People Managers Matter

CHS's approach and decision making is reflective of the values of the organisation, with great emphasis on how they do things and how their customers feel about them. Respect - their Senior Management worked closely in developing and facilitating the company's behaviours based programme called 'Living our Values'. This workshop encourages participants to consider their approach and the impact it has on others. Through the workshop, the senior managers openly share their own personal and work related experiences, both positive and negative. Approach – CHS' Directors regularly go on 'Back to the Floor' visits to spend time with employees in different parts of the organisation. These are positively received by employees and the Directors. Partnership - in direct response to Best Companies feedback, they have launched an Employee Wellbeing Action Group. This is led by representatives from across CHS and jointly sponsored by two of their Directors. Directors attend operational team meetings across the organisation, building their connection to other teams and sharing knowledge. Openness - we have a truly consultative approach which runs throughout the organisation with staff, service users, customers and their wider community. Deliver - senior managers have refreshed their corporate vision, mission and logo, making them more accessible and representative of the organisation and allowing a clearer understanding of what employees need to do. They have gone back to basics and the emphasis is now on what, why and how they do it.

CHS continue to roll out 'Career Pathway Frameworks' within the organisation, these are job role specific and focus as much as on the behaviours and values of the organisation, as well as empowering the individual to demonstrate areas of high performance to increase reward potential. One of the unique elements of their competency frameworks is the focus on career progression and this has been successful in developing their team leader/supervisor talent pipeline. One of their strategic priorities is to develop their performance management processes to build upon the linkage of corporate performance to individual reward. This includes a review of how competency frameworks can be further rolled out across the organisation.

The company's learning motto is Be the Best I can. The Cheval Promise is: 30 minutes of learning - every colleague - every week.

The company's learning motto is Be the Best I can. The Cheval Promise is: 30 minutes of learning - every colleague - every week.

From staff surveys there is a clear belief by staff that the SMT are committed to CGL values. The repeated checking each year is a strong message reinforcement. The commitment to openness, honesty and integrity is perhaps best illustrated by the CGL Pulse poster placed each month in public areas in each office which allows every member of staff to see trading performance, recruitment, training key knowledge indicators. Health and Safety is clearly of paramount importance in the work and near miss/incident reporting in a weekly engineers meeting together with new joiner tool box talks and the buddy system all led by the SMT are also a clear messages. CGL invests in technology and people to give them the edge. CGL are committed to listening to one another, whether face to face in regular appraisals, at road shows and team days or via annual questionnaires where we test the feedback from all. Staff is involved with both sustainability and environmental issues and CGL SMT lead from the front in this as final arbiters of the technical consulting output and within the operation of individual offices. Finally, CGL is very aware that to bring in and retain staff it has to provide a fulfilling experience. In this SMT both lead by example and mentor colleagues to progress on the CGL Career Pathway. The 2015 successes in professional exams, the promotions that resulted, and the development of team structures that give aspiring staff a taste of business responsibility have all been crucial.

CGL implements a number of initiatives to support managers, and to provide development opportunities in the context of the CGL Career Paths. At project junior management level, implementation of formal team structures and clarity of roles and expectations have been set out, and allow the managers to operate within a common framework. They are supported by guidance from senior managers and through the company's quality management procedures. For newly chartered staff, CGL has developed a Management Training Programme, in conjunction with the Chartered Management Institute, which gives these aspiring middle managers an in-depth insight into the practice of management in a live environment. This is a cross office initiative, which has benefits in enhancing communications at this mid-level. The outcome of the programme is a Certificate in Management and Leadership. Line managers from each of the offices gather on a quarterly basis for formal competence training interventions from an external trainer. This is also a forum for peer discussion and mutual support. Senior staff similarly undergoes competence training, and are encouraged to gain accreditation of their management experience through application for Chartered Manager status. Board members participate in formal IoD training programmes for their roles. The Board has a programme of inviting senior managers to participate in meetings. All of this development is set within an environment of twice yearly appraisals, regular updates, mentoring and coaching relationships and feedback surveys which allow a culture of continuous improvement.

Our mission and vision is communicated via our Induction Process for new starters, via the Staff Update twice a year and it is displayed on notice boards. Success is measured via KPIs.

Our mission and vision is communicated via our Induction Process for new starters, via the Staff Update twice a year and it is displayed on notice boards. Success is measured via KPIs.

The Chief Executive Award is run annually, and is an opportunity for managers to nominate teams and individuals who have excelled at work. The selection criteria is linked to Aster's strategy and its values. In particular nominators need to highlight colleague's strong customer focus, positive behaviour, sustained performance and contribution to Aster's strategy. The Group Chief Executive selects a short-list and those colleagues are invited to an Executive Board lunch where the winners are announced: one individual and one team. The prize is £2,500, which the winners can spend on a memorable experience. This recognition process is widely communicated across Aster, and in 2016 they received their highest number of nominations since the award began. Research was conducted in June 2015 to gain feedback from previous winners and runners up. The positive feedback evidenced that the award, process and experience were delivering what they were set out to; to recognise and reward colleagues for their great work.

Aster's internal training offer via The Academy provides a comprehensive range of short training courses that are open to all employees. Much of the training is delivered by Internal Trainers. They have at least 40 active trainers at any one time. They support this group by providing the necessary skills training. In addition their team of internal coaches are there to provide coaching to any individual that requires it. This team went through rigorous selection and training and keep their skills up to date. This year 38 individuals have had coaching sessions. The company have run mentoring workshops and provide a mentor/mentee workbook for those that wish to pursue a mentoring relationship. Their internal L&D team are available to support team development needs across the business, and last year supported 35 team events, by either facilitating events or advising managers on options. This kind of support is critical for a business such as Aster's where there have been large-scale changes to teams and ways of working. The L&D team have access to a range of tools to support these kind of events, such as Belbins Self-Perception Inventory and Insights Colour model. Their annual apprentice programme allows them to bring up to 12 young people into the business each year. They work with managers to make sure their skills are retained by the business. This programme has been running since 2010 and is now well-embedded into what they do.

The company ran Health Week which promoted good eating habits, being healthy and encouraging health activities such as walks and spinning classes. Fruit was also provided to all locations for the week free of charge. They have also conducted Health Assured Road shows which meant they visited various sites across the various Arco locations which included drop-in sessions around health and wellbeing for staff. They also run via My Perks various discounts scheme on gym memberships.

The company ensures that a minimum of 1% of pre-tax profits are donated to charity. They are also a partner of the bloodhound land speed record and support the STEM project (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). They also support and are a partner to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and Hull FC Foundation which gives support to Young Adults to get them ready for employment. All staff can have up to 2 paid days per year for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and all colleagues are encouraged to participate. They also hold an annual family fun day where they participate in an activity and actively encourage colleagues to raise money for their chosen charity, in the past they have taken part in a Dragon Boat Race and an It's a knock out challenge.

Leaders focus on delivering business results through engaging their employees. This approach is embedded within the whole culture and there are a number of different activities which drive improvements in this field. According to their internal employee engagement survey (called The Pulse), they have seen favourable responses increase year on year, along with the number of employees choosing to participate in the survey. The entire organisation is guided by Blue Box Values. These reflect who they are and what they stand for and clearly state commitment to customers, quality, people, integrity, teamwork and good citizenship. Examples of senior management commitment to their Blue Box values include a culture of ‘skip level meetings' where employees have the opportunity to meet with senior leaders and ‘townhalls' Where employees are updated with key organisational information. They can also be seen in the senior sponsorship of their Employee Networks. These bring together people with shared backgrounds and interest to engage with and learn from each other outside of their daily work lives. They give participants the opportunity to broaden their networks as well as their knowledge of the business, and in many cases, give back to the local community. A final example is the strong relationship with Albion in the Community, the charitable arm of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club. This provides volunteering opportunities for employees as well as work experiences and programmes for key groups in the local community.

The Reward Blue programme enables all employees to recognise colleagues no matter which business unit they work in, grade or location. Employees can praise effort, reward results and celebrate loyalty. Employees can be nominated for Reward Blue points that can be redeemed through the Reward Blue catalogue to buy gifts and high street shopping vouchers. Every year March is ‘Employee Appreciation Month'. Senior Leaders encourage their employees to consider how they can celebrate everyday accomplishments at work. In addition Blue Looks Good on You was held on March 18, and employees were asked to wear their best blue clothes to show their support for recognition. Pinnacle Reward programs are uniquely designed by business unit Senior Leaders to recognise outstanding achievements and the extraordinary people who made them happen. Chairman's Award for Innovation program honours teams worldwide who have developed new or improved products, processes or services that have had a measurable impact on business results. It is the premier program for recognising employees around the world who exemplify the innovative spirit that is a core element of the heritage Customer Service Award which recognises two categories of excellence: employees who provided a single act of outstanding service over the past year and employees who demonstrate consistent excellence over five years or more. The Working Parents and Care Givers programme has been set up for employees to nominate a colleague who manages to make their career and family fit into their life and inspires them. Ten winners are chosen to receive 10,000 reward blue points.

The company's core values are uniquely communicated under the banner of "Let's Talk". This maxim is regularly referenced and clearly understood by everyone. Their values live through what they say and do and "Let's Talk" makes their values a conversation and a work in progress. They have ‘Outrageous Ambition' to double the business to £38m by 2020.

To celebrate great teamwork throughout the year they hold a Summer BBQ for everyone based at our Head Office. This involves the Operations team, some of the Marketing team, the Admin teams and the Directors and lasts most of the day. People take part in various challenges and get to compete in group events like the egg and spoon race. Overall winners receive a shield, individual winners receive trophies and prizes (gifts vouchers) are awarded at the end of the day. This has become a great Institution in the company and highly motivational.

The development and implementation of a core skills programme, integral to the development of Managers for the future of the company. An outside company is used to give their Management Team regular external residential training to focus their Management Abilities and enhance Team Performance.

The development and implementation of a core skills programme, integral to the development of Managers for the future of the company. An outside company is used to give their Management Team regular external residential training to focus their Management Abilities and enhance Team Performance.

Payroll Giving to Zurich Community Trust is on a pound for pound basis with no upper limit. Office based or individual fundraising by employees for the Zurich Community Trust is matched 100% with no upper limit. Team fundraising for nominated external charities is matched 50% and capped at £10,000 per event. Individual fundraising for nominated charities is matched 50% and capped at £500 per event. Children of staff fundraising is pound for pound and capped at £50. National charity days such as Red Nose Day or Children in Need are also matched 50% with no cap.

Payroll Giving to Zurich Community Trust is on a pound for pound basis with no upper limit. Office based or individual fundraising by employees for the Zurich Community Trust is matched 100% with no upper limit. Team fundraising for nominated external charities is matched 50% and capped at £10,000 per event. Individual fundraising for nominated charities is matched 50% and capped at £500 per event. Children of staff fundraising is pound for pound and capped at £50. National charity days such as Red Nose Day or Children in Need are also matched 50% with no cap.

We Are Social share the UK and Global vision with the whole agency and have given real understanding of what the key changes were going to be to staff to ensure they achieve this. The company ensure that the global senior management team physically meet twice a year at summits to ensure they all have an opinion and are part of the vision/strategy/how to execute it all.

We Are Social's have an annual Winter Conference and ski trip. All EU offices head to Austria for 3 days, paid for by the agency. The company has quarterly social events; Miami Vice yacht party, who wants to be a WAS-illionaire quiz night (for charity) and an annual Lovebox festival afternoon. The whole agency is provided with festival tickets and refreshments. They have a Christmas party which has a 1920's theme, with make-up artists, hairdressers, casino, agency wide secret santa, awards ceremonies, a photobooth & breakfast the following morning.

Denis Nolan is an exceptional leader with an entrepreneurial vision. He is widely recognised as a pioneer of solving complex construction challenges. Denis has ensured that the Toureen culture is led by integrity and family principles. As well as being a ‘hands on' Managing Director, he often closely supports several projects and the team. Denis is a demanding perfectionist for health and safety and this has led not only to his team's well-being but several industry awards. A true philanthropist himself, he supports many UK Charities both within and outside the industry. He is very generous in spirit and giving and ensures there is an open door policy. He is always available, listens and genuinely cares. He knows the name of everyone of his employees and remembers and takes genuine interest in them as people. He sees his team's talents and skills and supports them to achieve their successes.

Supporting school breakfasts with donations, sponsoring local sports activities, apprenticeship schemes and Toureen ensure local people in all regions their sites are based in, have the chance to work on Toureen Projects. They also supported a community outreach activity for a local school they were working on. They built a 'skip garden' for the students so they were able to grow, nurture and harvest organic produce on the school grounds. They sank the skip into the ground and built a walkway around it using recycled materials.

Personal Group has Pick A Star awards for Head Office, where employees get nominated by fellow colleagues. The company holds an awards ceremony every quarter and employees can win a 5 day break with their partners overseas.

The Chief Executive of the Personal Group operates the ‘20 Questions program' where small groups can ‘quiz' him on any topic they see fit. He attends all Quarterly Sales Meetings and events in Singapore, Paris, Edinburgh and Manchester. He has an open door policy and tries to deal with issues as much as possible in the moment. He takes an active role in the significant projects that affect the business. He hosts the quarterly comms where questions are encouraged and chairs the annual Employee Survey process to get as close as possible to how the employees are feeling and functioning. Their CEO hosts the peer to peer reward and recognition program ‘Pick a star' which is based on the company's four values. He invented and hosts the Annual Launch Meeting which includes the Annual Values Awards, where they seek to ‘catch someone doing a good job'.

Monarch is geared towards saving money on utilities for their customers. Therefore every quarter, the company calculates the monetary amount of refunds all of their teams have identified for their customers and the team which obtains the biggest refund value for that quarter, receives a 5% bonus in their salary for that month for every team member. Their customers are rewarded and their people are awarded.

Monarch is geared towards saving money on utilities for their customers. Therefore every quarter, the company calculates the monetary amount of refunds all of their teams have identified for their customers and the team which obtains the biggest refund value for that quarter, receives a 5% bonus in their salary for that month for every team member. Their customers are rewarded and their people are awarded.

Karen Forrester, TGI Fridays UK Managing Director, is much loved, valued and respected throughout the company. She is regularly seen in the stores and will always take time with the team. This is also true of the company's new open stores, where Karen and her Exec team take a day to spend with the new Fridays family members to welcome them to the brand. If a key message needs to be delivered to the team, Karen will create a video message which will then be posted onto TGI Fridays social website, and a link is sent directly to their mobile phones.

There are many team building events which run across the year at TGI Fridays. The company's team challenge begins in February, where each of their stores goes through a review process to ensure everyone in their organisation meets the behavioural and ability criteria. Each staff member is then asked to re-certify to ensure they have the knowledge to be efficient in their role, and then they are observed to ensure they display TGI Fridays brand promise to their guests. This is a store activity so that no one is left behind. The store will be visited by a Director of Operations to sign off, the opportunity is used to reward and recognise key individuals who may have stood out in the journey. A series of additional targets and competitions all count towards the aim of finding the very best store. The final event will be a Senior Leadership visit at peak, again taking the opportunity to reward, recognise & energise the teams. The scoring will then determine a regional winner and that store will receive £1K towards a team event. The overall 2nd place store, will receive £100 for every member of the team, and finally the winning store will not only be crowned store of the year, but every member of the team will receive an extra weeks' pay, which they receive the week before Christmas. This is not only a much coveted accolade, but a very welcome sum of money which is cited as giving them a Christmas to remember.

SPF Private Clients plan to arrange meetings with the company's leaders and senior management to discuss the results of the survey.

The company offers flexible working and organises various social activities during the year.

Employee development is encouraged at every level within the business within the parameters of Speedy Hire's “Career Journey” and this is evidenced tangibly in the volume of roles that are obtained by individuals already working within Speedy. 25% of vacancies within Speedy are filled internally as individuals are encouraged to complete both role based and aspiration training and development, preparing them well for their next career move. The development of the employee starts at the “Qualified” level of the Career Journey. Inductions to the business are tailored for each discipline and each team member has a career journey that highlights courses required, relevant qualifications and on the job training to support them through three levels of competency through the “Developed” level to “Expert”. At this point, the team member is in a great place to progress to their next career move. Each course is supported by their internal Training Academy to ensure each individual training log is up to date and the booking process is seamless. The leaders in the business are supported with tailor made management courses at different levels that will give each attendee a qualification from the CMI (Level 3 or 5) and there are various leadership plus modules and 360 feedback put in place to develop them further. Development is seen at every level and a number of current Directors started in the business at entry level. The internal mobility supported by the Career Journey is certainly one of the best examples of their commitment to employee development. In addition to this, Speedy Hire have a Human resources Service Charter manual that details all of the services they provide for employees to ensure managers and employees know what they have access to and what extra services they provide to support them in their development.

Speedy recognise the importance of employee involvement and feedback and has established the ‘Employee Forums' as a framework for discussion on matters affecting all employees. They believe it is imperative that they give all employees their “voice”. The employee forums were initiated throughout the business as a result of feedback from our annual employee survey. They have been introduced as a way of improving communication methods throughout Speedy. The Forums have helped the business to establish and understand our people's thoughts, opinions, views and suggestions from all different grades, within all the business areas and departments. They have been a successful method in allowing the organisation to share business information with employees and as a result of the suggestions and comments raised there have been many improvements made to the day to day running of the business. They are a two way process of communication, discussing matters that affect all employees in a positive, professional and constructive manner. The Employee Forums are being held to share business information; encourage open and honest feedback, suggestions and ideas from employees; build stronger connections between their business strategy and what their people think; supplement the existing channels of communication within the group on business matters; provide effective two way feedback to promote better understanding and good relationships with employees, managers and leaders. The fact that the organisation set these up as a result of employee feedback gives an indication that they do listen and act upon feedback from employees

Financial Planning Manager and Head Office working groups are groups that represent views of all regional teams and Head Office teams to act as a sounding board and help implement new initiatives. These groups have been responsible for the implementation of many new activities to make working life better at SFS. Every quarter briefings are run for Head Office staff by senior management to give an update to all staff on what is going on within the business. It demonstrates the values in which the business is run on and keeps everyone informed of how the business is performing and what its key priorities are.

Andrew Barker joined SFS over 22 years ago as their Technical Manager and has subsequently worked his way up to become Managing Director in 2011. Due to his experience of working in SFS, Andrew has extensive knowledge of the whole business and a deep understanding of the challenges faced by staff in each area. With this in mind, he maintains open engagement with his staff at all levels and has launched many innovative staff engagement initiatives such as License to Grill where staff can ‘grill' him in team meetings and License to Chuck. Andrew is committed to attend every Financial Planning Manager Roadshow nationwide and is a guest at department team meetings once a year. He also holds quarterly business update briefings to all HO staff and issues a monthly update email with his personal thoughts. Upon his appointment to MD, he abolished the MD's private office and remains seated with his colleagues. Andrew asked for this room to be used for study purposes to help staff who want to gain further qualifications to enhance their career. Andrew is well liked by many staff due to his ability to engage with people on all levels. Whilst he is already well respected for his knowledge of the business, he is well known for encouraging a ‘fun element' to working for SFS by organising many staff events and competitions and with his references to popular culture, which he often demonstrates in his presentations to staff. At previous conferences, Andrew has taken part in a comedy video and the outtakes often sees him at the end of a joke, and for this, amongst many other things he does, he is respected by staff for not taking himself too seriously and they see him as very approachable.

A pub bell. Someone suggested that they were not around when everyone went off to the pub so they now announce it on Yammer and have bought a ship bell, so they ring the bell when they go to the pub on a Friday!

Flu jabs are offered, return to work discussions and in one case they offered a taxi for someone to get in and back from work. They provide fresh fruit every day in the office and sustainably sourced drinks. They also have access to the health care scheme.

Shaylor volunteers support Sutton Coldfield Cancer Support Group, in putting up their Christmas decorations, in time for their Christmas Fayre on 6th December every year. The company also buy the Christmas tree. They also took part in a Christmas Tree recycling project with St Mary's Hospice Moseley. This entails collecting trees from various' residences in the south of the city and putting them on a truck and taking them to a nominated recycling centre. St Mary's Hospice gets £10 for every tree collected.

Shaylor Group's recognition and reward strategy is based around the consistent management approach of praise and thanks for good work and performance. Recognition is seen as a key motivator, hence the focus on praise and encouraging “what can we do better” rather than stifle the proactive and innovative ideas and contribution of individuals and teams. This approach was confirmed during their Investors in People assessment. Recognition is given both verbally and through personal emails and letters from the CEO and Directors. Wider recognition is given in celebrations posted on the intranet, e.g. thank you letters from clients, passing a successful audit, achieving 100% customer satisfaction, attaining a high score in the Considerate Constructors scheme, entry to the national site manager of the year award etc. Examples of press releases, client letters and cards of thanks are often shared to highlight individuals' successes.

Staff parties, team/departmental nights out, sports and social club and annual staff awards.

1 2 1's, open door policy from the top of the organisation.

RGL are committed to helping employees to achieve a balance between work and personal life. As part of RGL's health insurance scheme, all employees have access to free cinema tickets and other discounted leisure activities. Flexible working options and generous compassionate leave are also given to employees, when necessary, in order to help with this balance. RGL have an employee assistance programme; all employees are able to access free telephone counselling and information services at any time of day or night. Employees are able to speak to experts in bereavement, stress, depression, bullying, financial problems, relationship problems and other personal or work related concerns. To improve the everyday wellbeing of employees, RGL organise ergonomic workstation assessments to ensure that employees' desks are set up correctly and that their comfort and posture are not compromised in any way. In addition to this, employees can choose to have an on-site acupressure massage every month. This is a massage treatment designed to reduce stress and the build-up of tension in the neck and shoulders. It can also improve motivation and positive thinking. To encourage employees to be active, RGL run a cycle to work scheme and loans for gym memberships.

RGL are committed to helping employees to achieve a balance between work and personal life. As part of RGL's health insurance scheme, all employees have access to free cinema tickets and other discounted leisure activities. Flexible working options and generous compassionate leave are also given to employees, when necessary, in order to help with this balance. RGL have an employee assistance programme; all employees are able to access free telephone counselling and information services at any time of day or night. Employees are able to speak to experts in bereavement, stress, depression, bullying, financial problems, relationship problems and other personal or work related concerns. To improve the everyday wellbeing of employees, RGL organise ergonomic workstation assessments to ensure that employees' desks are set up correctly and that their comfort and posture are not compromised in any way. In addition to this, employees can choose to have an on-site acupressure massage every month. This is a massage treatment designed to reduce stress and the build-up of tension in the neck and shoulders. It can also improve motivation and positive thinking. To encourage employees to be active, RGL run a cycle to work scheme and loans for gym memberships.