People Managers Matter

The business stepped up its online communication with all staff when it moved to fully remote working last year. Managers took the initiative in providing information and support, answering questions in video chats and emails. Its wellbeing Slack channel has never been more active.

Each month or so there have been group-wide team sing-alongs and mini-competitions to raise everyone's spirits. Many Teams groups were set up to prevent people from feeling isolated – especially those working at home, and a fitness challenge helped competitive colleagues to track their overall kilometres and achievements.

A core LTE value is being one team, with staff collaborating and contributing to company goals. The organisation's senior leadership team of around 60 people represents its current and future leaders and meets times a year to share performance and development.

Wilton & Bain helped to raise funds to provide laptops to needy children for home-schooling during lockdown. Many families didn't have access to the basic equipment that was required, with Ofcom estimating that more than 1m children weren't able to get hold of a laptop, desktop or tablet at home.

The company relaunched its values during lockdown with none of the management team or board involved in setting the tone of the organisation. These are strength in diversity, stronger together, challenging the status quo, and we never settle – a commitment to exceptional delivery.

Learning Pool is committed to behaving ethically, focusing on its local communities and on the development of continuous environmental initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint. As an online enterprise, it empowers customers to help create a more sustainable world by using its technology.

The senior management team is heavily involved in talent nurturing, supporting career growth and development by mentoring employees and allowing everyone to reach their full potential. It also promotes family-friendly working hours, including flexible working, which was appreciated by staff during the pandemic.

Company Days are held three times a year where everyone comes together for business updates, the opportunity to network and to have a bit of fun. Online social activities such as talent shows, coffee connects, pet pageants, cook-alongs and garden walk-arounds all also attracted good levels of attendance and feedback.

Lane4's Magic Mondays business updates are now held virtually, with the leadership team joining the sessions. A monthly extended leadership forum includes all heads of department and above and allows for an hour's discussion on topics key to the company.

In 2020, an survey showed that colleagues wanted to see Karmarama do more to fight the climate crisis. So Green Karma – with a goal to minimise the company's impact on the world and maximise efforts for the world – was formed. With the support of the, Green Karma committed the business to be net carbon-zero by 2025.

The weekly Assembly (all-hands meeting) was digitised from week one of the pandemic, so all staff members heard CEO Ben Bilboul and other business leaders deliver a combination of light-hearted announcements and presentations, as well as more serious business topics.

All results of surveys are shared with the internal staff working group. In response to the feedback, a more flexible working system will be rolled out when employees start to return to the office – if, indeed, coming in is what they prefer. The agency has also reviewed holiday policies and created social interaction strategies via in-house tools.

Covid-19 placed huge concern and worry on the global workforce, so Kagool reassured its people on a personal and a professional level. Safety for staff and their loved ones was paramount and supported with a family-first approach. With the seismic impact of the coronavirus on the global economy, employees were reassured about job security.

Team interaction has not been curbed by the pandemic with the company introducing a range of initiatives including a weekly kid's club for work-at-home parents, exercise sessions, dance classes and entertainment from a comedian and a professional singer. Online mixology classes and a “Quarantini” virtual bar night have proved popular.

Founder Simon Martin has led from the front on the company's diversity policy, launching a Changemakers programme to coach employees on what it means to be anti-rascist, not just non-rascist. More than 40 changemakers have been trained and a dedicated Diversity & Inclusion lead hired.

Traditionally Ikano Bank has rewarded staff with vouchers worth between £75 - £175 to share with their friends and family and has given digital gifts such as Echo Dots, Virgin Experience Days, additional holidays and even trips to Sweden to fully embrace the Ikano culture.

In addition to organising webinars on topics such as Leading in Times of Change, Addictive Behaviours, and Resilience, Ikano Bank collectively challenged staff to walk, run or cycle the distance from Nottingham to its offices in Sweden over the period of a week.

Concerns were raised about physical and mental wellbeing when lockdown restrictions precluded employees from leaving home. Staff spearheaded a Healios group on an exercise tracking app to support and generate fitness-related activities and ideas. The company continued its weekly mindfulness sessions, fortnightly yoga classes and “Walking Wednesdays”.

Last year, Healios launched the Healios Academy, a career-development initiative for experienced clinicians to develop autism assessment skills. The academy was set up to address Helios's need to expand its neurodevelopmental team, as a result of unprecedented demand for its assessment services.

Lots of teams do lots of different things to try to replicate some of the things they are missing about the office, including randomised coffee meets, huddles, quizzes, escape rooms and more. GMCA has installed new audiovisual equipment at all fire stations to support firefighters with group training, communications, and debriefs.

GMCA has continued with operational training, after an initial pause at the start of the pandemic. Now done in a Covid-safe way, development moved online through e-learning, webinars, and other platforms. The organisation received excellent feedback after two very well-attended events, ‘Learning at Work' week and a ‘Festival of Learning'.

During the pandemic Fair Ways set up internal and external Help Squads to support vulnerable members of staff and the local community. Fair Ways staff helped colleagues or their families with shopping and picking up prescriptions and organised the donation of over 1,000 items to local food banks.

During lockdown in place of the usual monthly staff lottery which has a £100 prize, Fair Ways introduced a quarterly lottery where employees can win a £1,000 for a holiday of their choice. Staff can also now choose how they would best like to work in the future.

Development was ongoing for all staff during the pandemic and was, in fact, strengthened to levels higher than previous years. This included training with the company's tooling partners; LinkedIn Learning; in-house courses; lunch-and-learn sessions; and staff obtaining formal qualifications such as Six Sigma and Prince 2 certification.

The business likes to send physical things through the post to remind people that it appreciates them. This includes small birthday presents, quarterly deliveries of a director-chosen gift – a bottle of wine, chocolate, beauty products, dependant on individual preferences. Several sets of hand-packed care boxes also went out.

People at the company felt everyone was in unprecedented times together and so the focus was on open conversations, transparency and regular updates. Every week saw a TV-style programme give news on what was happening, how drpg was doing, what needed doing, and with people able to ask questions and comment

Lockdown gave the business the opportunity to stop and reflect on the training offered and the result was a complete overhaul of the online training system, moving to a new system with increased content compatibility and accessibility for all. The drpg Academy was also relaunched as the home for all development needs.

Staff placed on furlough have received regular “check-ins” from their line managers to keep them in touch with what's going on, give them updates on organisational changes and support their wellbeing. Staff also have access to an Employee Advice Programme which includes a 24/7 support line and online resources.

Monthly “Outstanding Awards” recognise staff going above and beyond. Employees can be nominated by their peers or by managers for demonstrating outstanding work in line with the charity's values. The winner receives a gift voucher and are celebrated in the staff monthly newsletter along with all nominees.

A Next Leaders programme supports employee development by teaching the specific skills needed for managerial roles. It provides tailored mentoring to educate and prepare individuals for a particular position. Line managers and departmental managers are coached on different areas such as client satisfaction, team building and teamwork.

This year, Croner has been awarded Platinum Trusted Service status by Feefo, an independent market research organisation, which recognises businesses that go above and beyond to provide a consistently excellent service and dedicate themselves to exceeding customer expectations for at least three years in a row.

All the in-date food, coffee and tea that was left behind when people started home-working was donated to a Black Country foodbank. cloudThing aims to achieve ISO:14001 certification by the end of 2022 and to be carbon neutral, both in itself and in the services it supplies, in five year's time.

Regular check-ins and events keeping teams connected include after-work virtual pubs and games, a book club, and wellbeing and yoga sessions. Managers' wellness is also not neglected. Team leaders have a direct comms support channel for personal and workplace conversations with the board and their peers.

For the last three years Cello Health has been supporting The Trussell Trust and its foodbanks including throughout lockdown. Cello Health also held virtual fundraisers including a bake-off and charity quiz and donated £10,000 to Findacure, a charity which supports people with rare diseases.

During lockdown Cello Health has regularly sent employees treat boxes containing games and activities,stationary to use for work and special treats including chocolates and champagne. Employees who are recognised for going above and beyond for their clients and colleagues have been rewarded with gift vouchers and additional time off.

All employees have access to a one-to-one support service delivered by either a professional counsellor or a cognitive therapist, coupled with a weekly wellbeing call to maintain connections with each team member. Regular ‘thank you' communications are sent to acknowledge achievement and efforts.

CEO, Paul, leads from the front and treats his colleagues like family. During the pandemic, he initially responded by increasing the frequency and level of communication to all staff, including guidance on how to work safely during such difficult circumstances.

Employees are allowed one day a year to volunteer for a good cause. Staff members support local planting projects and community schemes. Although fundraising plans were disrupted by the pandemic, Cardlytics staff contributed to charities supporting those with disabilities or ill health including £1,200 for NHS Charities Together.

Every member of staff has an individual training budget of £1,000. As well as internal training courses, Cardlytics offers self-development workshops for employees to explore interests. A mentorship programme allows people to share experience, knowledge and skills as well as perspectives and cultures.

Capital on Tap's values-based anniversary rewards ranges from £250 to try something new in their personal life after one year in the job to £500 to treat a loved one after two, £1,000 to spend on a holiday after three years' service and a four week paid sabbatical after four.

As part of its benefits package CoT offers private health coverage with an external healthcare provider which includes perks such as discounted Covid tests and free subscriptions to services such as the Headspace meditation app and Jessica Ennis's Jennis Fitness app.

The first creative agency in the UK to achieve ISO accreditation for sustainability at both in-person and digital events, Brandfuel has appointed a sustainability ambassador to ensure the issue remains central to company culture. The agency helped found ISLA, a not-for-profit alliance promoting environmental best practice in the events industry.

To keep his teams connected, amused and fed, CEO David Ball set up ‘Doughballs', which invited in-work and furloughed staff to bake treats on Zoom. With yeast hard to find, Bell sourced supplies and sent them out to those who needed them. ‘Doughballer of the Week' has become a desirable accolade.

BLK Box has introduced a monthly Most Valuable Player award in which employees are able to vote for the colleague they believe goes above and beyond their role. The winner is announced at a team meeting and receives a £100 voucher of their choice.

Senior managers made the decision to move to bigger premises to ensure futurecompliance with social distancing at work. With social responsibility high on the agenda, it recently invested £4 million on manufacturing equipment that will cut dependence on overseas products and reduce its carbon footprint.

Bibby believes attracting, retaining and developing its people is the key to continuing success. A coaching programme, led by the executive committee, is dedicated to continuous improvement of all employees, developing teams that are highly-focused to achieve results.

Female members of the sales team hosted a successful session to promote diversity and inclusion, focusing on the challenges faced in some areas of the business. Similar sessions are planned for departments perceived to be male-dominated, such as IT and finance, to encourage more women to apply.