What are companies doing with regards to 'My Team'

Along with regular team meetings, the firm holds an annual employee communications event, which features presentations from the partners and senior managers. Amongst the topics covered are the performance of the various fee earning departments, information on future plans for the business and strategic projects. There is a question and answer session with employees being able to put forward questions and suggestions to the partners leading the discussions.

Along with regular team meetings, the firm holds an annual employee communications event, which features presentations from the partners and senior managers. Amongst the topics covered are the performance of the various fee earning departments, information on future plans for the business and strategic projects. There is a question and answer session with employees being able to put forward questions and suggestions to the partners leading the discussions.

Service, service, service, this is what C P Hart's Chairman believes sets them apart from the competition at all times. He sees himself as a customer within their business and provides an immense amount of insight into the customer journey, which helps them strive towards the highest level of service for all of their customers. He is passionate about them getting it right and has tremendous energy and drive, which is infectious. He genuinely cares about how their people are feeling and is always receptive to offering more incentives to motivate them.

Annually C P Hart canvass all of their people and ask what charity they would like to support. This year, they voted for Scope. As a result, events have taken place throughout the year with the company matching contributions made. Their people make suggestions all year as to events they would like to host. So far they have supported every suggestion to help raise money for their charity. Events have include keepy uppy, Jenga challenges at their Summer BBQ, sandwich and cake sales, Guess the weight of the cake, Steptember Challenge, HQ and Showroom BBQ's, Christmas Raffle. C P Hart also support individuals raising money for their own charity, by allowing them to ask for sponsorship and posting information on noticeboards and the bulletin. C P Hart publish their achievements and any funds raised in their weekly bulletin. If one of their people supports a team or club outside of work hours, they will sponsor them to enable them to purchase uniforms or equipment that they need. Recently they had a team that took part in a charity football event, in which the company paid for the kit.

BrightHouse hold an Annual Management Conference each summer, bringing together representatives from every store and engineering and distribution centre from around the country as well as managers and the leadership team to build relationships and learn from each other and to understand the vision and priorities for the year ahead. This is not a single event but the start of a series of regional and local meetings at which all colleagues become involved. Each year within this event a significant amount of time is given over to team building activity. For example in 2013 Brighthouse built 50 children's bikes from scratch and these were donated through the NSPCC to deserving children around the country. As a geographically diverse organisation they fund a range of local team building events. For example, this summer in their Supply Chain Division, the Customer Service Centre based in Manchester put on a BBQ and charity raffle for all colleagues and their families.

There is a tangible commitment by Leo McKee, the Chief Executive to be visible across the organisation. He has visited every Brighthouse store. He spends at least one day every week visiting stores, service centres and distribution centres, thereby ensuring he has a chance to regularly meet colleagues and customers and find out more about them and their families. The entire senior management team follow similar principles to ensure they are visible to the teams and functions they head up. All managers are encouraged to operate the principle, ‘don't say something to someone over email if it can be done over the phone, or over the phone if it can be done in person'. Senior Managers lead by example, keep the Green Sheet with them at all times and seek to treat others as they would like to be treated. On the Green Sheet there is a section ‘Four words or phrases Senior Managers should learn'. They are: please, thank you, I'm sorry – it's my mistake and I don't know.

Brandbank receive approximately 125,000 product samples a year. They have ‘staff shops' where staff are asked to donate at least 30p per item, and in the past 12 months they have raised over £47,800 for charity. Brandbank give a lot of products to local housing trusts and soup kitchens. They give Easter eggs, toys and chocolates to local Children's Hospices, animal food to animal shelters, etc. The local East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH) receives a weekly donation of products, which has helped them to cut their costs significantly. Staff are invited to nominate charities to whom they would like to send the money they raise. Staff are all invited to take part in things such as Children in Need and Movember during work time. They also do fundraising activities throughout the year at work to help raise funds, such as fancy dress days, MacMillan Coffee Mornings and cake sales.

Brandbank receive approximately 125,000 product samples a year. They have ‘staff shops' where staff are asked to donate at least 30p per item, and in the past 12 months they have raised over £47,800 for charity. Brandbank give a lot of products to local housing trusts and soup kitchens. They give Easter eggs, toys and chocolates to local Children's Hospices, animal food to animal shelters, etc. The local East Anglian Children's Hospice (EACH) receives a weekly donation of products, which has helped them to cut their costs significantly. Staff are invited to nominate charities to whom they would like to send the money they raise. Staff are all invited to take part in things such as Children in Need and Movember during work time. They also do fundraising activities throughout the year at work to help raise funds, such as fancy dress days, MacMillan Coffee Mornings and cake sales.

Box UK hosts external events and activities on a quarterly basis, paid for by the organisation and to which all employees are invited. In the past 12 months these events have included a company BBQ, end of year party and go-karting. They also hold quarterly internal company ‘mingles' where employees are encouraged to take time away from their desks to get to know each other and celebrate successes. These events are catered for by the organisation and company time is also allocated to facilitate them. These mingles often coincide with internal competitions organised by the Personnel team. Previous competitions have included a photo competition, caption competition and “guess who?” competition, with the results revealed at the mingle so all team members are encouraged to participate and share in the celebration.

Box UK hosts external events and activities on a quarterly basis, paid for by the organisation and to which all employees are invited. In the past 12 months these events have included a company BBQ, end of year party and go-karting. They also hold quarterly internal company ‘mingles' where employees are encouraged to take time away from their desks to get to know each other and celebrate successes. These events are catered for by the organisation and company time is also allocated to facilitate them. These mingles often coincide with internal competitions organised by the Personnel team. Previous competitions have included a photo competition, caption competition and “guess who?” competition, with the results revealed at the mingle so all team members are encouraged to participate and share in the celebration.

Any member of staff at Botanix can nominate anyone who they work with for a spot payment. Nominations may be made for a whole team if is believed that it has performed exceptionally as a whole and it would be unfair to pick out individuals for special praise. The nominations will then be reviewed at the Business Team in that month and will decide who will receive a spot payment, taking into account all the reasons put forward, while at the same time being aware that there is a limit to the amount of money available in the bonus pot. Reasons why an employee/team might receive a bonus include but are not limited to: showing an unusually accelerated personal development; completing a particularly onerous or demanding task or project; displaying a high degree of professionalism during the year; doing a large amount of extra work, for example because of a staff shortage or the need to complete an important project; coming up with something particularly innovative within the job; exceeding a sales target by an amount to be decided by individual managers and notified to employees in advance of the bonus period and acting in a way that has led to particular success for Botanix, in terms of both financial gain and enhanced reputation, for example the winning of an industry award.

HR at Botanix issued in August 2014 a reward statement to show all employees what benefits they can take advantage of. Each year Botanix has a financial advisor come in to ensure all employees are aware of the advantages of joining the Botanix Pension, and if applicable receive advice from them on their personal circumstances. When new joiners start as part of the induction, HR ensure they are aware of Botanix benefits package and encourage sign up soonest.

The construction of BMW change groups has created a mechanism for collecting real life feedback from key individuals and also the opportunity for those giving the feedback to also have the power to make recommendations for improvements and the authority to bring these recommendations to life.

The construction of BMW change groups has created a mechanism for collecting real life feedback from key individuals and also the opportunity for those giving the feedback to also have the power to make recommendations for improvements and the authority to bring these recommendations to life.

blu eCigs have a fairly relaxed environment, which means their employees feel able to offer feedback and regularly suggest ideas openly and they do this in a variety of ways. They conduct SurveyMonkey online questionnaires, encourage people to send ideas using their postbox and make the most of iPad technology. Every Friday, when they meet at the end of the day for a blether over a glass of wine or beer, they have an informal Q&A session, opening the postbox and answering the questions posed on the postcards. Originally they only had a few questions asked, but it's really snowballed with people wanting to find out anything from how much money they made that week to what the weather's going to be like at the weekend. blu eCig's SurveyMonkey questionnaires generate a great response too, and whenever they're unsure of the right direction to take, such as where to book for the Christmas night out, they put it to the vote. They are a democracy after all! At their September all-staff, they used iPads for staff to vote on questions posed throughout the session. This was the basis for a competition and kept the audience alive and engaged throughout the entire day.

blu eCigs changed “you time” to “blu time.” As a thank you, they give each employee £100 to spend on themselves as part of their new wellbeing scheme. This money, which will be awarded every year, can be put towards anything that keeps people healthy and happy. This could be anything from playing sports, cooking classes, yoga or dance lessons. They also provide a healthcare scheme for employees offering gym memberships throughout the UK as part of their private healthcare account.

Big Ideas have introduced something called '90 day sprints' where each team is targeted to work towards between each quarterly meeting. Each team has a list of goals they need to achieve within the next 90 days and progress reviews are discussed weekly during management meetings. At the end of each quarter each team presents their progress on their previous 90 day sprints to the company at the quarterly meeting and then announces their new 90 day sprints for the next quarter. These 90 day sprints help to align their business goals and objectives across all of their teams and departments and by regularly communicating these in weekly management meetings and quarterly meetings this helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and the strategy of the company is understood by all parties.

Big Ideas' staff are important to them and so is their development. Line managers meet with their team members regularly to discuss their personal development. Each person is issued with a training road map containing set objectives. These objectives are always decided with the employee and if training/certifications are involved the company will reimburse the cost upon successful completion of the training/exam and they will also receive a £200 salary increment per exam they pass. Big Ideas also take an interest in staff participating in non-work related training. Each term they offer to pay for a range of evening classes. Each person can pick one course each term and these range from languages to art, dancing, sport and massage.

BHA's annual Star Awards is now the most eagerly anticipated event of the year. It combines an afternoon of fun with a series of individual and departmental awards, voted on by customers, colleagues and board members. This gives high visibility recognition to BHA's people's efforts. Throughout BHA they have a culture of saying ‘thanks' and recognising instantly those little deeds and efforts that can go unnoticed. All their managers and team leaders are trained to do that.

BHA's annual Star Awards is now the most eagerly anticipated event of the year. It combines an afternoon of fun with a series of individual and departmental awards, voted on by customers, colleagues and board members. This gives high visibility recognition to BHA's people's efforts. Throughout BHA they have a culture of saying ‘thanks' and recognising instantly those little deeds and efforts that can go unnoticed. All their managers and team leaders are trained to do that.