People Managers Matter

To ease workplace stress, the company encourages breaks to be taken at regular intervals. Additionally, a mental health policy is in place and a team of sourced councillors are on hand for staff who require extra support.

To ease workplace stress, the company encourages breaks to be taken at regular intervals. Additionally, a mental health policy is in place and a team of sourced councillors are on hand for staff who require extra support.

The company offers group and individual support and development for managers. In some cases, short placements are offered in management roles as ‘trials', along with training and mentoring prior to individuals being offered permanent roles.

The company offers group and individual support and development for managers. In some cases, short placements are offered in management roles as ‘trials', along with training and mentoring prior to individuals being offered permanent roles.

‘Extra mile' awards are given to employees for going above and beyond the call of duty. Nominations can come from peers, managers or clients for either personal or professional reasons.

The company have recently invested in a learning and development officer who is a dedicated support source for staff. This enables eBECS to deliver soft skills training across the business to both new and existing employees.

All managers are given annual performance reviews, including 360-degree reviews for senior leadership. The leaders also have regular one-on-one meetings with their direct manager at least bi-weekly to discuss ongoing performance and address any issues.

The mission of the business is communicated on a regular basis, through references - i.e. in peer bonuses - storytelling and repetition. This is an integral part of the business and affects every decision made.

Defaqto run their Animal Awards, where each director can rewards one or more people in their department each quarter with vouchers, a cuddly animal on their desk and a reserved parking space right by the building.

Defaqto run their Animal Awards, where each director can rewards one or more people in their department each quarter with vouchers, a cuddly animal on their desk and a reserved parking space right by the building.

David Nieper encourages wellbeing and environmental health through their walk to work incentive scheme. Additionally, rainwater is harvested, solar panels are installed on all buildings and supplies are sourced as locally as possible.

David Nieper encourages wellbeing and environmental health through their walk to work incentive scheme. Additionally, rainwater is harvested, solar panels are installed on all buildings and supplies are sourced as locally as possible.

Lunch and Learn sessions are run not just by the in-house formal trainers, but by anybody who has had success with a particular client, initiative, campaign or activity - they are invited to run a short, ten-minute overview session for the rest of the business to promote best practice.

Incentive trips and monthly, quarterly and half yearly achievers awards are run alongside bonus and commission incentive schemes. These include exchange trips with the US office in Los Angeles and other fully expensed trips abroad.

The company operates an annual appraisal scheme that assesses managers against core competencies. They also operate a management development programme where managers receive training on employee recognition, providing feedback and employee engagement.

To support the wider community, Coastline Housing offer a range of grants up to £1,500 for local projects, groups and individual customers. Over the past year, they have granted awards for school playground enhancements, sports equipment and high-visibility jackets for community volunteers.

The company's e-learning system forms a key role in how health and safety training is delivered to employees. OLAS is an online learning and assessment system that helps the allocation of regular training and awareness throughout the organisation while also being able to track progress and results.

The company's e-learning system forms a key role in how health and safety training is delivered to employees. OLAS is an online learning and assessment system that helps the allocation of regular training and awareness throughout the organisation while also being able to track progress and results.

The company has trained in-house assessors and are now able to provide an apprenticeship to anyone within Carbon60 who would like to work towards a qualification within recruitment, business administration, customer service or management.

Carbon60 acknowledge that a sales environment can be stressful and their managers are trained in how to spot this. The company go above and beyond to remove as much work-related stress as possible and advocate seeking specialist support and guidance.

Last year, the company conducted 'Stay interviews' with top performers across the business. The interview gives employees a chance to explain what is working well and not working so well, giving the HR and senior leadership teams an idea of what drives employees.

Last year, the company conducted 'Stay interviews' with top performers across the business. The interview gives employees a chance to explain what is working well and not working so well, giving the HR and senior leadership teams an idea of what drives employees.

Nick is very down to earth, humble and an authentic leader. He knows practically everybody's name in the business and is knowledgeable on their roles and what they bring to the organisation.

The BHA organises staff roadshows to encourage their London staff to attend regional roadshows to meet and socialise with colleagues. Their goal in 2018 is to have all employees attend one of three regional events.

In addition to performance related bonuses and incentives, the company are strong advocates of recognising the uniqueness of the individual. A variety of rewards are given from time off, to bubble baths and chocolates to dinner vouchers for yourself and a partner or large cash sums.

All managers have their performance reviewed through our internal performance review process. This involves a minimum of two formal review meetings per year in addition to regular one-to-ones.

The charity runs bespoke team development days where their training manager meets with the service manager to identify key needs of the team. Together, they develop a day-long session to focus on improving the team's development.

Service managers have clearly defined key performance indicators that are monitored monthly. Performance reports are shared across the management team and discussed at bi-monthly management team meetings.

Better Places have a High Flyers incentive running every six months, offering the opportunity for a maximum of three people to win an all expenses paid trip to New York. This has been brilliantly received and has seen six employees and their partners visit New York in 2017.

When a new consultant joins the company, they are assigned with a senior person in the market they will be working in. The shadowing takes the form of listening to calls, attending meetings and learning as much about the candidate and clients over the first three-six months.

Aspire provide job shadowing for talent consultants in Birmingham as well as new starters, whereby they sit in on interviews for training purposes. In addition, new starters visit the London office in the first three months to learn and train on the job.

Aspire provide job shadowing for talent consultants in Birmingham as well as new starters, whereby they sit in on interviews for training purposes. In addition, new starters visit the London office in the first three months to learn and train on the job.

The business operate a staff discount scheme, pension scheme, life assurance, and a charities and communities fund. They also run motivational-speaking sessions. There's a quarterly employee review scheme focusing on contributions to the overall success of the business.

The firm provide and maintain dedicated rest areas. There are employee review and monitoring processes, with any concerns fully investigated. While working parents are on maternity or paternity leave, they're encouraged to visit the workplace with their baby to maintain contact with colleagues.

Xero UK have an ‘All Hands' meeting fortnightly which is recorded and circulated, and have weekly Friday Night Drinks in both their Milton Keynes and London offices in order to encourage communication and a more sociable form of engagement. They have a pool table, ping pong, space invaders and play station so employees can relax and enjoy each other's company further in the office. Use Officevibe, a weekly engagement check-in tool, allows for employees to comment on 10 factors and to give feedback and dialogue about how they are feeling about work.

Xero UK have an ‘All Hands' meeting fortnightly which is recorded and circulated, and have weekly Friday Night Drinks in both their Milton Keynes and London offices in order to encourage communication and a more sociable form of engagement. They have a pool table, ping pong, space invaders and play station so employees can relax and enjoy each other's company further in the office. Use Officevibe, a weekly engagement check-in tool, allows for employees to comment on 10 factors and to give feedback and dialogue about how they are feeling about work.

Whitbread strive to support and encourage development within their Management populations. When Managers are appointed to a new role they are assigned a mentor who will be an experienced and high performing operator at the same level. In Premier Inn the ‘Shooting Stars' programme supports team members as they progress into their first management role all the way through to being an experienced multi-site manager. Whitbread also have Apprenticeships programmes to develop and support team members, starting from an Intermediate level 2 through to an MSC level 7 in Multi Site Management. Across Premier Inn 398 Apprentices have been promoted, 102 to Operations Manager, 58 to Assistant Operations Manager, 166 to a Premier Inn Host, 58 to Head Housekeeper and 14 to Head Chef. Health & Safety also features heavily, with bi-annual audits conducted by an external provider to ensure that all sites and Managers are compliant with health & safety laws and internal targets relating to the safety of team members. Across Whitbread they measure management performance through their Whitbread in numbers card or ‘WINcards', which is split into four central measures: Winning Teams, Customer Heartbeat, Profitable Growth and Good Together.

Whitbread strive to support and encourage development within their Management populations. When Managers are appointed to a new role they are assigned a mentor who will be an experienced and high performing operator at the same level. In Premier Inn the ‘Shooting Stars' programme supports team members as they progress into their first management role all the way through to being an experienced multi-site manager. Whitbread also have Apprenticeships programmes to develop and support team members, starting from an Intermediate level 2 through to an MSC level 7 in Multi Site Management. Across Premier Inn 398 Apprentices have been promoted, 102 to Operations Manager, 58 to Assistant Operations Manager, 166 to a Premier Inn Host, 58 to Head Housekeeper and 14 to Head Chef. Health & Safety also features heavily, with bi-annual audits conducted by an external provider to ensure that all sites and Managers are compliant with health & safety laws and internal targets relating to the safety of team members. Across Whitbread they measure management performance through their Whitbread in numbers card or ‘WINcards', which is split into four central measures: Winning Teams, Customer Heartbeat, Profitable Growth and Good Together.

Twice a year companywide training events on employment law are provided, as well as managerial skills sessions for all Managers. Urgo also give 360 assessments for people Managers. As part of the annual appraisal process, Managers are assessed versus the Urgo Managerial competencies. A talent review day also takes place each year, where each Manager is presented by their line Manager to the Leadership Team in order to identify high potential people and to also create development plans.

Twice a year companywide training events on employment law are provided, as well as managerial skills sessions for all Managers. Urgo also give 360 assessments for people Managers. As part of the annual appraisal process, Managers are assessed versus the Urgo Managerial competencies. A talent review day also takes place each year, where each Manager is presented by their line Manager to the Leadership Team in order to identify high potential people and to also create development plans.

Quarterly town hall meetings are held for all Line Managers and round table meetings for all employees in order to discuss issues and recognise successes which have proven to be particularly effective given that the business is growing so quickly. The Car Finance Company have previously put on workshops where everyone participated in deciding the priorities for the following quarter, as well as one that focused on what Managers would do to make sure they had great communication across the business. In order to communicate the company mission, vision and values they are printed on posters and mugs so they are always present within the office. Performance is also reviewed against the values.

The Car Finance Company use the 70:20:10 model as the basis of their learning and development strategy in order to focus development on topics that Managers have the opportunity to put into practice immediately in order to be the most effective. Their Leadership and Development Manager has facilitated meetings being held by the Leadership Team as part of their development programme. A group of Team Leaders are presenting at their departments conference for the first time, so they have been supported to develop their presentation and to deliver it building their confidence. A group of Managers took part in a workshop on performance management ahead of the company's quarterly review process. They believe this is a more practical approach and allows delegates to put changes into practice more effectively. Employees can also get involved in coaching and mentoring programmes, which the company find to be more useful as short technical training sessions. Finally performance is always measured against quarterly objectives.

Open communication and accessibility to the senior team are key within Tate. Through spending time in the branch network and asking for feedback in terms of what's working and what should change there is an environment of continuous improvement. Everyone has a voice and opinions and ideas are valued. The Regional Directors hold a weekly conference call to share news and updates and send out a weekly update highlighting achievements and performance. The values at Tate are not just something written on a piece of paper, or in the Boardroom, they are actively practised in the business, and there is an expectation within Tate that all employees, including Senior Management, demonstrates them at all times. They ran a survey earlier this year about values and engagement in the business to identify people's concerns and issues. The results of this survey were shared from the senior management team addressing all of the questions and providing solutions and answers to ensure everyone feels their opinion is valuable to the business. The CEO lives the brand and the culture with a capability of making the vision a reality and he is always very visible and accessible within the business, working from each branch and constantly asking for feedback. His style is very inclusive and he build strong relationships with all employees. He has a sense of humour and appreciates that hard work and gaining results don't have to be to the detriment of fun along the way. David is very highly regarded and respected in the business, very approachable, open and interested in everyone. He is results oriented, but ensures great customer satisfaction is at the forefront of everything Tate do.

Open communication and accessibility to the senior team are key within Tate. Through spending time in the branch network and asking for feedback in terms of what's working and what should change there is an environment of continuous improvement. Everyone has a voice and opinions and ideas are valued. The Regional Directors hold a weekly conference call to share news and updates and send out a weekly update highlighting achievements and performance. The values at Tate are not just something written on a piece of paper, or in the Boardroom, they are actively practised in the business, and there is an expectation within Tate that all employees, including Senior Management, demonstrates them at all times. They ran a survey earlier this year about values and engagement in the business to identify people's concerns and issues. The results of this survey were shared from the senior management team addressing all of the questions and providing solutions and answers to ensure everyone feels their opinion is valuable to the business. The CEO lives the brand and the culture with a capability of making the vision a reality and he is always very visible and accessible within the business, working from each branch and constantly asking for feedback. His style is very inclusive and he build strong relationships with all employees. He has a sense of humour and appreciates that hard work and gaining results don't have to be to the detriment of fun along the way. David is very highly regarded and respected in the business, very approachable, open and interested in everyone. He is results oriented, but ensures great customer satisfaction is at the forefront of everything Tate do.

The vision was drawn up at a brainstorming session of all Managers who felt that if everyone had their input in this, it would be more likely to be taken on board and implemented. This was rolled out to all team members in bulletins, employee representative meetings and the annual companywide meetings. SPV also communicate this though all forms of social media.

Working in a high risk industry SPV run a regular training plan which they draw up in conjunction with the CITB & NFRC. Over and above this, in 2016 they have put all supervisors through training to enable them to get gold CSCS cards. They have four team members booked on a heritage roofing course which they have requested and will also ensure they can offer another service to their clients. They have also enrolled all administration members in a customer services NVQ Qualification that they enrolled out to newly promoted supervisors onto the Institute of Roofing management and technician course. The MD Howard is The institute of Roofing Midlands Regional Chair and as such the company has a number of manufacturers CPD courses coming up later in the year. In 2016, SPV enrolled two new apprentices on a built up felt roofing apprenticeship with a further two to be enrolled later in the year. In 2016 they put three team members through a cladding apprenticeship which they are due to complete in early 2017. In 2015, they enrolled six team members on the pilot Liquid Waterproofing Specialist up skill Course. This programme was written by the Liquid Roofing and Waterproofing Association in conjunction with the CITB to infill the training gap in the industry between the Apprenticeship and OSAT. SPV Group then subsequently put a further three team members through the course early this year. In 2016 they enrolled a further three onto the Liquid Waterproofing Specialist Apprenticeship course.

The Senior Management Team always look to lead with excellence in delivering against the company's BOB values across everything they do. They do this through initiatives like Curiosity Week, quarterly forums and acting as coaches for all of their talent. Tom is an inspirational and engaging leader of Southpaw. He fully promotes a flat structure and encourages people of all levels to be honest and open on what's working and what's not so they can drive positive change. He fully integrates with all staff and sits amongst the client service team. He is fiercely passionate about the BOB values and ensures that all of the talent within the agency are making them their own and leveraging them for career growth, contributing to the culture as well as delivering original creative thinking for clients. On a day to day basis you will see Tom being one of the team by making the odd cup of tea, asking people how their day is going and running from one meeting to another just like everyone else!

At Southpaw personal development is at the heart of the agency and in April 2016 the company won their industry body's gold standard in all things related to personal development. Southpaw take a unique approach to performance management by tailoring training to individual needs rather than a one size fits all method. They see inspiration as critical to people's development and as such run internal inspiration sessions alongside a platform where people can share thoughts, ideas or stuff they have found inspirational. Southpaw also encourage learning to be shared across the agency, as everyone has a talent or knowledge that can be shared to help develop others. Everyone commits to at least 24 hours of development per year, which can be learning something new themselves or helping to develop other people.

All Managers receive monthly supervision from their Manager, as supervision is a critical tool in developing and supporting Managers. Managers attend regular Managers' meetings, which have a learning/development feel as well as a business focus. Operational Managers also attend Managers' Days between one and four times a year depending on the division. Managers may be given/take on additional responsibilities to further develop skills. Managers can attend external conferences and training to meet identified needs and internal training. Southdown Housing arrange external or internal mentoring/coaching for Managers with identified needs and also provide one-to-one support internally to help them develop skills or deal with particular challenges. Each year the organisation identify the current needs for specific groups of Managers and provide a programme of input to meet these. The input may be provided by external or internal trainers. In 2015-16 this included input on facilitating reflective practice, the impact of trauma and promoting diversity post-Brexit. Community Services Managers participate in reflective practice sessions for Managers. All managers have 10 and 20 week probationary appraisals and then an annual Performance Development Review. In some operational contracts, contract monitoring measures the performance of managers with senior managers having a dashboard with outcome measures for each team. A monthly ‘Balanced scorecard' and other Quality and Performance monitoring processes/tools within Southdown track a variety of measures, which helps to identify issues for individual teams, their Managers and the Managers' development needs. Finally all teams have their own annual action plans for the Manager to implement, which are updated each quarter to note progress and are reviewed by a more Senior Manager.

In addition to the support that Southdown provide to thousands of local vulnerable people, they also make additional and discretionary contributions. The organisation are accredited as a Disability Confident Employer and provide advice to other employers in promoting opportunities and providing support for employees who have a disability or other long-term health conditions. 21% of employees have a declared disability or a long-term health condition. Each year staff choose a charity to support together. In 2015 staff raised over £2,400 through a range of activities, including a live music event to support ‘Caring (therapeutic) Pets'. They have also been providing a food bank staff donation point for three years. For 2016 staff chose The Centrepoint Charity Relief Fund and have already donated over £1,000 from their fundraising. In East Sussex Southdown are providing free training to help local people who use mental health services and their carers so they can have their say and actively influence the services being provided. They are passionate about helping vulnerable people to overcome barriers that can prevent them from accessing work opportunities. As a specialist provider of supported employment and vocational advice they support over 1,200 people with mental health challenges each year to secure or retain paid work. Southdown are recognised as one of 14 ‘Centres of Excellence' in the UK by the Centre for Mental Health for delivering Individual Placement and Support employment services. They also provide a dedicated vocational support service for carers. Called Ambitions, the service works with carers to support them to identify and pursue their vocational aspirations.

SVHS have 11 trained facilitators across the organisation available to help focus and drive meetings/training sessions to improve communication flow. The company have a number of break-out spaces available to staff who can use the areas to chat to colleagues and have informal meetings. The Creative Room, with bright furniture including a sofa and bean bags, encourages staff to use the space to brain storm, share ideas and be creative in problem solving. SVHS also have large screens in meeting rooms with Apple TV's to allow easy use of video conferencing software, including staff who are unable to physically attend the meeting with team discussions. Earlier in the year SVHS hosted an all staff event called Future Focus. One of the main objectives of the event was to focus staff on understanding the future direction of the organisation; however the event also aimed to ensure staff were aware and understood the new ways of working and also focused on collaboration. The benefits of the event were highlighting the progress of the organisation to date, re-confirming leadership aims and goals for the organisation. The event allowed SVHS to run a number of activities aimed at encouraging cross-organisational collaboration and team building. These included asking each team to produce a ‘team board' in advance, being creative to display team success over the past 12 months and also areas which they felt could be improved.

SVHS run a staff recognition scheme called the Lovies (Living our Values), which was created as a fun way to encourage recognition and appreciation of behaviour aligned to the values - caring, creative, purposeful, professional and trustworthy. There are 15 Lovies, three for each value, which are awarded from one colleague to another. Recipients of a Lovie are passed a trophy to display and also a pin badge. Staff will also get recognition of their award on the staff intranet. So far 86 different colleagues have been recognised in varying categories. A total of 135 badges have been handed out. 35 of the 86 colleagues have actually picked up a Lovie for two different values and four colleagues have earned three varying badges. In total 67% of SVHS staff have a Lovie. Separate from the Lovies, staff also use the intranet to recognise and thank staff for going the extra mile. Over the past 12 months these have included helping out at an event, staying late to support colleagues in an event, solving a tricky excel problem and even changing a tyre! SVHS also host an annual awards ceremony allowing staff to nominate one another for awards, together with a CEO special recognition award. Staff are awarded during this special event, attended by all employees and including a three course meal and networking opportunities.

Salix Homes offer a robust induction process for all new starters that includes training on safeguarding, manual handling, IOSH, equality and diversity and ICT systems, combined with job specific training. They are committed to an intake of apprentices each year who are paid the minimum wage for their age and not an apprentice rate in areas of their business and they currently have two graduate roles in place who receive an enhanced salary above Living Wage, as well as their full study fees. Salix Homes offer a number of NVQ opportunities to staff within the organisation to support their development. They run “Manager Academies” on a monthly basis for all employees with people responsibilities to focus on themes impacting on the Manager. The responsibilities include delivering effective appraisals, recruitment and selection, training and more.

Salix Homes uses a performance management system, which manages all service action plans under the Corporate Plan. Managers are responsible for reporting on their service areas within the system and are required to attend quarterly performance clinics to report their performance to the Executive Team. On an annual basis each service area/team has an externally led audit carried out and the outcome is then reported to the internal audit committee. Once the actions have been agreed at the committee, the Manager is responsible for providing bi-monthly update reports to the committee. Managers are subject to monthly one to one and annual appraisals with their Managers, where both their performance against objectives and the competency framework are measured.

RD encourages all employees to take qualified training to a level that exceeds the regulatory minimum standard. They also offer colleagues in unregulated roles the opportunities to take professional qualifications at entry level to further their own development. A good example of this is the company receptionists, who have completed the Level 3 qualifications in Wealth Management.

RD actively promotes team interaction and working together. Everyone is encouraged to work together both within their own teams and across the organisation. RD has a set of Core Values that they expect staff to demonstrate and these are also to be incorporated within the staff appraisal process. New starters are bought biscuits so they can be used to 'bribe' colleagues to help them out. They feel that this is an innovative way to get new employees to mix with existing ones.

As part of the company benefits Pulsant do look to provide helpful ways to support employees in maintaining a well-balanced and health conscious lifestyle. They currently provide fresh fruit and fruit juice, as well as healthy breakfast produce. The company have a Bike to Work Scheme in place. Some employees are entitled to free gym memberships and others can obtain discounts for gym memberships via the ‘My Pulsant Rewards' discount programme. There are additional opportunities to enhance wellbeing as part of the Health Shield cash plan, which gives employees access to an employee assistance programme as well as considerable contributions to health care and wellbeing. The 'Pulsant Plodders' go on regular runs during lunchtime and enter various local challenges. Pulsant have and will continue to refer to their occupational health provider as and when they feel this would be of benefit in order to manage and obtain advice on best practice as required.

One to One meetings are frequently held with all the applicable Managers in relation to their development plans, which are put in place as required to help improve weaker areas. Coaching and mentoring is available and some have found this to be of great benefit. Pulsant have had external facilitators leading them through a development programme and are looking to reinforce this again next year. There are various ways of measuring the performance of the company's Managers, for example the output from the internal Pulse Survey. The company's bi-annual appraisals, review, assessment of goals and functional KPI's is another very useful tool when assessing performance. 360 feedback was only introduced this year and is a very useful means when assessing performance and impact on various areas of the business.

Phoenix worked with staff to develop their new strengths framework, which underpins all of their recruitment and performance development and is understood as a way of achieving the corporate vision. Their strengths framework represents a cumulative understanding of ‘essential behaviours' at Phoenix. They believe that the behaviours are a unique perspective of current and future cultural aspirations and very much about a shared understanding of how to create a workplace that they love. The eight core Phoenix strengths complement and sit alongside their four core principles and values of Community, Customer, Consideration and Collaboration. The four C's, as they are known, are visible and salient throughout the organisation and within their offices. Posters are displayed prominently in resident facing areas and customer service spaces so that they are accountable to customers and partners. They have also used giant whiteboards on the stairwell, allowing staff to write up how their job roles help deliver corporate objectives. This has helped staff understand one another's contributions to the business and sparked further internal talks and working groups. All colleagues received a strengths toolkit, workbook and bespoke journals that reinforce the messages. Their new ‘thank you card' initiative prompts staff to celebrate and acknowledge outstanding examples of customer service and work against these core principles.

Phoenix's Community Chest project sees an annual fund of £100,000 made available to groups and organisations with ideas for projects that will improve the community and life chances for residents. Since 2013, Phoenix has awarded £300,000 worth of funding to projects that have benefited more than 3,000 Phoenix residents and local people and are set to reach even more. Community events include a Phoenix Festival, which attracts more than 3,000 people each year, a Summer Fun programme for children in their area and regular Community Links events where residents can get involved in what's happening in their locality. They supported a small village in Togo via the Dekamile charity through inkind support and also engaged with staff to raise £12,000 to support further essential construction. They offered an opportunity for one Phoenix staff member, along with an employee of the subsidiary Phoenix Repairs Service, to travel to Togo to support the construction project and see first-hand the impact of their contributions. Unemployment in Lewisham, London, is more than twice the national average. Phoenix offer a range of initiatives to support local people to take the necessary steps in or back to work. Their ‘Roots into Work' programme offers a weekly job club, one to one advice and coaching from dedicated careers advisors, plus CV and interview workshops and a broad range of flexible training programmes. In 2015-16 they supported 48 residents into long-term employment. Free training ranges from functional skills in English, Maths and IT to vocational programmes that include work experience/placements. They also offer apprenticeships each year and seek to maximise job and apprentice vacancies within contractors and broader supply chain. Since 2014 a total 33 Lewisham residents have benefited from apprenticeships.

All employees have access to professional coaching and are assigned a mentor from within the business. Penna's People Manager Group meets quarterly and is led by the MD. This group works together to support people management in the business and to support one another with their people management role and responsibilities. Good leadership is a core tenet of the overall brand, along with the client experience and colleague experience; therefore the company believe it is essential that they maintain the standards of the leadership behaviours they have established. Each Penna Leader is asked to gather personal feedback on how they are performing. They do this by consulting their direct reports and anyone else whom they have led as part of projects they have undertaken in the last 12 months. Managers are then required to attend a one-hour training session where they learn how to give and receive feedback in the best and most respectful way. Managers then attend a feedback session with their own Line Manager, who shares and walks through the feedback to identify and maximise on strengths and also build upon any development areas.

All employees have access to professional coaching and are assigned a mentor from within the business. Penna's People Manager Group meets quarterly and is led by the MD. This group works together to support people management in the business and to support one another with their people management role and responsibilities. Good leadership is a core tenet of the overall brand, along with the client experience and colleague experience; therefore the company believe it is essential that they maintain the standards of the leadership behaviours they have established. Each Penna Leader is asked to gather personal feedback on how they are performing. They do this by consulting their direct reports and anyone else whom they have led as part of projects they have undertaken in the last 12 months. Managers are then required to attend a one-hour training session where they learn how to give and receive feedback in the best and most respectful way. Managers then attend a feedback session with their own Line Manager, who shares and walks through the feedback to identify and maximise on strengths and also build upon any development areas.

A local charity of the year is chosen by the Ombudsman Services employees. The local charity the organisation is supporting this year is the Shannon Bradshaw Trust. Events in aid of the charity that have taken place in 2016 include a football fun day, a walking challenge and dress down days. Ombudsman Services also encourage staff to take individual leadership roles in the community, such as being a school governor. Teams have supported local charities such as a RSPCA site that needed some outside maintenance and decorating. Ombudsman Services is also committed to fair treatment of its employees, potential employees and service users. They actively promote equal opportunity for all with the right mix of skills, knowledge and talent and welcomes applications from a wide range of candidates, including those with criminal records.

There is an overall programme to support and develop Ombudsman Services Managers to be at their best. This programme includes refresher training sessions, as prior to mid-year reviews taking place a programme was provided for Managers focusing on the preparation and delivery of the review meeting, including dealing with challenges from employees. Managers also have access to online learning. This contains e-learning modules, guides and checklists around ‘Performance & Development', ‘Coaching & Mentoring' and ‘Managing People'. One to one coaching is provided to Managers using both internal and external coaches. An internal accreditation is awarded to those Managers consistently demonstrating effective coaching and observation is continued on a less regular basis to encourage maintenance of standards. Mentoring is supported within the organisation and a number of Managers have an internal mentor as part of their development. Objectives are set at the beginning of the year and are a basis for gauging progress and performance. Managers have a monthly conversation with their own Manager to discuss progress against their objectives and general wellbeing. Regular observations of one to one's and coaching sessions with team members also take place, with feedback and suggestions for development being provided to all Managers.

In addition to NNT Data offering occupational health and the Employee Assistance Programme, the company promotes the sabbatical and flexible working policy and also encourages employees to utilise these benefits. The business also encourages employees to take all annual leave throughout the holiday calendar year. The company recognises that in unfortunate circumstances an employee may need to take up to five days paid leave, which is another benefit used to assist employees with wellness and their return back to work.

In addition to NNT Data offering occupational health and the Employee Assistance Programme, the company promotes the sabbatical and flexible working policy and also encourages employees to utilise these benefits. The business also encourages employees to take all annual leave throughout the holiday calendar year. The company recognises that in unfortunate circumstances an employee may need to take up to five days paid leave, which is another benefit used to assist employees with wellness and their return back to work.

One of No1 Lounges main focuses of 2016 has been to improve employees' development so their people feel supported, empowered and engaged in their own progression. The company recognise the importance of internal promotion and it's key that they support their people throughout their employment with us. Over 70% of employees with a length of service over four years have achieved promotions, with many starting in Team Member roles and progressing into local and central Management Teams. To ensure new starters feel supported on their journey at No1 Lounges they have recently launched the ‘Flying Start' programme, which charts the personal development of employees in their first three months. This enables them to chart their progression and set clear and achievable objectives. No1 Lounges operational training programme, held on ‘Up In The Air Days', brings their people together to share knowledge and experiences while learning interesting, diverse and relevant skills. The programme is designed for the employee to opt in and sessions are facilitated by the in-house trainer, HODs or the external L&D partner ‘Purple Cubed'.

No1 Lounges reward their operational staff with a ‘Performance Bonus' of up to 15% of gross salary each month. The bonus is awarded in two parts, one of 5% and one of 10%. Performance is linked directly to guests' experiences, which they receive in the lounge each day with a feedback questionnaire. 5% is attributed to each team achieving the target Net Promoter Score within the lounge and 10% is awarded based on how guests score certain aspects of their experience which are relevant to each role. The Performance Bonus scheme is free of any management bias and is not connected to the company's financial performance, which No1 Lounges believe to be unique in the world of hospitality. In addition to the Performance Bonus scheme the company also operate ‘on-the-spot' rewards for extra-special service moments, all in recognition of people going above and beyond in the delivery of the lounge experiences. These include tickets to the cinema and theatre, spa days, extra holiday time and high street vouchers.

In designing the NHBC's bonus structure the organisation have recognised that whilst all employees can influence business performance, those at lower grades have considerably less influence than Senior Managers on corporate objectives. As a result of this, to drive and recognise employee performance NHBC have weighted the bonus calculations for lower graded employees, allowing them to have greater influence over their bonus achievement. For most employees the bonus is based on 75% individual performance and 25% Company performance, whilst the CEO is 85% Company performance. This means that lower graded employees will receive a substantial proportion of bonus if they perform well but the Company does not over achieve.

In designing the NHBC's bonus structure the organisation have recognised that whilst all employees can influence business performance, those at lower grades have considerably less influence than Senior Managers on corporate objectives. As a result of this, to drive and recognise employee performance NHBC have weighted the bonus calculations for lower graded employees, allowing them to have greater influence over their bonus achievement. For most employees the bonus is based on 75% individual performance and 25% Company performance, whilst the CEO is 85% Company performance. This means that lower graded employees will receive a substantial proportion of bonus if they perform well but the Company does not over achieve.

The office space that money.co.uk work in is real castle which has recently undergone a massive refurbishment to give the team the best working environment that they can possibly give them. An emphasis on staff welfare and the environment has been taken into account in all designs and the team members themselves were consulted on the designs to ensure they were right for them and the way in which they work. The innovation includes an intelligent lighting and music system which can be changed according to where you sit to suit individual preference, a choice of 5 different chairs to optimize comfort and minimize back problems, meeting areas designed to complement the way in which they work as company, an overhaul of our gym with state of art technology and an on-site cinema has been built to be enjoyed by our staff for out of hours' relaxation. In addition, kitchen facilities have been designed with a large area for staff to group and eat together, there is a unique chill out area for staff members to relax in and quiet rooms for silent, for highly focused work. They believe a healthy body is essential for a healthy mind and understand the importance of encouraging our team to lead healthy and active lives. They do this by providing a free state-of-the-art gym on site, free one-to-one consultations with nutritionists, offer of counselling sessions or psychotherapy if going through challenging times, a paid for weekly game of indoor football, squash or basketball at lunchtime at the local leisure centre and a workout room so team members can arrange group classes like yoga or Zumba. Additionally, they also pay for in-depth Bupa health assessments for anyone that is struggling with a health issue.

money.co.uk offer 3 days' paid leave for team members to volunteer for a charity or organization of their choice. They value community and believe that work should not prevent those who want to, to volunteer for organisations who need help. They have a number of people on the team who are involved in organisations and charities outside of work such as the Brownies Association and Soroptimists International. This policy allows these individuals to get involved with the community and give back to organisations set up to help those most in need. This supportive policy is a sign that they support community and believe that it's important for the team to have interests outside of work. money.co.uk has allocated £2 million to donate to local and national charities this year and all employees are involved in deciding which organisations the donations go to. The team recently voted to collectively sponsor the Young Enterprise's “Learn to Earn” programme. This year Chris has empowered his team further by giving £5,000 to every member of his team to donate to a charity of their choice and so far 48 employees have embraced the opportunity to support an organisation that has special meaning for them.

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).

CC give their people the freedom to pursue the projects that inspire them and to switch from one specialism to the other if that's where they feel they can do their best work. The company have no interest in trying to mould employees to fit a pre-existing role. Instead, they want free-thinking individuals who'll find original solutions to novel problems. On the back of having such unique employees, CC run a 'Nobel prize' scheme to reward extraordinary staff effort and achievement. Anyone in the company can nominate anyone else directly to the CEO, who in turn makes cash awards with an announcement of congratulations in the company's monthly in house magazine.

CC have an open air lounge area, which provides a quiet and tranquil environment for their employees to relax in, either at lunchtime or during other quiet times. The company also host free weekly yoga sessions after work. To ensure that mental health is looked after as much as physical, CC have a free and confidential counselling line available to all their employees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. CC actively encourage employees to use this service if they are experiencing stress or other difficulties, whether work related or personal. Cycling is very popular and to ensure CC employees are safe whilst cycling to and from work the company provide reflective cycling jackets so they can be seen easily by other road users. They also provide them with drying facilities, showers and freshly laundered towels. CC organise for the bicycle ambulance to visit the site and undertake work on employee's bikes to ensure they are maintained properly and roadworthy. The company also pays for their time and the employees pay for any parts they use. They even provide a cycle workshop for staff to undertake minor repairs during the day and provide spare bulbs and other small items. CC also offer to pay £100 towards new glassed if needed for VDU work, which is in addition to paying for the eyesight test.

CMBC are using innovative and creative digital approaches to communicate with their workforce. Traditionally they have displayed their primary purpose using policies and procedures, but they are now using augmented reality videos and YouTube videos to communicate CMBC's organisations Primary Purpose, Values and Outrageous Ambition. These video posters are displayed across the council and uploaded onto the council's intranet pages. Furthermore local college media students and apprentices record employee's stories to help deliver CMBC's outrageous ambition. The Chief Executive personally invited 500 Middle Managers who operate below Head of Service level to attend a half day Big Leadership Conversation workshop. Corporate Leadership Team shares CMBC's outrageous ambition to the Best Borough in the North and discusses with the Managers the organisation's three corporate priorities, how they fit with their values and behaviours and their role in making this happen. They also have a council Facebook page to deliver key messages to their communities and workforce on a daily basis.

CMBC are using the 70:20:10 model of learning to provide a base for employees to shape their learning. The organisation is just about to publish a revised Learning and Development Policy for the first time in several years, which they will use to underpin the development of a culture of self-directed learning. The emphasis is on seeking out learning instead of relying on paid for structured programmes of learning. CMBC also have a coaching and mentoring programme which has been in place for three years. They have built their own pool of workplace coaches and mentors that anyone in the council can request to have time with. They also run a ‘Day in Your Shoes' campaign, which aims to get employees connecting with one another across teams and learning from others about what their services do. This is promoting cross-council networks and helps employees to understand what goes when it comes to delivering CMBC services to the public.

An annual wellbeing survey to all Cadline staff seeks to identify any areas of workplace stress amongst other issues. Feedback is collated and individuals selected randomly for focus groups to discuss the survey results. Recommendations are then collated for the Leadership Team to consider and any necessary action will then be taken. Long term sickness can be a worry to staff, particularly those with dependents. Cadline consider their staff to be an extended family. Every member of staff who has suffered long term sickness has been paid in full for the duration of the sickness to ensure a full and stress free recovery. This also includes a phased return to work. The company have had staff suffer a range of illnesses from heart attacks and cancer to personal injury. The longest episode of paid sick leave has been six months. The company identify quickly if any staff are feeling any work related pressures and do everything they can to alleviate this and support them. All Managers and HR are extremely approachable. Staff wellbeing is crucial for the business, so they listen and talk about ways of reducing any stress. Face to face communication is also very important, as some staff are remotely located and can feel isolated. To combat this Cadline ensure that regular visits and contact take place.

Cadline's vision, mission and values were agreed upon seven years ago. It was decided not to agree upon these solely at a leadership level, so instead the company organised an offsite company event where they had a primary business objective of letting the team develop their ideas. The morning was spent developing the vision and mission statements and in the afternoon the team decided which core values best represented what the company embodies. As well as this the team went further and developed a set of behaviours, ensuring it was clear to every member of staff how to demonstrate these values in day to day interactions with one another and with customers alike. In order to maintain the team's enthusiasm and commitment Cadline decided to embed the values in the performance management system. Every year within each employee's objectives there is a ‘Values' objective, which requests that at each appraisal point the individual submits evidence of how they have ‘lived' the Cadline values of Integrity, Teamwork, Expertise or Passion. Through this process they reinforce the business statements and values to all. Furthermore new employees have a leadership induction scheduled where they spend a morning with one of the Leadership Team. During this induction the bourness statements and values are presented and discussed. This is then reinforced throughout the wider company induction with the HR Manager and Line Manager.

Brooklands Operations Ltd very much believe in retaining and progressing their managers through the business by offering opportunities, training and coaching to allow them to develop from team players to junior managers and eventually onto departmental managers. They do this through management development courses which are run by an external tutor, one to one mentoring with Senior Managers and further external courses to enhance their development. The company has had the same management team in place for four years and many of these managers came up from team players to managers. As a hotel the business works very closely together on a daily basis, meaning discussion with Senior Managers happens throughout the days and any advice on performance is dealt with on an ongoing basis, with tasks and projects allocated over the months being monitored for their progression and completion. The management team also have offsite meetings a few times a year where they work through an agenda, covering commercial, people and guest feedback, all of which ensures their stool model is fulfilled and the team is focused. Having a close management team helps Brooklands Operations Ltd to understand how to work to their strengths and also how to complement each other when a great job has been done. Another huge positive is that most staff members have worked in other hotel groups, meaning they can bring their knowledge and experience to the table in every decision made.

The ‘Make it Happen' attitude is seen in all areas of the business and it is never just one stakeholder taking priority. The Stool model is lived by everyone and engages the team to have a full understanding of what is expected of them. Any decisions the management team make need to be for the good of all three legs of the stool. Through this the management have created a caring and engaged team that deliver great service whilst having fun and making money. This is reflected in the great feedback Brooklands receive from guests regarding the team, low staff turnover for the industry and reaching management budget five years in a row. The management are very hands on and offer an open door policy to all staff. This year Brooklands even went against the industry trend and budgeted to pay all of their team players the National Living Wage, regardless of if they met the criteria. The team are quite often heard saying 'we are the Brooklands Family' and this is great to hear. Marco also meets every prospective employee before they start by leading the daily dash meeting, doing an introduction at the team player monthly induction and running the ‘Make it Happen' workshops for all new starters. He walks the property on a daily basis and even cooked the BBQ with chef for the team event. He also judged the Brooklands Bake off, but felt quite sick after tasting over 30 cakes! He'll even do weekend cover, where he can be found serving behind the bar and doing the pass in 1907, demonstrating to all of the team that they're are in this together and that leadership can take on various different forms to be successful.

Blue Chip Holidays run companywide business updates and smaller team huddles regularly in the middle of the office to encourage communication. They divert the phones and give everyone the opportunity to be there or dial into a conference number; they know its successful because team members come in on their days off. Blue Chip Holidays took the decision to collate their two offices into one and break down the walls to create a big open plan space to help communication and team work. Face to face communication is encouraged rather than phone calls and email.

Blue Chip Holidays actively support the RNLI as a charity that means a lot to their team, owners and guests. The majority of their properties are in a coastal location so Blue Chip Holidays support them both locally and nationally. They have put RNLI water safety information in the welcome packs in each coastal property and they also go out to help in their annual yellow welly collection campaign. Blue Chip Holidays also maintain regular contact with PLUSS and St Loyes Foundation, helping those with disabilities to get into employment. They have just hosted a 6 month paid temporary contract in their Finance department via the St. Loyes foundation. Also, the company have provided several apprenticeships over the last 5 years to enable young unemployed people to gain work experience and in most cases full time permanent employment with them.

Argyll Scott is passionate about developing and promoting their own people. They create bespoke development programmes for individuals who are identified as suitable future leaders. They offer them a combination of offsite, classroom and on the desk training together with ongoing mentoring by the senior leaders of our business and job shadowing as appropriate. Mentoring has been highly effective in allowing managers to discuss management issues with an experienced leader from a different part of the business and to benefit from their different perspective, experience and gain valuable insight from them. Argyll Scott measures the performance of its managers through a set of KPIs and objectives that are set, mutually agreed and reviewed on an annual, quarterly and monthly basis. These are a combination of personal and team performance and revenue targets and headcount growth targets and employee retention and development objectives.

The senior management team sits with the recruitment teams in the open plan office. They do not shut themselves away in private offices. They are extremely visible and have an “open door” management policy. The whole of the senior management team, including the CEO, handle recruitment assignments and are client facing so they genuinely lead by example and thereby actively demonstrate their hands on commitment to the values of the organisation. The senior management team jointly present to the business on a quarterly and bi-annually basis to update employees on company performance, initiatives and objectives, linking all activity back to the vision, mission and values of the organisation. By so doing, they are able to demonstrate their commitment to the values of the organisation by showing trust, sharing insight, demonstrating their talent, celebrating the talent and results of the employees and proving their agility. The CEO is extremely approachable and committed to retaining Argyll Scott's talented employees. He participates in the selection process of all UK based employees and senior international employees, taking a personal interest in ensuring they can attract, hire, train, promote and retain the best talent for the business. The CEO participates in the corporate induction programme, personally explaining the mission, vision and values of the company and thereby demonstrating his commitment to them. On a daily basis, the CEO walks the floor, talking to employees, listening to their suggestions, achievements and feedback on initiatives and advising them on how to handle challenges and obstacles. The CEO hosts monthly lunches with a group of employees from across the business which provides an informal opportunity for him to gauge internal sentiment.

The company have dedicated internal communications specialists who work with their services to ensure that key messages are communicated to staff in ways that are suited to the various job roles in the organisation. Their intranet is updated on a weekly basis and followed up with weekly news alerts to staff to let them know what's going on. Their Chief Executive sends out a monthly brief with her key updates, also directors sends out their own brief to share updates at a local level. They have television screens displayed within all their office buildings and these show key messages and updates of what's going on at Wigan Council. They also have a text messaging service staff can sign up to receive key updates.

The senior leadership have increased their visibility through top down communications. Their Chief Executive and the leader of the council deliver regular listening sessions throughout the year. This provides staff with an opportunity to share their views and hear directly from the senior leadership team. In addition each director holds similar sessions and shares key messages with staff based in their directorate.

Wellingborough Homes hold Annual Star Awards. At the annual staff away day, there is the Star Awards ceremony. Which is where staff can nominate their colleagues for awards that are chosen by Senior Managers. Some examples of the awards are: Rookie of The Year, Best Team Player and First Responder. All nominees receive a certificate and a congratulations from the leadership team, and the employee with the most nominations within each category, receives a prize at the ceremony during the away day and a photo with the Chief Executive, just like real award ceremonies! This is particularly effective because team member employees as well as managers, can nominate anyone within the Organisation. Plus, having the Executive Management Team presenting the awards at the away day, then shows the most recognition in front of all staff.

Wellingborough Homes hold Annual Star Awards. At the annual staff away day, there is the Star Awards ceremony. Which is where staff can nominate their colleagues for awards that are chosen by Senior Managers. Some examples of the awards are: Rookie of The Year, Best Team Player and First Responder. All nominees receive a certificate and a congratulations from the leadership team, and the employee with the most nominations within each category, receives a prize at the ceremony during the away day and a photo with the Chief Executive, just like real award ceremonies! This is particularly effective because team member employees as well as managers, can nominate anyone within the Organisation. Plus, having the Executive Management Team presenting the awards at the away day, then shows the most recognition in front of all staff.

Values are communicated from first interview through to continuous employment. The Achieve More Together quarterly award is a constant reminder of the importance placed on the values. The values are appraised as part of the annual appraisal process. Posters displaying the values are present in all offices and meeting rooms. The company strategy is not only communicated to all employees, but employees are reminded at regular Communication Meetings of progress, updates and reminders.

The company have Achieve More Together Award which is a quarterly cash bonus of £500 net to reward an employee or team who best display the company values. Nominations are invited from all employees.

Travelzoo is very generous with time; there are multiple initiatives ongoing in the UK including an annual charity cycle from London to Paris, weekly volunteering at Suited and Booted; blood donations; Christmas gift boxes for children; refugee clothing collection; various races and competitions that sponsor the favoured company charity, Open Arms Malawi.

Monthly and quarterly financial awards to specific employees for specific achievements (best deal, greatest case study, highest rated deal, best team work etc.).

This is year two of Town and Country Housing Group ‘Journey to Customer Excellence', a customer experience programme based on empowering staff; encouraging teamwork; and promoting customer service. Cross team working groups were established and asked to develop ideas that would benefit the Group. The ideas were presented by each Group at the staff conference in December 2014 with many of ideas being taken forward. For example, the development of an app for tenants to facilitate mobile access to their account. One of the groups established was the 'Buddy' group. The role of a Buddy is to help new members of staff settle into the organisation and highlight the Group's commitment to customer excellence. Buddies explain what this means in practice using the 'brilliant basics' - a shared commitment to responding to all customers promptly and resolving problems at the earliest stage. Another idea that has been implemented is a shadowing scheme to facilitate understanding of other team's, their roles. The scheme was established in April 2015 with positive feedback and good take-up. This summer continuous improvement groups from across the organisation have also been established with a view to improving organizational wide issues, such as the mutual exchange process. The recent challenge for the cross team working Groups was to develop ideas for community action days. Staff ran sessions to support tenants during Customer Service Week and the activities culminated in a highly successful family fun day run by staff with the theme of managing Christmas on a budget.

All of the staff at Town and Country Housing Group are familiar with the vision and values of the group, there are posters all around the building and all new starters receive a copy of the vision and values in their induction pack. The values are replicated on mouse mats, calendars and even sweets! that are given to new starters. The values were central to the development of competencies for managers and staff and to the development of the customer experience programme. Living the values is a key theme and links into the company's customer service goals; responding to queries promptly, respecting others, being responsive and taking ownership. The values are also held on the website and are part of the golden thread that links what Town and Country Housing Group do in terms of service delivery to their values. Pride is the first value and the one most people identify with. The Buddies, who mentor new staff, go through the values with them at a face to face meeting. New managers have a delivery plan that stems from the company vision and values and is monitored through the leadership group on a monthly basis. The company's internal training programmes will also be aligned more closely to their values from next year.

The company have moved to open plan, cross departmental project teams, Friday office bar, flexible working hours.

The company invest in external training and ensure they have the tools needed to drive sales and get the most from their teams. Managers have regular reviews and clear objectives to ensure clarity and success day to day. The company celebrate all successes within their brand.

The Regatta Group prides itself on the level of internal promotions with the majority of management positions being from within the business. New and existing managers are able to go on a bespoke programme called Journey to Management Excellence. This has been specially designed to give managers (or refresh) the knowledge of certain tools that will help them manage their teams better. The programme has been positively received by all the managers that have been through it. Senior managers act as mentors for new and less experienced managers which has had positive results. The company also conduct internal training, topics so far this year have included managing change, having difficult conversations and setting objectives.

As well as the initiative details in section 5.5 the Company offers free fruit in logistics and head office, there are health checks available through local council gyms and we provide prostate and breast screening to employees in their 40s who would not qualify for NHS screening. Company walks are an opportunity for people to exercise in work time. The onsite restaurant cooks healthy meals every day with calorie count and fat content published so that people can make informed choices.

The company offer the opportunity to grow and develop within the Company. Further learning is supported financially and with paid study time off.

Technetix host work experience pupils from schools in the local area. Pupils spend a week within a department of their choice, learning about careers in the industry and gaining insight into real-world environments.

The company have embarked upon a strategic communications programme that makes homeworking real, with clearly articulated benefits for organisations, their customers and the employees that serve them. They are involving their people in this – from videos and company bloggers to contribution to PR activity – and all this is underpinned by an active social media programme.

The company believe that their shift flexibility is a key benefit. Employees have to work a number of pre-agreed core hours, but are then free to select hours that give them a good work/life balance. This means that they have predictability of working hours, but also flexibility if they need to have a special day out with the children or simply make a doctor's appointment. The company's technology also supports shift ‘swapping' which means that employees can reach out to colleagues to swap shifts, giving even more flexibility to achieve the best work/life balance.

The senior management teams are always out and about in the business on a daily basis engaging with the frontline teams and managers. Bound by the 'manager promises', these are promises that frontline teams wanted the senior team to make as they felt it would improve their relationships and working environment. The executive team keep the company values alive through reviewing progress of their managers on a regular basis and creating development plans and objectives that work towards our overall goal.

The senior management teams are always out and about in the business on a daily basis engaging with the frontline teams and managers. Bound by the 'manager promises', these are promises that frontline teams wanted the senior team to make as they felt it would improve their relationships and working environment. The executive team keep the company values alive through reviewing progress of their managers on a regular basis and creating development plans and objectives that work towards our overall goal.

All of the company managers go through the core management training which is facilitated by experts in the various subjects. Specifically, managers get trained on transitioning into management, situational leadership, giving difficult feedback, coaching, running effective PDP sessions. The company think it's important for their managers to have a common language around management theories and how the company like to manage at Redgate as well as using their own style. New managers are given a training plan and an internal management buddy to talk through their experiences. Managers can join external facilitated peer-learning groups to learn from managers in other business at a similar level. The company run internal dojos on the above topics where managers come together to practice the skills they have learnt on the training. In the past the company has not been clear about what exactly makes a great manager at Redgate, this year they have articulated this from a collaborative workshop involving some managers and have now created a feedback tool that can be used to give managers clear, specific and highly valuable feedback on their performance as a manager. They then have a session with their manager to go through the feedback to recognise their strengths and agree what support they need in areas for improvement. It's a positive tool that encourages developmental feedback and continuous improvement.

The company are working with Form the Future ,a Cambs-wide educational charity to support various educational outreach activities. They have sent volunteers to participate in mock interviews with students at a local secondary school, run a CV writing workshop, and an interactive STEM careers workshop, and invited 20 students to visit Redgate where they'll spend time learning about four different projects. The company has just started to partner with Chesterton Community College to help their head of computing design and deliver a Computer Science curriculum for years 7 to 11. The company is partnering with Simprints, a local non-profit delivering hardware to help healthcare workers identify patients in the developing world, on a week-long project to rewrite some of their key software. The company also has a long-standing relationship with Romsey Mill, a local charity supporting young people and families, and offer them help throughout the year. The company donate their old computers to Afrinspire. There is also a volunteer day where every member of staff can spend one day a year volunteering on any charitable project they like.

The company have Friday drinks each week and end of the month drinks on a Thursday to encourage socialising outside of individual teams. The company as a whole also receive a newsletter from the UK President each week with the latest news and new business wins along with new joiner emails each week from HR. All internal training courses are open to all employees and are delivered on a weekly basis. The company also have work experience initiatives for more junior employees from the regional offices to spend a week in London and East Grinstead to learn more about RAPP and the wider business. The company moved offices in December 2015. The new office covers one floor in an Omnicom building, encouraging more internal interaction but also engagement with sibling agencies. The company also provide free yoga classes and the option to join Bootcamp during lunch or after work. .

In 1995, Tom Watson, Vice Chairman of Omnicom Group Inc., with Harvard Business School professor Len Schlesinger, created a global leadership development program, Omnicom University Senior Management Program (SMP). Today, the program is regarded as one of the pre-eminent executive education experiences and one of the major sources of “cultural glue” for the Omnicom network. RAPP sends the Leadership team to SMP. SMP is a two-year commitment which includes action learning and peer problem-solving dialogues. Students attend a six-day Undergraduate Program, followed by a four-day Graduate Program a year later. Students are required to identify and implement a Personal Strategic Change Initiative between the Undergraduate and Graduate programs that will have significant impact within their organisation. The Senior Management team also attend the Advanced Management Program, AMP. AMP introduces future leaders and “rising stars” throughout Omnicom to the core principles of managing a professional service firm and the Service Profit Chain, the core management framework we use at SMP. In addition to affording participants a world-class development experience, AMP provides a new form of recognition and retention for key managers, an opportunity for these managers to forge relationships with other talented individuals within Omnicom, and an additional source of support for returning “apostle” SMP graduates as they endeavour to affect change within their organisations. As with SMP, these three-day sessions use the case study method to stimulate discussions of issues and trends that challenge our industry.

The SMT demonstrate their commitment to open, collaborative communication by actively contributing to Town Hall Updates - everyone gets a section, managing and responding to the weekly ask the SMT emails and actively encouraging the flat structure the company try to encourage whereby everyone is approachable and everyone's voice gets heard - regardless of their role.

The company reminds employees of the vision and mission every time we meet at every town hall so they are constantly focussed on the bigger picture.

The company hold regular Company Celebration Days and reward employees for their efforts as part of this event. Staff are recognised for their contribution and their successes and the contribution they have made to the lives of young people. The Celebration day is held at a special venue and attended by all staff across the organisation and is a unique opportunity for staff to meet and socialise with staff from other teams. Staff receive Awards and vouchers for specific categories of awards that are chosen carefully by senior management. These events help us to let our staff know that they are valued and recognised.

The company are committed to the training and development of their workforce and to this end they have achieved Gold status with investors in people. Some examples of their employee development include: structured induction and probation process comprehensive training plan for all new employees bespoke training to meeting additional needs of young people. All care staff expected and supported to achieve QCT level 3 in care. All managers expected and supported to achieve QCF level 5 in management. The development of a bespoke performance management supervision tool which addresses the Focus, Skills and engagement of staff and helps managers give constructive evidence based feedback across all areas thereby enhancing performance and engagement in the work place. Supervision policy ensuring regular supervision and support is provided to staff Mentoring and coaching to support new staff and existing staff develop skills Development of life skills through our company wide IT skills development program enabling all staff to achieve NVQ level 2 in IT. Giving opportunities for staff to champion areas of work in the organisation such as Health and Safety, Environment thereby developing additional skills such as chairing meetings.

The company has always encouraged cross department and team working, with a 'one company culture'. Every week, team members gather at HQ for an information sharing and learning session. This not only gives support to those that are in isolated offices but also ensures that everyone has up to date information and shares best practice and achievements. The company also encourages team away days, so they can focus on the future of their departments and what the plans are for the year ahead. The company try to incorporate some competitive activities too, such as the Property Management away day which had quad biking and clay pigeon shooting activities mixed with some sessions with the Director on the future of the business.

The company has always encouraged cross department and team working, with a 'one company culture'. Every week, team members gather at HQ for an information sharing and learning session. This not only gives support to those that are in isolated offices but also ensures that everyone has up to date information and shares best practice and achievements. The company also encourages team away days, so they can focus on the future of their departments and what the plans are for the year ahead. The company try to incorporate some competitive activities too, such as the Property Management away day which had quad biking and clay pigeon shooting activities mixed with some sessions with the Director on the future of the business.

Pinnacle's core value is all about supporting their people, and as they are a UK wide organisation, getting teams together is very important to them. Therefore the company organisers departmental conferences eg. Support department conference (held this year in Newcastle), Consultant's conference (held this year in Warwickshire). At these conferences they have the opportunity to discuss opportunities/challenges specific their department and meet up with colleagues who are working in a different geographical area. Another way the company demonstrates this core value is by allowing many of their staff the flexibility to work from home, this helps significantly with their "work life balance".

Core communication to the Pinnacle team comes from James Spencer, MD, who is highly visible to all employees on a daily basis. James has a no desk, no PA policy, ensuring he works from all office locations, sitting amongst staff. He will frequently gather teams to give a "State of the Nation" on Pinnacle's vision and performances. This is always a very open forum, never shying from away from difficult subjects or issues the business maybe facing. Frequent meetings with the management team and personal mentoring and coaching helps those new to the management team accelerate their personal development and performance. The staff newsletter also provides communication of the mission and core values.

The company strategy is aligned to one of their core values - ability, and their primary guiding principle; superior financial performance. The desired outcomes are to drive superior sustainable financial performance and enhance the retention. Promotion and development of high performing staff who live the company values. The company has a progressive pay scheme benchmarked to ensure they pay median basic salaries for the appropriate grades they offer. From the outset they make it clear that talented sales staffs who are successful will obtain superior earnings, however they will never seek to drive a culture of high basic salary low value performance incentives.

The company strategy is aligned to one of their core values - ability, and their primary guiding principle; superior financial performance. The desired outcomes are to drive superior sustainable financial performance and enhance the retention. Promotion and development of high performing staff who live the company values. The company has a progressive pay scheme benchmarked to ensure they pay median basic salaries for the appropriate grades they offer. From the outset they make it clear that talented sales staffs who are successful will obtain superior earnings, however they will never seek to drive a culture of high basic salary low value performance incentives.

Pension Protection Fund have a Sports, Social and Charity Committee (SSCC) which is responsible for organising PPF-wide money-raising events. Staff voted for Cancer Research UK as their national charity for 2015, and the SSCC has organised a cake sale, quiz night, football tournament and raffles to raise money. There are also stations for staff to leave donations to Cancer Research UK shops. In the first five months Pension Protection Fund have donated 91 bags. The company's local charity initiative with Croydon Commitment enables them to take part in a number of 'Community Days' throughout the year. In December 2014, the company prepared and served Christmas dinner at Parchmore Community Centre for local pensioners, and they also packed Christmas hampers at Croydon Neighbourhood Care Association. In December 2014, PPF volunteers decorated apartments at a local residential complex for older people. More recently, PPF volunteers helped turn an outdoor play space into an external classroom at St Giles' School, a school for pupils with physical disabilities and complex medical needs. This involved plenty of painting and preparing surfaces. Pension Protection Fund have installed a food bank donation station in their office to support the Croydon based Save Humanity Organisation's Community Food Bank.

Pension Protection Fund have completed a series of health and wellbeing workshops for the last year to positively engage with employees and help enhance their health and wellbeing. The topics have been varied to encourage employees to attend. The company have run workshops of mindfulness, sleep deprivation, nutrition, fitness, impact on the immune system, dealing with difficult people, resilience, work/life balance, people skills, how to deal with lack of energy, how to take control and sharpen your focus. The sessions are normally led by external provider: ‘Feelgood'. The company have had nutritionists, clinical psychologists, mindfulness practitioners and sports consultants in to lead and engage with their employees. The sessions tend to be held in a boardroom with the speakers guiding the attendees through slides, enabling discussion and on occasion group work. Sometimes the session can be interactive such as the fitness session. The slides and handouts are then posted to the intranet for download. The handouts that accompany the slides have soundbites and top tips around health and wellbeing, and all have been positively welcomed. Pension Protection Fund also run monthly free fruit drops for employees, they provide enough fruit for an am and pm drop in both market squares and signpost reminders each month that the fruit drop is available.

Octink strives to work in close partnership with the local community and directors and employees alike are actively involved in our community activities. Our CEO, Will Tyler is Chairman of Spark, a charity that creates links between local schools and businesses to improve the employability of young people. While our MD, Mike Freely is a Director of Cultivate London, an innovative urban farm and social enterprise based across multiple derelict sites in West London. These partnerships with Spark and Cultivate London reflect our wider community commitment. To helping improve the employability of young people in the community by giving them opportunities to gain work experience and develop new skills. In the last 12 months the company has invested a combination of employee volunteering time, cash donations and work in kind donations to the value of over £15,000.

Octink strives to work in close partnership with the local community and directors and employees alike are actively involved in our community activities. Our CEO, Will Tyler is Chairman of Spark, a charity that creates links between local schools and businesses to improve the employability of young people. While our MD, Mike Freely is a Director of Cultivate London, an innovative urban farm and social enterprise based across multiple derelict sites in West London. These partnerships with Spark and Cultivate London reflect our wider community commitment. To helping improve the employability of young people in the community by giving them opportunities to gain work experience and develop new skills. In the last 12 months the company has invested a combination of employee volunteering time, cash donations and work in kind donations to the value of over £15,000.

All employees have a good understanding of EVP as they actively particpated in its construction. It is through EVP that they communicate their primary purpose, values and ambitions in a succinct way. The annual sales conference seeks to provide clarity and reinforcement of values, mission, strategic objectives and ambitions for the forthcoming year and beyond. It also recognises outstanding performance and celebrates successes - all are aligned to the mission, values and vision. Integral to how they live the mission, values and vision is to ensure they are always at the forefront of their minds when operating day to day, leading their people, making decisions, engaging with candidates and clients and interacting with others through social media and other media. Through annual employee engagement survey they gain a better understanding of what is important to the people and where we may have become 'out of touch' . This allows the company to address key areas and focus on driving a high performance culture focused on a single vision.

They work with all managers to improve their business performance through a combination of understanding themselves and understanding how to achieve improved staff performance. The business employs a number of approaches to supporting and developing the management team. An appraisal process which focuses on providing constructive feedback on individual and team performance and setting the development objectives for the forthcoming half year. A 360 degree feedback tool which gives employees an opportunity to ‘score' their managers. An exit interview process which gives constructive feedback on how they could improve in employee engagement efforts, and particularly how managers could maximise the value they get from their employees. A mentoring programme for all employees, including management, which gives the leaders in the organisation an additional support network outside the work environment. A regular weekly team meeting for all management is held to provide a forum for discussing business challenges and gleaning advice and feedback on work in progress. Frequent feedback and coaching is available to all managers on a regular basis- this performance feedback should identify skill gaps, leading to training and future improvement.

BUPA health screening is available to all Senior Managers and Directors which gives an overview of their current state of health and wellbeing. The assessment of current health and future risks includes: A medical history and lifestyle questionnaire; a physical examination; a consultation with a doctor or health adviser; the opportunity to ask questions and discuss concerns. Many test results are available on the day and a personalised health report and action plan with practical advice to help minimise health risks is produced. BUPA has been extended to a wider number of colleagues (benefit grade C1 and above) and offers private medical insurance which aims to fund medical treatment required. The company offers a discount Gym Membership at one of the leading leisure clubs in the UK, David Lloyd. This is to try and encourage colleagues to keep fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle. They also have a walking club set up where colleagues get together and walk into town at lunchtime. This is encouraged internally to ensure colleagues are taking a sufficient lunch hour and interacting outside the workplace. In every regional office they have a Sports & Social Committee set up. It is the responsibility of the committee members to plan and organise a range of sport and social activities. They also have a Wellbeing Section on their Intranet – this includes workout advice, healthy recipes, tips to alleviate stress.

BUPA health screening is available to all Senior Managers and Directors which gives an overview of their current state of health and wellbeing. The assessment of current health and future risks includes: A medical history and lifestyle questionnaire; a physical examination; a consultation with a doctor or health adviser; the opportunity to ask questions and discuss concerns. Many test results are available on the day and a personalised health report and action plan with practical advice to help minimise health risks is produced. BUPA has been extended to a wider number of colleagues (benefit grade C1 and above) and offers private medical insurance which aims to fund medical treatment required. The company offers a discount Gym Membership at one of the leading leisure clubs in the UK, David Lloyd. This is to try and encourage colleagues to keep fit and maintain a healthy lifestyle. They also have a walking club set up where colleagues get together and walk into town at lunchtime. This is encouraged internally to ensure colleagues are taking a sufficient lunch hour and interacting outside the workplace. In every regional office they have a Sports & Social Committee set up. It is the responsibility of the committee members to plan and organise a range of sport and social activities. They also have a Wellbeing Section on their Intranet – this includes workout advice, healthy recipes, tips to alleviate stress.

All new team members go through an induction process where they are introduced to the values by an executive team member. These values are reinforced in company collateral, and they are even encrypted on the office tea/coffee mugs. Their mission, vision, strategic objectives and critical success factors are reinforced at the All Hands Quarterly Team Meeting and in company collateral, including large posters displayed in the office. As their values are so crucial to their business they have incorporated them into their Performance Management Process. It is important to the company that they not only understand what their employee achieved but also how.

At Metapack they are very keen on raising the leadership and people management capability and aligning the MetaPack leadership framework to the new vision and growth strategy. They have set up a programme called the ‘MetaPack Leadership Academy' where the focus is on: strategy, managing change, values and behaviour, influence and communication, planning and organising, structure and process, teamwork and motivation, metrics, results and awards.

The hours of work are 8:45 - 16:45 which enables them to miss a lot of rush hour traffic to get valuable time at home. They also provide hot drinks, cold drinks, biscuits, fruit, occasional lunches, salad dressings, and small things to offer a home from home environment. They have recently had a large office refurbishment which has enabled them to create an environment which allows people a better work environment. There are several areas for privacy, relaxing and thinking to encourage people time away from their desks.

The hours of work are 8:45 - 16:45 which enables them to miss a lot of rush hour traffic to get valuable time at home. They also provide hot drinks, cold drinks, biscuits, fruit, occasional lunches, salad dressings, and small things to offer a home from home environment. They have recently had a large office refurbishment which has enabled them to create an environment which allows people a better work environment. There are several areas for privacy, relaxing and thinking to encourage people time away from their desks.

They have a 6 month Management Development Programme available called Step Forward. This programme includes modules in Values Based Leadership, Coaching as a Leadership Style, Managing Performance and Recruitment. During the programme managers also have access to an online leadership library and bite size breakfast learning sessions with topics including Managing Conflict and Handling Difficult Conversations. Additionally in the weekly workflow meeting they have a forum for managers to discuss live issues in the agency with the senior leadership team. Outside of this forum, they also create smaller working groups of managers with senior leaders to support them in their daily tasks. An example of this is having the creative services director meet with the CEO and creative directors weekly to discuss resourcing in his department. They also invite their managers to attend more senior training opportunities such as those organised by the AAR and IPA.

Every Friday morning they have an all agency meeting. It's an opportunity to share what's going on in the agency, welcome new joiners, allow teams to share the work they're doing for clients and a forum for parish notices. All accompanied by a free bacon / egg sandwich and a hot cup of tea! It's great for encouraging inter-department relationships and is just a great way to end the week. The last Thursday before payday is 'Thirsty Thursday' when a member of the management team chooses a venue and invites the agency out for a few drinks. It's timely because many people are short of funds and it's a good opportunity for people to socialise and unwind together. 'What's going on?' is an email summary contributed to by anyone in the team, a weekly snapshot of the culture, successes, people and news at the agency. Normally compiled by the CEO or another member of the management team it's sent to everyone at the end of the week so if you've been away or busy on a project you can keep in touch with all the goings on.

Salary reviews are conducted in April of each year and a salary increase is awarded dependent on an individual's performance and contribution made to the organisation over the past 12 months. The salary review process is fair and transparent across the organisation. When an employee passes their probation period they are awarded with a gift by their line manager - for example a £50 gift voucher. This initiative applies to all employees. Spot bonus payments or gift tokens are awarded to employees who have gone above and beyond the remit of their role.

The business has recently launched the My Resilience Assessment and Toolkit which has had a 65% uptake so far. The My Resilience Assessment provides an awareness of how resilient you really are. The report generate is unique for each employee and highlights the key areas they may wish to focus on to bolster their resilience.

Krispy Kreme likes to support all of their employees. They are currently creating a catalogue of development courses/opportunities that will be available for their store managers. They have started specific development with their senior managers

Krispy Kreme likes to support all of their employees. They are currently creating a catalogue of development courses/opportunities that will be available for their store managers. They have started specific development with their senior managers