committee that are dedicated to raising money for events and ensuring they are doing all they can as a business to reduce their impact on the environment.

The Book People's HR Department facilitate a Wellbeing Week' where the company encourages people to get involved in site activities to raise awareness of wellbeing matters. Past events have included dancing, yoga, healthy food options, massage and facials, a 'walks and talks' challenge with pedometers to measure the walkers who achieved the most miles throughout the week. The company have also funded Weight Watchers type programmes in-house to encourage healthy eating.

The Book People offer employees recycling opportunities and a cycle to work scheme.

TAFC are continuously looking for ways in which they can reward their staff. This doesn't always have to have a monetary value to it, but Authentic appreciate how hard their team work and want to make sure they feel valued and their loyalty and dedication to the business does not go unnoticed. Alongside bonus payments, pay increases and internal promotions, TAFC offer "spot rewards". These "spot rewards" include concert and football tickets, champagne, hotel breaks and shopping vouchers. These are presented by the MD and the company believe this is a great way of keeping their staff motivated as well as thanking and rewarding them for their hard work. These can be received for implementing a new process or simply being a supportive member of the team.

The Annual Company Presentation involves all staff and is spread out across a whole day. The first part of the day is spent in a workshop style. Each of the company's Board members had a station and the team were spilt into groups and rotated around each station. Each Board member would talk through their departments activities-past, present and future; their goals and how they planned to achieve them. They each had a Q&A section where the employees were able to put questions they had direct to the Board member. This proved to be an effective exercise and a great way for both the Board and employees to communicate. The second half of the session was spent with the MD presenting to the whole company his vision for Authentic and his chance to praise those that had worked exceptionally hard over the last twelve months.