What are companies doing with regards to 'My Company'

All of the companies 4 London charities were given £10,000 each plus Railway Children to which 50% of their Corporate Responsibility budget is donated. The company also have money tins throughout the building, sponsored sleep outs, quiz nights and pennies from heaven donations. Employees also undertake individual activities including a Trailwalker event where employees walked 100km in 3 days and Cookery workshop with the Kids Company.

As part of the companies Talking Talent framework they have ‘Voices 360', which is a feedback tool developed and used within their Leadership tool. The company also offer programmes in coaching, mentoring and leadership as part of this framework. The company are also open to individual employee development and all requests for qualifications are looked at on an individual basis and agreed when appropriate.

The leader of Avanti is an inspirational entrepreneur and leader who paints his vision clearly so that their people understand and act to deliver. He is also present at an all-staff quarterly meeting that ends with a Q&A with him. All senior team members manage by walkabout. Being a workforce of less than 100 with most based at the Head Offices, they all work closely with each other, especially their Senior Management Team

Excellent work is highlighted at staff quarterly meetings as are employee promotions. All-staff quarterly meetings are hosted by their CEO and company update emails from the CEO keep them informed of their progress. Avanti actively welcome new joiners and all new starters are introduced at the staff meetings and an email is circulated introducing them and their role to everyone. Avanti also have an intranet for all employees. They are also introducing a SharePoint based, file sharing infrastructure for all staff to be able to access information through one portal.

Autodesk is part of an extremely competitive global business environment. Their continued success as an organisation is dependent upon their ability to hire and engage great people throughout the world whose talents allow them to produce the best products and deliver the best solutions in the industry. There are many elements, like compensation and benefits, work environment and time off, that enable them to convince extraordinary people to decide to seek them out and once at Autodesk, stay with them. Their Total Rewards programmes are designed to help Autodesk accomplish their goal of attracting, retaining, and engaging the very best employees.

One Autodesk employee "banked" their volunteer hours and spent some time participating in a volunteer program in Salvador, Brazil. The placement was working at a Sisters of Charity day care centre in one of the favelas (shanty town) on the outskirts of Salvador. These centres were set up through Mother Teresa's mission to care for the poorest children in the community and provide them with food, shelter and love. The employee's role at the centre was to help with feeding, playing (using development activities as far as possible) and washing. Other employees have participated in career coaching and workshops in local schools and community centres.

AoC is flexible and allows employees to work from home on an occasional basis to accommodate personal appointments/deliveries etc. Their IT system allows full access to the office systems remotely and makes this a realistic alternative to being in the office. The company also ran a practical session on Stress Relief at the recent all staff away day, understanding the importance of maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

AoC is flexible and allows employees to work from home on an occasional basis to accommodate personal appointments/deliveries etc. Their IT system allows full access to the office systems remotely and makes this a realistic alternative to being in the office. The company also ran a practical session on Stress Relief at the recent all staff away day, understanding the importance of maintaining a healthy work/life balance.

Within the community Apex recognise that as an 'employer of choice' they must develop their standing as a responsible business. They recruit locally through the Job Centre and local advertising. They enable employees to undertake voluntary activities through their 'Working in the Community' initiative and support lots of charities through financial donations and other fund raising activities. Wherever possible they source from local suppliers and service providers who they treat fairly at all times. To promote local businesses they also have some local discounts negotiated and they have specifically targeted smaller local businesses and charities to support with our 'Working in the Community' work. .

To ensure employee recognition the organisation have a Team of the Month award nominated by fellow colleagues, they also have a The Team of the Month award funds are provided for the winning team to go out on a social event of their choice. At Directors discretion other team rewards/bonuses may also be awarded. Team building events occur 3-5 times a year. Most recently the Senior Leadership Team undertook ‘Insights' training to consider how they work together and interact as a team. This programme involved a number of team building sessions. The 'Work in the Community' initiative was also attended and proved to be a fabulous team building event.

The company ensure that they explain to employees why they have the budget for pay and bonuses. Angel Trains reward their high performing employees well, aiming to pay upper quartile compensation. They also offer competitive benefits including a defined benefit pension scheme or 15% contribution of salary, 30 days holiday for most employees and free permanent health insurance. Average training spend in the UK tends to be £300 per head, whereas in Angel Trains it averages over £1,800 per head.

Senior managers and the executive attended a 'fit for leadership' course which includes a full health assessment. All staff are offered discounted health screening through BUPA. If employees have a medical appointment they are given flexibility to attend. Angel Trains actively encourage a good work/life balance. They offer flexible working to accommodate personal circumstances. Angel Trains also hold a learning lunch, where they had a nutritionist come in to talk to employees regarding their general health and ways to manage stress. They offer a free employee assistance programme for employees to call for confidential advice. The company are also involved in the cycle to work scheme.

The company encourages participation in the FitNut Challenge which is a programme aimed at encouraging employees to take an interest in their own health and wellbeing. The FitNut Challenge is a team-based healthy eating and exercise campaign where individual participants improve their ‘feel good factor'. It kicks off with each person having their weight, height, blood pressure and body fat ratio recorded. Over the subsequent two months they are provided with a weekly newsletter outlining a diet and exercise regime. The team or person with the greatest improvement then selects a charity to receive a cash donation.

Aker Solutions reward strategy is based on their people policy. The policy expects the organisation to target reward systems to ensure a high performing culture. They reward people through a variety of means. Their base salary now includes any car allowance, meaning a higher salary for pensions and other salary-related benefits. They provide a varied range of benefits that aims to provide for all generations, including childcare vouchers, maternity and paternity schemes, bicycle voucher scheme, on-site gyms, occupational health provision, pension provision and other supporting insurances for people.

?What If! are firm believers in sharing profit amongst their people. Every year the Holdings Board agrees the financial plan and the level at which they can trigger the employee profit share. Last year the whole company benefited from 4% profit share of their salary. They are hoping to pay 4% this year depending on how they finish the year. At Christmas they have previously given people a gift of either vouchers or a box of wine as a special thank you to everyone for working so hard, with a personal note from the CEO included.

?What If! have developed a work experience programme that means they are committed to giving the opportunity to young people in the local area to apply for work experience at ?What If! They have a policy to make sure that they avoid nepotism from the children of clients or our families. They are committed to helping young people to have a start in a company like ours who do not have any contact in this industry.

People managers within Age UK North Tyneside are constantly reinforcing the values of the organisation to help promote the way in which they look for respect to be given to one and other. Their code of conduct policy also helps to create a way of working which is accepted by all. As part of the sustainability of the organisation and the diversity agenda they apply for grant funding and tender opportunities and a number of tool kits are used to support managers to help them prepare applications which in turn supports their business development and understanding.

The organisation actively promotes a healthy work/life balance and the main centre which is open to the general public closes at 4.30pm. Their core hours are up to 4.30pm and staff are encouraged to finish and get away on time. The company have also just been awarded bronze standard of 'Better Health at Work'. This is a comprehensive facility to help them internally promote the message of better health and help to monitor employees. All elements of wellbeing are covered in the better health campaign, brochures, information leaflets and campaign road shows are available as part of this organisations commitment to better health at work.

Particular work this year has been on the carbon footprint of staff travel. All under desk bins are removed and replaced by recycling centres. Also a "Not In The Bin" scheme to recycle unwanted equipment is in place. They have been running a sustainability training course for all staff for over ten years. This not only addresses specifics but also deals with the broader context so people really understand the issues.

Staff are involved in regular events held by the Chief Executive. There is also a rolling piece on the front page of the intranet and a rolling Chief Exec notice board on which staff can comment. She operates in an open and honest style, not only giving direction but explaining why that is the direction and is as open and honest with bad news as with good. She demonstrates that she really cares about the organisation's mission and is seen to be a member of the team, sleeves rolled up delivering.