What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

Keoghs have recently funded heavily in all their Team Leaders attending a Team Leadership Development Programme. This course was designed to run over 4 days over 4 months and consists of the following modules; Leading Teams, Developing High Performing Teams, Coaching and Engaging Teams. Each Team Leader upon completing the four modules is asked to do a work based project to be presented to a Business Unit Director. All Team Leaders and the Team Leaders of the future have attended this course which has been a great success.

Keoghs offer a number of ways for staff to offer ideas and feedback and work hard to encourage a two way information flow. Communication options available include: Internal newsletters (staff are encouraged to send in content), Daily business communications (a daily email issued to all staff covering a variety of topics – often used to promote opportunities for feedback), Surveys (undertaken for a range of topics from where to hold the staff Christmas party to feelings on particular issues going on within the firm), Forums (offers staff the ability to post questions to the Board which can be done anonymously if preferred), Meetings – Business update meetings are held quarterly, staff are encouraged to send in their questions prior to the event and are given the opportunity to ask questions at the meetings themselves. Surveys are then circulated to ask for feedback on the issues raised. Team meetings are also a great opportunity to gain feedback from staff in person.

In January 2011 Kelly Services hosted their annual Kelly Kick Off. It's such an important time in their business where their nationwide network of offices and the company's different divisions come together to celebrate their successes, whilst learning and engaging with colleagues, many who have never met. The focus of the event is always to ensure their employees feel important and engaged. The afternoon provides time to spend together, whilst learning about different areas of the business, hearing from the company's Leadership Team and being reminded of their strategy and goals. The evening focuses on celebration where they recognise a number of their employees for outstanding achievements and those going above and beyond to achieve their goals. Truly the most important social event in the organisation, Kelly Kick Off is the company's way of rewarding, recognising and celebrating their employees.

Kelly Services recently identified that when looking at their management population, a large number of them had been promoted internally. While this is a very positive realisation, it also means that as a company they need to ensure that they have the tools and skills that they need to be successful. As such the company designed and implemented a Business Manager Development Programme, which assesses and evaluates all managers within Kelly Services and then creates an individual specific development programme. This programme can comprise of a wide range of different learning techniques; including class room based training, job shadowing, mentoring and individual project work, to target the development needs of each manager. The feedback that the company have received for this programme so far has been very positive and this approach is a very important part of their learning and development strategy going forward.

Jumeirah Hotels have implemented Shining Stars - an instant reward scheme where managers give an on the spot thank you card and in cases of excellent work - a cheque to be redeemed from the 'treasure chest'. Prizes include a night stay in the hotel, high street shopping vouchers, a massage plus many more rewards.

Each piece of work given to a staff member is formally reviewed by a more Senior Manager, thereby providing very regular feedback. Appraisals are carried out twice yearly for all staff, ensuring that all employees know what is expected of them, and receive feedback on the macro level.

Each piece of work given to a staff member is formally reviewed by a more Senior Manager, thereby providing very regular feedback. Appraisals are carried out twice yearly for all staff, ensuring that all employees know what is expected of them, and receive feedback on the macro level.

The company facilitate 3 packages for all of their staff to take advantage of they are ;- Private medical cover: Healthshield Health Plan that also offers an employee assistance programme and gym membership with a local gym. All of the above have been extremely effective and popular with the team.

Lunn's has always provided financial support to worldwide disaster appeals. They are also proud of the fact that they have provided stable employment over the past 30 years through which N Ireland and Belfast city centre in particular was considered a hostile place with violence that was reported around the world.

Emails from the CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee to all employees to keep them up to date with the firm's developments and to ensure that they were the first to hear about any key decisions made by management.

The company have acted on the results of the survey by communicating to management and the board what they do well and what they could do better. This will be followed by 'next steps' and an evaluation.

The company now have personal development plans for all employees and all job roles. This has seen a great improvement in staff engagement and productivity.

The company carry out their own staff survey every April as well as the Best Companies in October. Each dealership has a staff group that work with managers to improve staff satisfaction. All dealership staff receive an update presentation every three months regarding the company. This is usually followed by food, drinks and socialising.

Every manager that joins Jagex goes through a session on setting objectives and ensuring they are Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Realistic and Timed. Managers ensure that through the PDR each employee has complete clarity on what is expected of them and they review their performance against their objectives on a monthly basis. In addition to the annual bonus, managers reward staff through their flash bonus system, effectively a cash bonus can be awarded to anyone at any time by their manager from a pot of funds put aside by the company to the value of 2% of all salaries.

As a company they have a "giving back committee" who work with the HR team to bring fund raising ideas to fruition, supporting events such as Children In Need and Red Nose Day. In the last financial year they have donated £156,944 to various charities. The company have also rolled out ‘just giving' which is where employees can donate to any charity they want to via payroll which comes from their gross salary, they save on PAYE deductions.

Managers recognise and reward employees. They recognise over achievers and consider the level of support individuals will need to achieve their tasks. They review this regularly asking for feedback on how they feel things are going and also make communication a priority through regular team meetings and 1-2-1's and Personal Career Discussions are offered to all their direct reports. They are open to receiving information from others, asking questions and responding to feedback and have an open door policy. They also organise team events and nights out to enable team members to socialise.

Managers recognise and reward employees. They recognise over achievers and consider the level of support individuals will need to achieve their tasks. They review this regularly asking for feedback on how they feel things are going and also make communication a priority through regular team meetings and 1-2-1's and Personal Career Discussions are offered to all their direct reports. They are open to receiving information from others, asking questions and responding to feedback and have an open door policy. They also organise team events and nights out to enable team members to socialise.

A particularly memorable and enjoyable social event held by Integralis, was the Olympics on Ice event in May 2011. 46 employees, from different divisions of the business, came together at a local ice-rink, for a number of team-building exercises. Without knowing what they were getting themselves into, Integralis employees turned up ready and willing to enjoy the event. There were a number of games that took place on the ice, all of which were based on creating trust and confidence in team members. Employees were linked up with other people that they may not have normally interacted with on a daily basis. Trust was a real necessity, especially as employees wore shoes (and not ice-skates), so were even more likely to slip and fall without their colleagues' help. This was a totally different event, something that had never been done before. It was great fun, and everyone talked about it for a long time afterwards.

The Social and Charity Committee nominates a local and national charity for the company to support each year. Often, Integralis purchase a table at an event or ball, usually for the national charity, and they invite all employees to nominate someone to attend the ball who they believe has gone above and beyond the call of duty in their work. Nominations must be backed up with examples and then the 10 employees who receive the most nominations are invited to the ball. In November 2010, 10 employees attended the Enchanted Ball at the Savoy for Macmillan cancer support.