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.

Benfield's Chief Executive operates with a very strong desire to see the Values of the company living and breathing across the company. He has an infectious manner and his family values are delivered and received in a very inclusive and warm way. He always acts with integrity and respect to the company values serving the broader company purpose, which sets out objectives for all stakeholders of the business. He has demonstrated this through extensive consultations with every member of staff, which is demanding in terms of time, and in a way that seeks to break down the barriers that management hierarchy can sometimes create.

In July 2014, all Dealerships and Head Office at Benfield were asked to hold a social evening with their teams to discuss their dealership results. Firstly to understand the results, but also for the group to put forward suggestions to overcome the issues being raised. The main purpose of the evening was for each dealership to create an Action Plan which would have the biggest impact for them at a local level. Examples of actions included more flexible working - early starts/late finishes, to address work/life balance issues. Benfield are only 3 months into the Action Plans and this year's survey results will hopefully reflect a more engaged workforce. They intend to follow this same process when their 2015 results are available.

BDRC Continental has held a variety of team building events. These have included a Christmas Party; a summer day out and charity work with their favourite charity.

BDRC Continental has held a variety of team building events. These have included a Christmas Party; a summer day out and charity work with their favourite charity.

8 out 11 of Bazaarvoice's managers in the UK have been promoted internally into their roles - they did not join Bazaarvoice as managers. This means there is a great understanding within the management team of the needs of the team members and their clients in line with their core values as a business. Also each manager is held accountable on each of their values and they should demonstrate qualities in their work aligned to these. This also applies to recruitment and the people they hire. Each candidate should be left with a very clear impression of the values of Bazaarvoice and how they implement that into day to day work. Candidates are all assessed based closely on their values as well as their core competencies.

As a result of strong performance across the teams in June 2014 the entire UK team from Bazaarvoice travelled to their headquarters in Austin, Texas for a global ‘All Hands' meeting which mixed receiving company updates with recognition of people, celebrating and socialising. As well as this day long event, the team were able to stay a whole working week to spend time in the US office collaborating with colleagues from around the world.

In their last companywide team building event the whole company was put into teams randomly so that teams were mixed with people who don't normally work together on a daily basis. Each team were given iPads and an array of props and asked to create a short film entitled 'A Day in the Life of a Badooer', with a view to winning the grand prize and a self-styled Oscar award. After a couple of frantic hours running round, filming and editing, there was a film screening and prize giving, followed by dinner, drinks, music and dancing well into the night! Since then, they have concentrated on departmental team builds to foster good relationships within teams. These have included taxi treasure hunts around London, Go Ape zip-lining and Hint Hunt (a fun live escape game where you get locked in a room and have 60 minutes to solve the clues and get out!)

A really good example would be the training scheme they have in place for the Finance team. They encourage employees in the finance team to undertake professional qualifications such as CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants). Currently three employees in their finance team are studying such qualifications. I think this really shows that they encourage employees to better themselves and that they are happy to invest in employees so that they can flourish in their roles.

It is Asons family mentality that is the glue in supporting their employees' development, which can become in effect before their employment with Asons. They offer work experience for high school, college and university students, which can then be progressed through their graduate scheme which they aim to place every graduate with a permanent position. Every employee undergoes an induction, and is then given weekly training and support from management throughout their employment. Asons also encourage their staff to pro-actively develop their skills and encourage internal progression through their management development programme and training contracts that they offer on a quarterly basis. Asons have re-launched their training programme this year, including their mascot "Trainer-Tron", centralising all training resources, producing relevant and engaging training material and resources for each area of the business. Every employee also has access to their internal training system that allows them to view their Training Card that is bespoke to the individual when they start with Asons, highlighting any training needs that are outstanding and allows their employees to request training that they want. Asons have different difficulty levels of training: beginners, intermediate and advanced, that help fast-track their learning and aid them in feeling more confident with their work.

Talking to the people. As a family orientated firm, the directors have recruited their senior people on the basis that they will be able to engage with their employees and positively impact their day to day working lives. As strong and effective communicators, they hold ‘morning huddles' and weekly ‘team briefs' that set up the day with a positive outlook and share key information to provide employees with a feeling of management transparency. Asons truly believe that their new management structure has provided employees with a means to engage with the firm.