People Managers Matter

The Møller Centre staff nominated Charity of the Year for 2015/2016 was East Anglian Air Ambulance, which provides Helicopter Emergency Medical Services across the county. During their year of support, they provided various ways for team members to get involved and raise much needed funds. Some of the team joined in with a collection in the local market square. They held a race night and quiz night, inviting staff to join in, have fun and raise money. They encouraged staff to donate money at Christmas for a non-uniform day and donated money in lieu of sending company Christmas cards. They asked for volunteers to take part in running the Cambridge Half Marathon, with other team members supporting on the day. They donated their time and facilities by running an afternoon tea for the EAAA volunteers and had a Euro-themed football sweepstake, again, raising much needed funds. Throughout the year they also sold various merchandise with all proceeds going to EAAA and had collection tins throughout the Centre. During the lead up to the Quiz night they sold EAAA scratchcards, offering some light hearted competition to see who could win the most! They also contributed an amount to the Charity for every Delegate Feedback Questionnaire received at the Centre during the year.

The Møller Centre are committed to the health and wellbeing of their team and have several practices in place designed to support staff wellbeing. They offer onsite workplace massage for all staff at the end of the year. The HR and Training Manager is booked on to the Mental Health First Aid course to offer further support to those suffering with mental health issues. They offer a free counselling service as part of their health care plan and the HR and Training Manager has access to a number of other resources and Counsellor's if required. They have run and will continue to run resilience training. They have run a series of Pilates classes in house. They also include a wellbeing tip in the monthly newsletter, which is always well received. They try to link the message to something topical such as National No Smoking Day, Stress Awareness Day or Mental Health Awareness Day. As above but in addition to this they have run a mental health first aid lite course for Manager's to enable them to spot the signs of mental health issues. Each month the HR and Training Manager also offers an open 2 hour drop in session which is available to all staff to discuss any issues which are personal or work related.

At Mcginley's, individual and team efforts are recognised and rewarded on a regular basis, with the most prestigious being the company's long-established Pinnacle Club. The Pinnacle Club is for the over-achievers and recognises and praises performance excellence across the business. It is certainly a key motivator, encouraging a little healthy ‘peer' competition and inspiring team performance. It is held every quarter and on an annual basis. This year's annual prize consisted of an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas, with all winners staying in suites at the opulent Palazzo Hotel, dining at various exclusive 5 star restaurants and spending three VIP evenings at Omnia nightclub, Caesar's Palace, with world famous DJ Calvin Harris, all whilst being transported everywhere in a hummer limo. Some of the quarterly incentives included a private hospitality box at the Royal Ascot, Club Hospitality at Premier League football fixtures, the ultimate cook and dine experience at L'Atelier des Chefs, VIP box seating at the ATP Tour Finals, T20 cricket at the Oval, a unique human and sensory experience at the famed ‘Dans le Noir' and dinner at the chef's table at Gordon Ramsay's swanky Michelin star restaurant, Maze. As well as qualifying for the Pinnacle Club, each employee also receives uncapped commission and vouchers up to and including the value of £200.

Mcginley's weekly fresh fruit drop and healthy treats like energy and cereal bars, which are always provided at meetings, encourages staff to eat healthily. The company provides clean and well-maintained areas for employees to prepare and store their own meals too. McGinley have embraced the notion of actively encouraging employees to take proper lunch breaks and hit the gym at lunchtime. The company also offers the flexibility of a slightly longer lunch break so it's definitely worth it! Moreover, for those that wake up early to squeeze in a morning workout session, the company is always accommodating to a slightly late start. Mcginley's have even partnered with Incorpore to offer all employees a discounted gym membership scheme across 2980 health clubs in the UK. They have also created a staff breakout area with pool and ping-pong tables where staff can relax away from the PC screen and unwind. There's even some good quality coffee and coffee machines, which helps to brighten the mood and is probably one of the quickest pick-me-ups! All of offices are given the option to listen to music whilst they work, as playing music instantly relaxes the mood and stress levels. The daily morning huddles also help teams and individuals to reach out to fellow colleagues to lend a helping hand, providing support, guidance and ultimately reducing stress.

The Wellbeing programme offers McDonalds employees a variety of support and helpful information to enhance their wellbeing both at work and at home. A dedicated Wellbeing Hub on ourlounge contains handy articles and information about what employees can do to maintain a healthy and balanced lifestyle. It has advice and support on topics like staying active, eating well, work/life balance and mental health. As part of the Wellbeing Programme, the team research and feature apps of the month, which have included apps like HeadSpace. Every employee receives a ‘How's it Going Chat' with their direct reporting Manager on a regular basis. This provides an ideal opportunity for the employee to have an open and frank discussion with their direct reporting Manager. Employees have the opportunity to discuss any issues that could be causing workplace stress and discuss what support or changes are needed. In recent Senior Leadership Engagement Drop In sessions, workload and workplace stress were some of the discussion topics to enable employees to openly discuss concerns and solutions with Senior Leadership.

McDonald's are aware that no single factor is more important to their success than the dedication and efforts of their employees. As a result of this the company operate the “Employee of the Month” (EoM) award in all restaurants. Every year 12 employees per restaurant have the chance to win this accolade and a gift box to go with it. Every employee of the month receives a range of prizes ranging from an Employee of the Month gold name badge and a personalised congratulations card to a specially designed ‘Make It Special' USB stick, an engraved black Congress pen in a presentation case and an engraved black A6 mole notepad to name but a few. Four times a year each restaurant will select an employee from the EoM winners to be their Employee of the Quarter and winners from all restaurants are then entered into a competition to find the “Employee of the Quarter” for each Operations Manager group. The winners of this quarterly competition are then considered for the Director of Operations “Employee of the Year”. Finally, each person selected as the Director of Operations overall winner will go forward to compete to become McDonald's Employee of the Year final, which takes place at McDonald's Head Office with the COO and Senior Vice President. As finalists they receive £250 worth of Love to Shop vouchers and the overall winner will also receive £2,500 worth of Travel Vouchers. All also receive recognition trophies.

Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.

Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.

All London Diocesan staff are invited to a Summer BBQ in June and a Christmas Party in early December. Both are open to all and are a great way for staff from different business areas to meet one another. The organisation have a social committee who oversee the event but departmental teams are invited to get involved in the set up and to help build teams by laying tables, preparing food and overseeing the BBQ. 60-80 people would attend dependent on holiday etc. In between these events the Social Committee organise smaller social gatherings around a specific interest. These are usually after work or in a lunch break, for example Cheese and Wine Tasting and the Theatre.

Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.

Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.

itsu have launched two Leadership Programmes this year for their emerging Leaders and Senior Leaders. An important element is a personalised learning plan for Managers, as this encourages ownership. The company ran a 360 based on the judgement-drive-influence model and each individual was given one to one feedback from the report. They were then asked to present their strengths, opportunities and how they were going to work on them, which has informed their personalised learning path. They will continue to be supported in their development through mentoring and coaching from their Line Manager. All Managers have a twice yearly performance review, which looks at their results and behaviours against itsu's current values. Shop Managers are measured in a champions league format which measures their KPI's. If they are under delivering they are performance managed throughout the year. Those that are meeting expectations will be in line for promotion. As well as this Head Office Managers are measured by personalised KPI's specific to their job role.

When a customer contacts itsu to give brilliant feedback on one of the colleagues in their shops, a member of the Executive Team goes out to that shop to present a custom made Tiffany butterfly charm to them. This is really celebrated throughout the business and photos of these Executive visits are put within the quarterly its-us magazine, which is given to every colleague at itsu.

'Skype for Business' was rolled out to staff earlier in the year to improve IPRS's communications channels at all levels across the business. As a result, staff are now able to instant message one another and have a platform to share screens and create Skype meetings. IPRS Group have remote workers all across the UK and the feedback from staff has been tremendous, as it is fundamentally changing the way they work as a team. Staff Bulletins are also cascaded monthly. During the Summer the company host themed barbeques, for example the Olympics (Finance Team) and the Curry Off (HR & IT Teams). In July the theme was ‘Barbieoke' and the team were invited to play a part in a musical video to raise money for IPRS's charities of the year. A new staff website called ‘your future' is being launched to provide staff with a fun site that they can go to for information relating to their health and wellbeing, family, social pages and also anything pinned on the noticeboard.

'Skype for Business' was rolled out to staff earlier in the year to improve IPRS's communications channels at all levels across the business. As a result, staff are now able to instant message one another and have a platform to share screens and create Skype meetings. IPRS Group have remote workers all across the UK and the feedback from staff has been tremendous, as it is fundamentally changing the way they work as a team. Staff Bulletins are also cascaded monthly. During the Summer the company host themed barbeques, for example the Olympics (Finance Team) and the Curry Off (HR & IT Teams). In July the theme was ‘Barbieoke' and the team were invited to play a part in a musical video to raise money for IPRS's charities of the year. A new staff website called ‘your future' is being launched to provide staff with a fun site that they can go to for information relating to their health and wellbeing, family, social pages and also anything pinned on the noticeboard.

In 2016 ISG launched a "Wednesday Walking Club" as part of a month long initiative to encourage employees to take proper breaks at lunchtime away from their desks and to stay active. The Walking Club has lived on beyond the initial month long campaign and now sees a regular group on intrepid explorers enjoying Guildford's picturesque views along the River Wey, Surrey Hills and sometimes even further a field. The company also have an EAP programme in place, where employees can call a helpline number 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Their Cash plan policy even enables employees to access £210 per policy year for wellbeing. ISG offer treatments such as reflexology, Indian head massages, fresh fruit, water and drinks. Their office is also located next to the river in Guildford, Surrey, meaning employees have access to lots of open space and fresh air throughout the seasons.

The Chairman's Club Award is ISG's premier recognition programme. The award was established to recognise employees who, through their actions and results, have made major contributions to ISG during the past year. The contributions of Chairman's Club Award winners positively impact objectives, possibly by expanding business development, increasing revenues, innovating, improving the firm's products and services or contributing to the development and professional growth of colleagues. The recognition includes a custom-designed keepsake award and an offsite event held in honour of Chairman's Club Award recipients. This year it was held in New Orleans and previous years have included Barbados, Napa Valley and Portugal. Employees are also invited to bring their Partner to accompany then on the trip as an additional acknowledgement that reinforces the value of the award to the company's continued growth and success.

Some teams have team circles where they update every one of their priorities for the day and any support they require from colleagues. Twice weekly Icelolly have 'stand-ups', their purpose being to keep people up to date with business performance, and ensure people are familiar with what's happening in all parts of the business. Every Monday the stand-up covers the previous week's business performance and highlights of what has gone well. They then cover the targets and challenges for the week ahead and specific activities of note that are taking place during the week. Every Thursday, a team gives an overview of the work which has taken place over the previous month, specific achievements and activities planned for the month ahead so that everyone, regardless of team, knows the focus of each part of the business. Icelolly have team days where everyone in the business participates. The aim of the team days is to develop relationships between colleagues and teams and for people to work alongside others that they wouldn't normally work with on a day-to-day basis, have fun, celebrate success and recognise the progress of the business and how the team have helped us gain these results. They also aim to raise money for a nominated charity. Activities they have successfully run to date include Cocktails and Cakes, Photo Rally, Ice cream Making, Geography Challenge and Treasure Hunt, Office Olympics and a Day Trip to Blackpool.

As part of Icelolly's private medical insurance, they have partnered with Vitality Health. Vitality rewards individuals for being healthy and provides incentives to help improve their overall health and fitness. This includes weekly rewards such as cinema vouchers and Starbucks if they achieve a certain level of physical activity in a given week such as walking, running, cycling, swimming or attending the gym. In addition, individuals receive points for undertaking a health check including weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, nicotine with additional points where the results are in the 'healthy zone'. Cash back is given quarterly to non-smokers. Since its introduction, there has been a definite change in peoples' behaviour and approach to a healthy lifestyle. Icelolly actively promote activities to support a healthy lifestyle and also believe that physical health and affect mental health. They have partnered with their local gym to offer reduced membership fees for all employees. As part of Icelolly's stand ups, they regularly have 'team energisers' which are usually short, fun activities which are not work related but they do get people interacting with others and help with alleviating any stress. They have an employee assistance programme which as well as offering a multitude of advice and fact sheets via their website, also provides counselling both over the telephone and face to face. The counselling includes CBT and is available for all employees and their immediate family. Flexi rewards encourages employees to treat themselves and suggested activities include spa days, massages and short hotel breaks. Icelolly are very supportive of employees who may be experiencing personal challenges outside of work and have offered adjustments to working hours to help individuals in their times of need.

Hymans Robertson have a strong ethos of community support within the firm. There are two core strands to this, their financial literacy programme delivers workshops on financial literacy to disadvantaged young people by partnering with other charities and their local Helping Hands teams identify local charities who need support which the company then provide through volunteering, fundraising or ‘in kind' donations. They also offer matched funding to employees who have raised money for their own favoured charities. In total the firm allocates 2% of the firm's profits to these initiatives. This is in addition to employee's time and their fundraising efforts which include one day's paid volunteering day per employee each year to use to help a charity of their choice, previous initiatives include raising money each month through ‘Dress Down' day collections, supporting national events such as ‘Children in Need' and the Hymans Robertson Foundation which will provide focus and transparency on all charitable activities. Hymans have engaged an agency who specialise in finding placements for those that wish to work part-time. Now if they have a role that requires someone on a part-time basis they will work with them to recruit suitable candidates that cannot work a conventional Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 routine. To help in the general recruitment process, they have recognised that unconscious bias can play a role in how people managers review applications. So they have run Unconscious Bias workshops in the firm with almost 200 delegates attending. They have also worked with a government scheme called "New Starts" which aims to help ex-offenders return to work, they have taken on one new start attendee and this has worked well for the firm and we would be open to taking on more as a result.

The Partnership Council is in place to safeguard the “soul and conscience” of the firm and is responsible for overseeing 'how' things take place at Hymans, not just 'what' is done. The Partnership Council tests and has ultimate responsibility for who is promoted into the partnership, ensuring that these individuals role model company values as well as being technically competent in their specialist areas. They also test and measure how the company reach out to clients through the 'Voice of the Client' survey. This helps them to understand how each level of staff engaging with external clients and demonstrate behaviours in line with their values. Both Ronnie and John Dickson host annual staff meetings in each of the offices. The theme of their presentation this year was around how Hymans will grow and prosper while still adhering to the company values and principles. The senior management team make sure they are accessible whilst in the office and all senior managers sit in the open plan office environment within the teams in which they work. Both Ronnie Bowie and James Entwisle recorded videos that are embedded into the new start induction video that is shown to all news starters on day one of joining Hymans. As Managing Partner, connecting and engaging with everyone across the firm is an important priority for James. He's an open, accessible person and makes a point of stopping at people's desks and speaking informally to people around each of their offices. He also plays an important role in events such as the graduate and development programmes where he introduces the firm and its latest thinking to new starts and delegates and spends time getting to know them. Earlier this year James co-presented to the CIPD evidence in support of Hymans being shortlisted as 'L&D Team of the Year'.

Higgidy have a weekly huddle where the business come together for food, networking, a weekly business update on KPI's and a strategy update. The company put on business briefs twice a year, which are really important for making every employee feel like they are part of the ‘bigger picture'. These briefs go off results and key messages. There is a Microsoft 365 space for sharing documents and Whats App groups to send things to teams easily.

Higgidy have a peer to peer recognition scheme called the 'Higgidy Heroes', which is nominated by the people for the people. These get given back to all employees so they know they have been chosen and there are two levels of rewards - the Everyday Hero and the Super Hero. These have to link back to their company values of being Brave, Smart or Kind. In addition to recognising and rewarding employees for their hard work the company work had to ensure that they look after employee wellbeing. There are yoga sessions on a Friday, free fruit is provided, they contribute to exercise classes, pay for people to enter marathons, offer flexible working and operate a no long hours culture. They also ensure that they give support to people during difficult times including, paid time off, support with appointments etc.

Hardies main community initiative is supporting and raising monies for local charities. Each office within the firm has selected a local charity and events are run throughout the year, with the funds raised being given to these charities. The company also runs a school's programme initiative, where again each office adopts a local school to encourage an interest in surveying and administration and to provide work shadowing and job opportunities. Hardies' Corporate Social Responsibility document is reviewed annually and includes a list of all members of staff and Partners who commit to various boards and charities within the community.

Hardies main community initiative is supporting and raising monies for local charities. Each office within the firm has selected a local charity and events are run throughout the year, with the funds raised being given to these charities. The company also runs a school's programme initiative, where again each office adopts a local school to encourage an interest in surveying and administration and to provide work shadowing and job opportunities. Hardies' Corporate Social Responsibility document is reviewed annually and includes a list of all members of staff and Partners who commit to various boards and charities within the community.

Gopher Money try to embrace a 'Relaxed, high pressured' environment. They appreciate this is a contradictory statement but they give their staff the freedom to manage their own day meaning that to an extent they can come and go without having to log in and out expect for health and safety purposes. Anyone feeling stressed can step out and unwind knowing they can work beyond their contracted hours to catch up if they fall behind their target. In essence a lot of the staff class themselves as 'self-employed' meaning the pressure they apply is at their own volition. As a business Gopher Money are always trying to encourage employees to move away from their desk on breaks and lunches and be able to clear their head ready for work. The existing Learning and Development manager works closely with staff in helping them deal with issues both inside and outside of work such as relationships and stress and personal development. This has seen sickness per FTE continue to improve this and the feedback from those who are working with him is very positive.

Gopher Money try to embrace a 'Relaxed, high pressured' environment. They appreciate this is a contradictory statement but they give their staff the freedom to manage their own day meaning that to an extent they can come and go without having to log in and out expect for health and safety purposes. Anyone feeling stressed can step out and unwind knowing they can work beyond their contracted hours to catch up if they fall behind their target. In essence a lot of the staff class themselves as 'self-employed' meaning the pressure they apply is at their own volition. As a business Gopher Money are always trying to encourage employees to move away from their desk on breaks and lunches and be able to clear their head ready for work. The existing Learning and Development manager works closely with staff in helping them deal with issues both inside and outside of work such as relationships and stress and personal development. This has seen sickness per FTE continue to improve this and the feedback from those who are working with him is very positive.

Every month Good Relations reward an employee with a ‘Passion Day'. This is an opportunity for an employee to take an additional day's holiday to pursue a particular passion or hobby – from singing in a choir to some extra training to run a marathon! Employees simply describe what they would do with a Passion Day, and then the company select a deserving candidate each and every month. As an agency that fully supports and encourages a good work-life balance, Good Relations find the Passion Day initiative very effective, in ensuring employees know that their hobbies and passions outside of the working environment are supported.

The Good Relations Training Academy provides ongoing support for managers of all levels. Training sessions are tailored to ensure they are as relevant and effective as possible for both junior and senior managers. One-to-one coaching and mentoring is readily available from the senior management team. Senior managers work closely with their teams to ensure that management styles are carefully honed.

Genuine Solutions strongly believe that their staff are their future. With this in mind, the company has several initiatives in place that give their staff the opportunity to develop. Every single employee has a personal development plan that is created between them and their manager and reviewed during their annual or half yearly appraisal. The company also works closely with the Duke of Edinburgh's charity and as part of their 60th anniversary they released the Challenge Award, which is given in recognition for achieving either a personal or commercial challenge or achievement. This innovative award and framework allows Genuine Solutions to give their people an opportunity to develop and gain prestigious recognition. Another example of how the organisation supports employee development is their monthly training courses. The company takes pride that they can offer every member of staff the opportunity to attend monthly training courses held at their offices by an external trainer. These courses are built around training needs and what is best for the business. They have also provided several training courses at Kingston College, which have been hugely beneficial for all staff and have allowed them to develop further within their specific job roles. Alongside these initiatives Genuine Solutions also run an Apprentice Programme, which has proved incredibly successful, as it has not only increased productivity but it has also strengthened the workforce and improved motivation amongst all employees.

Genuine Solutions truly believe that as a company their vision, mission and values are what makes them come alive throughout the business. There are several ways in which they communicate them to their staff, for example the large posters on the walls throughout the buildings to ensure visibility. Whenever there are new starters within the company, an induction is held for each and every one of them to ensure that they are all aware what Genuine Solutions vision, mission and values are. They are also available to view on the company's intranet, as well as them being discussed in the monthly management meetings, board meetings and departmental meetings, such as the All Hands Meeting. Genuine Solutions strongly believe that all of their staff are aware of what the company's vision, mission and values are, ensuring that they are then able to implement them successfully into the fantastic work they generate.

As stated elsewhere, Frame live their values, believing this to be more genuine and real than merely stating them. Not all employees are aware of instances where they have been honest, at a cost to the business, but many are, and most managers could point to an instance of this. They talk about the ambition and progress at staff meetings, particularly the annual review. And individual departments have their own review meetings where the overall direction and the way Frame work, and relate to each other are discussed. The company routinely demonstrate the ‘employee first' mentality in the way they manage, encourage, develop, promote and reward the people. And where they are forced to choose between a client's and an employee's interests, Frame always choose their people. They have resigned clients on this basis and for this reason – the most notable being a six-figure income client. Working hard, and doing your best is in the DNA of the company. And this is top-down. Frame take their work extremely seriously without taking themselves too seriously. And they never criticise failure, only lack of proper application and effort.

At the end of the year, Frame go away together to spend time in each other's company, to celebrate, socialise and talk about the year behind and the year to come. It's accompanied by a presentation of the year in review so that everyone knows where the company is, what kind of year they have had, and what their plans are for the coming year. The impact of the trips lingers long into the next year. Relationships are deepened and new ones formed, they gain collective memories, discussed for months afterwards. Barriers come down, and the company talk about work, but also life in general – away from the office environment, where they try to be informal, but where there are inevitably some structures and hierarchies. Above all, the trips are a shared experience enjoyed by everyone. They're a reward for collective effort. Alongside more individual rewards like annual performance-linked bonuses, salary reviews and promotions, these trips are a way for the company to reward staff at the same time, in the same way, in the same degree. As Frame have grown, they have discussed whether there is still a role for these trips. And in particular, now that they are nearly sixty people, whether the expense is justified. Staff feedback on this subject is universally that they would rather go away together in this way, than be given an equivalent cash sum. Previous trips have included Paris, Amsterdam and Belfast, and this year's trip will be in Berlin from 15th to 17th December.

At Firstco they have a diverse social committee, made up of a self-elected cross section of employees. The aim of this committee is to organise and arrange a variety of events throughout the year, that all staff are able to attend (either free of charge, or heavily subsidised). They have a budget of £6K available to them each year, with the annual company picnic being one of the most popular and well attended events. Other events include theatre trips, tickets for sporting events, wine tasting, music sessions and barbecues. With a lot of their employees relocating to London for the job, they have found that having a strong social ethos has been pivotal for helping them settle in, make new friends within the workplace and develop ongoing working relationships.

At Firstco they have a diverse social committee, made up of a self-elected cross section of employees. The aim of this committee is to organise and arrange a variety of events throughout the year, that all staff are able to attend (either free of charge, or heavily subsidised). They have a budget of £6K available to them each year, with the annual company picnic being one of the most popular and well attended events. Other events include theatre trips, tickets for sporting events, wine tasting, music sessions and barbecues. With a lot of their employees relocating to London for the job, they have found that having a strong social ethos has been pivotal for helping them settle in, make new friends within the workplace and develop ongoing working relationships.

eSynergy are currently working with a local charity called St Lukes, which gives under privileged children in inner London the ability to play sports. Consultants run the lunchtime sporting activities once a week and they also run the school's football team for both boys and girls. Furthermore eSynergy sponsor the end of season football tournament, which is attended by a number of local schools in the area. Through the same charity the company also provide CV writing advice and expertise, as well as providing several work experience opportunities for those involved.

eSynergy are currently working with a local charity called St Lukes, which gives under privileged children in inner London the ability to play sports. Consultants run the lunchtime sporting activities once a week and they also run the school's football team for both boys and girls. Furthermore eSynergy sponsor the end of season football tournament, which is attended by a number of local schools in the area. Through the same charity the company also provide CV writing advice and expertise, as well as providing several work experience opportunities for those involved.

For an individual who has moved up internally within the business one to one mentoring is organised to support them with the challenges they are faced with. These challenges are related to colleagues and stakeholder's perception of them being more ‘junior' within the business. Internal work experience is also made available throughout the organisation, enabling colleagues to shadow individuals in other departments and businesses, as well as encouraging personal and professional growth.

For an individual who has moved up internally within the business one to one mentoring is organised to support them with the challenges they are faced with. These challenges are related to colleagues and stakeholder's perception of them being more ‘junior' within the business. Internal work experience is also made available throughout the organisation, enabling colleagues to shadow individuals in other departments and businesses, as well as encouraging personal and professional growth.

To support Senior Managers commitment to values, the Leadership Charter was developed with input from all staff. This forms the keystone of the behaviours expected of all Managers and is based on three principles: leading, managing and developing their teams. Senior Managers role model the behaviours laid down in this Charter and their performance against these principles forms part of their annual appraisal. The Principal and Directors meet with all new staff at their induction. The importance of the values is discussed with staff and how all staff are expected to respect them. The Principal has a clear open door policy and all staff know that they can talk to him about any issue. He is visible around the college premises and encourages both staff and students to talk to him. He regularly communicates important and also 'good news' messages to staff through Outlook and has a regular feature in the college newsletter to update staff on college activities, challenges and successes. He attends the staff focus group meetings. He always receives minutes of these meetings so that he can 'keep a finger on the pulse' on the day to day activities within the teams. The Principal will lead the more formal annual conference but also participates in the workshops, which are led by different staff from across the college.

The East Riding College Employee Personal Development Award is for £175. Staff can use this financial award to pay for any course or qualification that they would like to undertake for their own personal development. These do not have to be related to their role within the college, e.g. joinery for beginners, chocolate workshop, flower arranging, creative Photoshop or French for beginners. There is also a £50 Staff Development award. Staff can use this award to contribute to the cost of both work and non-work related qualifications. The college will use appropriate external funding to fund qualifications to support staff development, for example Level 2 Initial Advice & Guidance Award and Level 2 Mental Health Awareness Course. If no external funding is available, the college will offer a reduction of up to 10% on the course fees. The college will provide paid time off for exams and exam preparation, as well as flexible working so staff are supported to amend their working hours to accommodate teaching times.

CS Healthcare's People & Culture Department Introduced Line Manager meetings in order to improve communication across departments. This is designed to facilitate a discussion where Managers can solve problems that their department face, as well as create a consistent. This also aims to give an update on departments priorities in order for other Managers to have a good idea of everyone's responsibilities. In order to facilitate an effective monthly session, a People & culture representative will chair and minute the session. This allows for a consistent approach but also ensures the meetings occur. To ensure the meetings were effective CS organised a Line Manager Away day to improve team interaction. The first event was the company's Society Team building event, which 60 employees attended. During this event the whole Society left work at Midday and went to an external venue. Here they partook in a team building challenge facilitated though an external company (The Crystal Maze challenge). This looked at different exercises that challenged employees, encouraged them to work together and also aided them in getting to know one another. The Society then held dinner and drinks so everyone could relax and overall this was a fun but engaging event for the employees.

CS Healthcare employ a reward and recognition framework for their employees. This assesses what reward should be given to an employee or team based on their contribution to the Society. It also looks at an employee's behaviour based on the company's five key behaviours and performance. The criteria looks at whether an employee or team has performed over and above the required level for their job, if they have demonstrated all the key behaviours positively and if their behaviour is consistently good in their contacts across the Society. Employees will be eligible for rewards on different levels. This process will ask Line Managers and the Senior Management Team to nominate an individual or team with final sign off from the Chief Executive, who will then decide what level of reward will be given.

Cranstoun's strategic vision and values are well known across the organisation and at every level. Their vision is simple and reflects the core reason that their employees work for Cranstoun, to beat alcohol and drug addiction. Their strategic vision is supported through action across four domains: Service User's, People and Performance and Growth. Each service / department formulates their annual business plan for the next financial year. Managers are responsible for holding business planning days, involving their whole team reviewing past performance and agreeing objectives for the year ahead. The business plans are linked to Cranstoun's strategic domains to ensure that all objectives support the business strategy and that every employee is aware of the contribution they are making to the performance and success of the organisation. Cranstoun's Staff Recognition Scheme rewards exceptional performance based on different categories, which mirror the strategic domains, again reinforcing the organisation's vision to all employees. The charity's values are core to everything they do, how they treat service users, staff and one another. The values are reflected in Cranstoun's policies and practices, as they recruit people with their values and measure individual and team performance against competencies aligned to their values.

All of Cranstoun's Managers have taken part in a management development programme. Following the programme, support is provided through management and supervision structures and also informally through peer-support. They have invested in an external coach to support their Senior Managers to hopefully affect positive change and support them to achieve to their potential. The coaching has been hugely beneficial and bought about noticeable changes, with follow up sessions being provided to enable Managers to revisit their goals and maintain momentum. The performance of Cranstoun's Managers is reviewed via monthly supervision meetings, which lead incrementally to an annual appraisal. Performance is assessed through a variety of Key Performance Indicators including service performance, where services are monitored monthly against agreed targets with commissioning bodies. Additionally residential and rehabilitation services are also assessed against occupancy levels and organisational KPI's, where Managers are assessed quarterly against a number of organisational KPI's including staff retention, staff attendance, volunteer numbers etc and audits, where internal Quality, Performance and Results teams carry out annual audits on a range of working practices broadly in line with the Care Quality Commission standards. Performance is 'traffic lighted' and shared at a senior level, with supportive action plans agreed amongst Managers.

At CIL employees work in small project teams, typically made up of 3-5 people, and encourage project managers to hold regular group catch ups every two days. During these catch ups, managers are encouraged to let each member of the team speak uninterrupted for two minutes. This allows different viewpoints from all members of the team to be aired without any risk or fear of being challenged. This was also partly driven by the idea that often the best ideas come from within the team, rather than just the manager! There is also real benefit to sharing hypotheses across different work streams so that everyone has a full appreciation of how the project is progressing overall and what the key commercial issues are. CIL also work with external contractors and make sure that they are fully involved in these processes.

Every employee is included in CIL's generous company bonus scheme. A bonus is paid three times per year, in September, March, and a smaller Christmas bonus in December. The amount received is a function of company performance, the individual's grade and the individual's own performance. People are told about their bonuses personally by one of the Partners, and everyone receives a personalised letter summing up the key projects and achievements from the last six months. Through the bonus scheme, employees receive an uplift on their salary ranging from 20% of base (at Analyst level) to 100% (senior managers).