Team Cohesion = Performance

Senior managers at Spectrum Housing are aware of the values and were all involved in deciding what these should be. All senior managers act as role models and are aware of the need to act in line with the values and lead by example. They are all accountable for their behaviours and the values underpin everything that the organisation does. Senior Managers work in creative ways and have backed a ‘smarter working' project group. This has been trailed in Finance with the senior Finance and IT managers overseeing it. The results have been positive and employees have been allowed to come up with creative ways of solving problems. These groups will be set up in all departments. Senior managers go to all sites every other month to give a presentation on Bigger News. These managers give sessions throughout the day then spend the day at the site. Managers go to sites they wouldn't usually therefore meeting new people and developing relationships. These managers offer shadowing to all staff and take part in back to the floor days. There is the ‘one voice' section on the intranet where managers can update everyone on progress and offer thanks or congratulations. Senior managers use the Spectrum leadership competencies to ensure they act in a professional and responsible manner. All senior managers have or are undertaking a coaching and ILM qualification so every day they act as a role model.

Senior managers at Spectrum Housing are aware of the values and were all involved in deciding what these should be. All senior managers act as role models and are aware of the need to act in line with the values and lead by example. They are all accountable for their behaviours and the values underpin everything that the organisation does. Senior Managers work in creative ways and have backed a ‘smarter working' project group. This has been trailed in Finance with the senior Finance and IT managers overseeing it. The results have been positive and employees have been allowed to come up with creative ways of solving problems. These groups will be set up in all departments. Senior managers go to all sites every other month to give a presentation on Bigger News. These managers give sessions throughout the day then spend the day at the site. Managers go to sites they wouldn't usually therefore meeting new people and developing relationships. These managers offer shadowing to all staff and take part in back to the floor days. There is the ‘one voice' section on the intranet where managers can update everyone on progress and offer thanks or congratulations. Senior managers use the Spectrum leadership competencies to ensure they act in a professional and responsible manner. All senior managers have or are undertaking a coaching and ILM qualification so every day they act as a role model.

Spark44 hold an annual Summer Event and this year they arranged a ‘sports days' themed event at a country house in Oxfordshire for the London and Birmingham Offices. Separated into teams, people tried their hands at everything from egg and spoon races to backwards jeep driving. The day culminated in a BBQ. They also held a company party including both UK offices providing transport and accommodation in London for the Birmingham team.

Spark44 aim to always fill positions internally. Their quarterly appraisal programme is objective driven enabling them to identify areas for development. They also support professional training and study leave.

They continuously encourage staff to let them know of any other benefits they may like and how they can improve the ones they have. They have increased the amount of football the staff can play during the week and introduced discounted yoga sessions earlier in the year. They have recently expanded into a new office and this will allow them to create a dedicated chill out area with, pool/snooker, games, chess, computer consoles and general space to relax for staff.

Once all the feedback is in, management will sit down and go through all the ideas that have been put forward. These are then divided up into the relevant teams and that team head is then responsible for implementing their teams ideas. They produce documents that can be viewed by staff across the company so they can see the progress being made. A list is put up on the internal intranet so staff can see in real time what has been achieved and what is still to be done.

The buddy system allows employees to buddy up with a more experienced member of the team to learn more and to have a mentor. Both parties are able to learn and develop their skills. They also invest £1500 per physio for their CPD training in order to develop themselves.

The buddy system allows employees to buddy up with a more experienced member of the team to learn more and to have a mentor. Both parties are able to learn and develop their skills. They also invest £1500 per physio for their CPD training in order to develop themselves.

The best example of how their organisation supports employee development is through their award winning Graduate scheme. Savills recently came first, for the third year running, in the Property category of the 'Graduate Employers of Choice' at The Times Graduate Recruitment Awards. Their graduate recruitment programme identifies exceptional candidates who represent a core investment in the future of their business.

A long service award was introduced when employees attained 10 years service and for every 5 year milestone reached after that. This was in the form of additional 5 days holiday which could be taken anytime during the anniversary year,

Salford Royal operate an annual Staff Awards scheme which last year saw more than 200 individuals or teams nominated for being compassionate, supportive and dedicated to providing excellent patient care. More than 600 staff attended their most recent event, which saw awards for Collaboration, Administrative worker, Doctor, and Team of the Year. Staff nominated people within the award categories and they then vote for their preferred winner when the shortlist is announced. The Patient's Star Award gives patients and relatives the opportunity to nominate a team or individual who had gone above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional care, support or treatment. The shortlist is then put to the public vote in the local paper.

The Chief Executive at Salford Royal and the senior team have clearly articulated the vision for the organisation – to be the safest Trust in the NHS. This aim has remained constant for many years and all efforts are directed to this simple aim. He has engendered a culture of ‘quality improvement' by ensuring that people have the time and the tools to continuously improve the service they deliver and there has been a real drive to ensure that front line teams are empowered to make changes.

Given their size and geographic spread, it's hard to bring everyone together regularly, but they do run quarterly get together's across most of the sites shortly after financial results. These buzz sessions bring people together to find out more about the results and share the stories behind them. It's an opportunity for people to meet senior leaders, ask questions, bring their suggestions and build excitement for the future. They bring together people from different departments or sites into a room together to celebrate success together, these are people who wouldn't normally meet. On the social side, they give their leaders the power and a budget to run events locally to them. For many, this will be a Christmas social event or another kind of celebration. They havealso got a great resource in the Every One Fund, an online portal that allows people to organise volunteering events, get colleagues involved, or find out what's happening locally, as well as share their stories afterwards.

Their on site restaurant partners, Europa, have worked hard to improve the healthiness of their menus across the UK, adding healthy eating options, energy profile listings and food for those with special dietary requirements. They now have more salad bar options in the restaurants, and in London, they regularly run promotions such as introducing Superfoods and souptember, a campaign to eat healthy foods. In their commercial business, they provide their employees with free, fresh fruit.

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

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

A key driver for Rockpool is employee wellbeing and they seek feedback from the teams. A company wide flexitime policy has enabled employees to balance their work and home life. Rockpool also value their Fridays at Rockpool -they have Cake Friday, a company tradition and Friday Beer o'clock which is an informal get together of beer, wine and food where they chat through the week or have brainstorming sessions around new client ideas etc.

A key driver for Rockpool is employee wellbeing and they seek feedback from the teams. A company wide flexitime policy has enabled employees to balance their work and home life. Rockpool also value their Fridays at Rockpool -they have Cake Friday, a company tradition and Friday Beer o'clock which is an informal get together of beer, wine and food where they chat through the week or have brainstorming sessions around new client ideas etc.

In October 2013 Robin Partington & Partners introduced an employee benefit trust element into their limited company structure. Any member of staff who is with them on a permanent appointment and after one year's employment is entitled to call themselves a Partner of the firm. Once a Partner, they are eligible to receive dividends, if the Company makes profit in excess of that needed to be retained for future growth and investment. Their dividend structure is based on a points system whereby members 'earn' more points (thus a larger share of the pot) for increased salary and length of service.

In October 2013 Robin Partington & Partners introduced an employee benefit trust element into their limited company structure. Any member of staff who is with them on a permanent appointment and after one year's employment is entitled to call themselves a Partner of the firm. Once a Partner, they are eligible to receive dividends, if the Company makes profit in excess of that needed to be retained for future growth and investment. Their dividend structure is based on a points system whereby members 'earn' more points (thus a larger share of the pot) for increased salary and length of service.

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

A twice annual staff presentation is organised to make employees aware of the short and long term vision for RGL. Over food and drinks, Partners update employees on turnover and progress over the past year, important jobs which are being worked on and the direction in which they would like to take the organisation over the next year. These presentations engage employees with the vision of the company and how it can be achieved. Partners demonstrate best practice, and encourage employees to do the same, by attending all firm-wide social and marketing events. They support employees with business development and take employees to client meetings whenever possible. Partners encourage employees to realise their ambitions and support employees in their team who are keen to learn new things. This might involve giving them permission to go to a seminar, to learn a new foreign language or supporting them in securing a place on RGL's Employee Exchange Programme. Partners engage employees by celebrating the success of individuals, as well as the success of the organisation. For example, if a Partner receives positive feedback about an employee from a client, they will circulate it to all Partners, copying the employee into the email, so that they receive the wider recognition deserved.

Proxama had an all staff 'Away Afternoon' in December 2013. This included strategy updates, training, networking, team building and collaborating on business decisions.

Proxama allow their employees to learn in all elements of their work, not just formal training but peer knowledge sharing and keeping technical experts in the business who are great at mentoring.

The company have a 'Your Rewards' programme which pulls together the whole range of benefits offered by Provide. There is a website detailing over 8000 discounts and savings that staff can access on retail and leisure services, supported by a glossy A5 booklet giving discount codes. This has been helpful in engaging staff who do not have ready access to IT. The booklet is handed out at Corporate Induction where details of the scheme are communicated. The programme also details contractual benefits and explains the options staff have around the range of pension and assurance benefits they offer. It includes details of the Credit Union membership they have put in place for staff and their Employee Assistance Programme which offers legal and consumer advice as well as counselling services. The site also promotes healthy lifestyle initiatives run by their own in house teams.

In the last year the company have focused on building relationships between Senior and Middle Managers. In June they held a very successful event called Appreciating Managers where they facilitated lively debate between peer managers on what they valued and what could be improved to make their working lives better. They were also asked what they would like to be appreciated for and a letter was subsequently sent to the delegates by their own manager thanking them for this. As part of the workshop, teams were given a cake, icing, glitter and other decorations and asked to compete against each other to decorate the best cake before eating it at tea break. This exercise was highly successful in getting managers to work together and getting people talking to colleagues they did not know well.

In order to enhance the wellbeing of their employees, PM Group display posters from their Health & Safety Department which are displayed on all office and site notice boards and the intranet.

The company work closely with a local college as part of a local government initiative called 'Step Up Programme'. This involves presentations to students, workshops and work experience for students aged 16 - 18 they have been involved in this scheme for the last two years. The company are also involved with local universities and attend Graduate Recruitment Fayres across the UK.

Plastribution has recently moved into new larger open plan offices, which has provided employees with the chance to take relaxing breaks in their working environment, create meals, obtain snacks and free squash in the adjoining kitchen and enjoy a light, warm and well ventilated workplace.

A suggestion for an in-work tuck shop – this has now been now implemented and snacks are available via an honesty box in the offices kitchen. Creation of social committee to coordinate events and activities on behalf of employees. Supported time for charity, social commitments.

Penrose have an Employee Assistance Programme that is available to all staff 24/7 and refer to Occupational Health when a condition arises that prevents an employee from working to their full potential. Penrose encourage staff to make healthy choices by offering cycle to work interest free loans and environmental choices by encouraging using public transport (they no longer offer company cars).

Penrose have an Employee Assistance Programme that is available to all staff 24/7 and refer to Occupational Health when a condition arises that prevents an employee from working to their full potential. Penrose encourage staff to make healthy choices by offering cycle to work interest free loans and environmental choices by encouraging using public transport (they no longer offer company cars).

The SMT demonstrate all of their values on a daily basis by thanking people when a piece of work is outstanding, by questioning what they do to always find a better way in their processes and by always putting the customers first and explaining why this is to the wider audience. One example of displaying their values was that this year the senior management team of the Trust engaged staff by holding listening sessions as to how they could make the Trust a better place to work. They did this by sharing the results of Best Companies for last year and reviewing what great things had been achieved and by looking at what they could do different/better to make it a better workplace. They did this by choosing the top 3 scoring factors per employment group and reviewing the bottom 3 thus celebrating what that employment group is great at and reviewing what areas are required for improvement. This seemed to work well as it involved front line managers sharing this message with their teams which gave them autonomy and gravitas to show they believe and want to make the Trust a better place to work. This displays 'question what we do to find a better way' whilst also celebrating successes of last years achievements.

The SMT demonstrate all of their values on a daily basis by thanking people when a piece of work is outstanding, by questioning what they do to always find a better way in their processes and by always putting the customers first and explaining why this is to the wider audience. One example of displaying their values was that this year the senior management team of the Trust engaged staff by holding listening sessions as to how they could make the Trust a better place to work. They did this by sharing the results of Best Companies for last year and reviewing what great things had been achieved and by looking at what they could do different/better to make it a better workplace. They did this by choosing the top 3 scoring factors per employment group and reviewing the bottom 3 thus celebrating what that employment group is great at and reviewing what areas are required for improvement. This seemed to work well as it involved front line managers sharing this message with their teams which gave them autonomy and gravitas to show they believe and want to make the Trust a better place to work. This displays 'question what we do to find a better way' whilst also celebrating successes of last years achievements.

Overbury have various channels for feedback and continuous improvement. The most direct is through Delivering Exceptional Experience Tours. These are run fortnightly and give members of staff an opportunity to visit their sites and see how sites are being managed and run. The tours facilitate and promote the sharing of ideas and best practice. Another important source of feedback comes from their clients. Customer Experience Questionnaires (CEQs) are completed on every job and the feedback is shared across the business so others can see what the client has liked and not liked. Ideas can be filtered to management through team meetings, forum meetings or in ad hoc one to ones. Culturally they consider themselves to be an open organisation where innovation and challenge are encouraged. This is manifested physically in the open plan nature of each of their offices.

Delivery teams are rewarded on customer feedback and perfect delivery metrics as well as annual recognition awards. In addition to an annual pay review pay is constantly being monitored and adjusted to reflect the market and individual staff members contribution.

Optimum utilises an employees innovation reward scheme which they feel encourages their employees to work in a proactive and innovative manner. Employees are asked to email their ideas for ways of improving their services to a central email address and every 3 months these are collated and viewed by the senior management team. Any of these ideas which are deemed practical to be utilised and rolled out by the business wins the employee who suggested the innovation a prize of £150 of vouchers of their choice. There are also site incentive schemes put in place such as Employee of the Month and individual rewards for going above and beyond.

Following last year's engagement survey Optimum implemented the following: increased frequency of social functions to improve engagement, increase in senior management attendance at team meetings to ensure their visibility to all levels of staff, concentrated on making an open door policy environment in areas of the company that scored lower than expected to give an opportunity to discuss areas of concern, added an additional section to the company newsletter which names individual's in the business who have been commended either by peers of by customers to give recognition of their achievements. In addition, this year was Optimum's 25th anniversary and so as a celebration of this they gave each member of staff a ‘birthday' present of a watch and also made a presentation to their longest serving employee of a certificate and £200 worth of holiday vouchers.

OpenBet supports employee development via a plethora of activities, such as, Brown Bag sessions to share knowledge across the organisation, workshops for hands on programming activities, supervised Google hangouts with subject matter experts at hand to explain specific subjects and topics, internal and external training sessions on soft skills, managerial skills as well as methodologies and technical skills. Traditional classroom training is used in conjunction with e-learning activities and remote teaching via conference systems and remote internet meetings. Training plans are developed for specific roles within the organisation to help new comers or people being promoted internally, handle their new role within OpenBet.

OpenBet supports employee development via a plethora of activities, such as, Brown Bag sessions to share knowledge across the organisation, workshops for hands on programming activities, supervised Google hangouts with subject matter experts at hand to explain specific subjects and topics, internal and external training sessions on soft skills, managerial skills as well as methodologies and technical skills. Traditional classroom training is used in conjunction with e-learning activities and remote teaching via conference systems and remote internet meetings. Training plans are developed for specific roles within the organisation to help new comers or people being promoted internally, handle their new role within OpenBet.

The company doesn't have bag carriers and their senior managers put in a shift – all of the senior managers are working in the business, understanding what their teams are doing, their clients are buying and the wider industry is offering. They are normally first there, last to leave and leading the team by example. The company is a sleeves rolled up organisation and everyone there will get involved to help out those around them – that starts with their management and flows down through the organisation.

As they have grown it's inevitably harder to keep an ear to the ground and understand how everyone in the company is really feeling. They have also recognised that it's harder for newer or perhaps younger people in the team to feel confident giving them their ideas or telling them what they really think. To provide an anonymous platform for people to give the company their ideas and point of view, and to allow them to keep a finger on the pulse of how people are feeling they signed up for a service called Tiny Pulse. It's a micro survey service for internal engagement, a single question is sent out weekly to all staff and in a couple of minutes they can answer that, recognise some of the people they want to thank (Cheers for Peers) and give any ideas and suggestions. Sign up and participation is voluntary, though they regularly promote the initiative to raise awareness, and 89% of the team are signed up. Each week half to three quarters of those people tend to take part.

As a contract catering company, Olive is committed to healthy eating and offering healthy eating choices to their customers and staff. In 2012,Olive signed up to the Department of Health's Responsibility Deal pledge to reduce the salt in the food they produce. As part of this pledge they have put together communication packages to educate both their employees and their customers about the dangers of excessive salt levels in food and the benefits of reducing salt usage. Their Operations teams also periodically run Healthy Eating Awareness days at their sites which enable their customers to learn more about general nutrition and health awareness.

In July 2014 Olive Catering Services employed their first ever L & D Manager. Their role is to support business retention and growth by identifying and designing L & D solutions that are focused on the achievement of the business and people strategy. By investing in this new internal role they aim to further demonstrate their ongoing commitment to people development.

Ntegra offer a company-wide bonus scheme of 10% based on employee and company targets, along with company-wide engagement events such as lunches. A reward is given to recommendations of talent to the organisation of £500 for every successful placement. Rewards are also given to staff who bring in new business to the company.

Ntegra offer a company-wide bonus scheme of 10% based on employee and company targets, along with company-wide engagement events such as lunches. A reward is given to recommendations of talent to the organisation of £500 for every successful placement. Rewards are also given to staff who bring in new business to the company.

Northwards Housing promote better health and offer quarterly health initiatives such as free flu jabs, signposting people to health websites, raising awareness of mental health linked to national campaigns, providing advice on healthy eating and tips to prevent colds and flu. The company also run a Global Corporate Challenge – this 100 day challenge is the opportunity for their teams to sign up to compete against each other and other organisations around the globe in trying to achieve a daily target of 10,000 steps of physical activity. Access to wellbeing support is available from their Employee Assistance Programme and includes a 24/7 helpline available to everyone.

Northwards Housing promote better health and offer quarterly health initiatives such as free flu jabs, signposting people to health websites, raising awareness of mental health linked to national campaigns, providing advice on healthy eating and tips to prevent colds and flu. The company also run a Global Corporate Challenge – this 100 day challenge is the opportunity for their teams to sign up to compete against each other and other organisations around the globe in trying to achieve a daily target of 10,000 steps of physical activity. Access to wellbeing support is available from their Employee Assistance Programme and includes a 24/7 helpline available to everyone.

During the last year North Star have involved all staff in the launch of new services and initiatives including new ways of capturing feedback, their new maintenance services, their approach to value for money, invited all staff to their 40th year celebrations, designed, developed and delivered their Leading and Growing Staff conference with another planned for October 2014. During Octobers event staff will help them to further refine their strategy, funded an annual xmas event and use this occasion to present their “ Staff Oscars”. Staff were nominated by their peers and winners receive an Oscar and a prize. The team of the year receives £200 to organise an event to celebrate their success. The business closes for this celebration, provided £200 per team to enable staff to host lunchtime social events. The first one took place in June and was really well attended with around 80% of the organisation taking part in a “ pub themed “ event with pie and peas and a pub quiz. They also raised £200 for charity. Staff from dispersed offices hosted their own event and connected to the main event via video link, supported the staff nominated charity of the year including the hosting of a big lunch which raised £300.

The senior team are visible, proactive and committed to developing behaviour of good leadership within the organisation. They are role models for their values of collaboration, flexibility, integrity, professionalism and ambition. They show evidence of this by operating an “ open door “ policy so that they are easy to access, avoiding e mail wherever possible and walk the floor as a way of being visible and human within the business, stopping to chat to people about their families and the work that they are doing. This helps them to understand what is going on for people, attending every team meeting twice a year and do not go with an agenda but simply ask staff to be prepared to tell them what they would do if they were boss for a day and be ready to ask anything. They have not been short of any suggestions or questions sponsoring every cross functional project team. This helps them to remain engaged and enables a wide variety of staff to come into contact with and work with them, participate in all social and charitable events, coaching staff as a way of helping them attain or embed new skills, mentoring junior members of staff, being curious and interested in the business and the people who work within it and being authentic.

NHH has an active Health and Wellbeing programme called Nutrition Health Happiness. The programme supports and improves the health and wellbeing of their employees by offering a wide range of activities promoting positive links between health and work designed to reduce absence rates, improve performance, motivation and morale and create a positive working environment. This helps attract and retain the best staff. They deploy a mobile health monitor across their workplaces that measures height and weight, calculate body mass index and blood pressure. It is fully automatic and produces a print out. The printed ticket carries reference information regarding the normal body mass index reading and World Health Organisation recommendations on blood pressure. NHH offer fun ‘tasters' leading to more substantial programmes. The most recent have been Pilates, salsa and yoga, combining fun, team building and health benefits.

NHH has an active Health and Wellbeing programme called Nutrition Health Happiness. The programme supports and improves the health and wellbeing of their employees by offering a wide range of activities promoting positive links between health and work designed to reduce absence rates, improve performance, motivation and morale and create a positive working environment. This helps attract and retain the best staff. They deploy a mobile health monitor across their workplaces that measures height and weight, calculate body mass index and blood pressure. It is fully automatic and produces a print out. The printed ticket carries reference information regarding the normal body mass index reading and World Health Organisation recommendations on blood pressure. NHH offer fun ‘tasters' leading to more substantial programmes. The most recent have been Pilates, salsa and yoga, combining fun, team building and health benefits.

At the end of every month each of Networkers International's offices gets together to round up the month. Within these meetings they recognise those who have performed particularly well over the month as well as those who have hit personal milestones, be it someone who is new getting some success for the first time, those who have been promoted, or someone with a significant achievement. Within these meetings they also promote social activities, charitable events and everyone gets an update on the progress of the business. The event will culminate in an early finish for the staff and a few drinks together. It's a great opportunity to get everyone together and share news.

At Networkers International they have a dedicated internal training team that support their staff across the board. Experts in their field, they have a detailed programme that supports new starters from the moment they walk in the door. New employees have a course that essentially spans the first year of their time in the business. It's incredibly interactive, using lots of differing learning techniques to suit a diverse group of individuals. The organisation have an offering for every person at every level within the business and it's their goal to support people with their personal development plans and allow them to progress through the business. They offer one on one coaching to as many individuals as they can and all their mangers are trained to effectively coach their staff. They also spend a significant amount of budget on using carefully selected external training sources as well as supporting people with professional qualifications. Many people join the business because of the learning and development that the company offer.

Daily meetings are held by Multitech Managers to review and plan projects. During these meetings staff are reminded about the core values of the business and the importance of incorporating these values into their daily work.

Guy Scilly formed Multitech in 1998 and has successfully built it into a customer service focused company with exemplary staff at all levels. Being a Managing Director is often perceived as a barrier to approachability, but this is far from the case with Guy. Multitech is a reflection of his kind natured personality, and Multitech is people focused. Guy Scilly is a Managing Director who knows the name of every member of staff and whose door is always open for anyone needing support, whether professionally or personally. Without admirable continuity Guy communicates with staff and clients at all levels eloquently and honestly. His attention to detail is second to none and his ability to make business decisions is evident in the success of Multitech. However, Guy is not a man to become complacent and continually strives for improved personal development, participating in mentoring groups and maintaining and increasing his knowledge of industry best practices. The staff engagement Guy Scilly achieves is neither contrived nor forced; it is a naturally occurring result of having an approachable, respected leader who genuinely cares and who nurtures mutual respect among staff, and prioritises their welfare through an embedded culture of safety.

2013 was Multiply's 10th anniversary and to celebrate this they took all their employees away for an overnight stay at Aberfeldy. The theme was a pagan ritual ceremony and each employee had a specially chosen, bespoke outfit waiting for them in their room on arrival. Their team from London flew up to join this too and the whole company had a fantastic evening of entertainment and celebration. This event took several months to plan and was packed with unique and personal touches. All costs were fully covered by Multiply and the event was a fantastic success. They have various other team building events including a yearly Company Update BBQ in the summer which brings the whole agency together in either London or Edinburgh. They have also recently installed their own bespoke bar in the basement, and they have ‘down time Friday' to encourage everyone to get together for a Friday refreshment.

2013 was Multiply's 10th anniversary and to celebrate this they took all their employees away for an overnight stay at Aberfeldy. The theme was a pagan ritual ceremony and each employee had a specially chosen, bespoke outfit waiting for them in their room on arrival. Their team from London flew up to join this too and the whole company had a fantastic evening of entertainment and celebration. This event took several months to plan and was packed with unique and personal touches. All costs were fully covered by Multiply and the event was a fantastic success. They have various other team building events including a yearly Company Update BBQ in the summer which brings the whole agency together in either London or Edinburgh. They have also recently installed their own bespoke bar in the basement, and they have ‘down time Friday' to encourage everyone to get together for a Friday refreshment.

Morgan McKinley's senior leadership team demonstrate how much the company values mean by rewarding and recognising the individual who is voted for, by their colleagues, as champion of a particular value each quarter. Despite being a sales business this is not linked in any way to revenue generated, this is all about recognising those who consistently demonstrate their values and they reward this with vouchers and their 'Go Beyond' trip. Anyone at any level can be nominated including Directors and it is testament that every quarter, Directors are nominated. When anyone is being considered for promotion they must be able to provide evidence of commitment to the company values; this is deemed integral to their progression and development and a core element of the company's career pathway programme. Each week they highlight specific examples of excellence in each value and communicate to the business, again in recognition of how they want everyone in the business to behave.

Morgan McKinley's senior leadership team demonstrate how much the company values mean by rewarding and recognising the individual who is voted for, by their colleagues, as champion of a particular value each quarter. Despite being a sales business this is not linked in any way to revenue generated, this is all about recognising those who consistently demonstrate their values and they reward this with vouchers and their 'Go Beyond' trip. Anyone at any level can be nominated including Directors and it is testament that every quarter, Directors are nominated. When anyone is being considered for promotion they must be able to provide evidence of commitment to the company values; this is deemed integral to their progression and development and a core element of the company's career pathway programme. Each week they highlight specific examples of excellence in each value and communicate to the business, again in recognition of how they want everyone in the business to behave.

On 15th January Mindshare started a programme to evolve the way Mindshare works to be more collaborative, creative and responsive to how the media landscape is changing. The focus of their Transformation Programme is on behaviours as a way to transform their business and respond to the revolution in media and technology. On the 8th April, 'Future day 1', the whole company gathered together at the Bloomsbury Ballroom to mark the start of their journey of transformation. In the morning, very inspirational speakers articulated the case for transformation, shared stories, tools and techniques to support brainstorming, collaboration and creative thinking. In the afternoon, the whole company was split into groups and each employee had the opportunity to apply some of the learnings from the morning and to share their personal story of transformation, and the changes it brought to their lives. The most inspirational story from each group was selected and as a result a 'Book of transformation' was produced. This was not only a fantastic event where people from different areas of the business had the opportunity to bond, have fun and be inspired, but was also our first step towards changing people's behaviours to further embrace collaboration and creativity.

In 2011 Mindshare launched their Future Leaders Programme which was open to all Account Managers. The purpose was to offer 10 selected Account Managers a unique modular learning programme (over a period of 12 months) to accelerate personal and professional development and ultimately to nurture their Future Leaders giving them exposure to new exciting areas. The selected Future Leaders have also the opportunity to work on a live project briefed by their CEO, have the opportunity to network with senior members of the WPP group and are mentored by the Leadership Team. The programme has been a great success for developing junior talent and has also helped to reduce their turnover at this level.

MBA created #MBAgoodtimes to help build really positive relationships internally and to ensure that their agency is a really fun place to work. Initiatives include: - Friday nominations: They select someone who has done a particularly good job that week, a new starter, or someone celebrating a milestone to choose the lunch time pub destination and Friday afternoon Spotify theme. They go to a different pub every Friday so they are making the most of the amazing location of their office, And everyone suggests their songs that go with the Spotify theme which are played from 5pm. - Monday work out sessions: Over summer they had a boot camp every Tuesday night. To keep everyone fit and healthy! - Summer Party: The London and Brighton agency teams donned their finest nautical dress-up gear and they were on a boat for the afternoon cruising around Brighton. And this was followed up with a BBQ on the beach in the evening. Lots of fun in the sun. - Beer pong: They are the proud owners of some beer pong tables that get a serious work out. Competition is tough – people take their beer pong very seriously at MBA.

Contributions and promotions are announced in MBA's monthly agency meetings. Hard work and agency successes are celebrated on a Friday evening with free drinks. Senior employees are incentivised through profit related pay.

Marathon Oil rolled out an Employee Workplace Wellbeing Programme in January 2014 open to all offshore and onshore employees and contractors. Their aim is to bring a greater number of health interventions directly into the workplace that can have a positive impact on their workforce's health and wellbeing. Each month different wellness themes are explored with related activities and opportunities for a better understanding of how they can take control of their own health and wellbeing. Underpinning this, a Health Competition was launched open to all employees and contractors to have a number of biometrics recorded (weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc). This information is stored confidentially then measured around mid-year with final results and winners (best overall improvement in health) being announced early next year.

Marathon Oil rolled out an Employee Workplace Wellbeing Programme in January 2014 open to all offshore and onshore employees and contractors. Their aim is to bring a greater number of health interventions directly into the workplace that can have a positive impact on their workforce's health and wellbeing. Each month different wellness themes are explored with related activities and opportunities for a better understanding of how they can take control of their own health and wellbeing. Underpinning this, a Health Competition was launched open to all employees and contractors to have a number of biometrics recorded (weight, blood pressure, cholesterol etc). This information is stored confidentially then measured around mid-year with final results and winners (best overall improvement in health) being announced early next year.

Malcolm Hollis want all of their employees to be confident and comfortable and to raise, ask a question or voice a concern. Malcolm Hollis understand that speaking up can be daunting for some, which is the reason they have an initiative called ‘AskJohn', a confidential system allowing them to anonymously pose your questions by email. The responses to these are published to all staff with the identity of the person asking the question remaining anonymous. Their open plan seating arrangements with senior members of staff seated alongside more junior members also naturally promotes ideas and feedback as do regular team and manager meetings across departments.

On payday each month, all offices stop work (provided no urgent work for clients is left unactioned) at 4.30pm to have drinks in the office as a thank you and ‘wind down' to the month. The drinks are provided by the company and are usually held in the office, however in the summer we often arrange to take drinks to the park to play softball or some other team activity. Malcolm Hollis also have a quarterly lunch in each office, paid for by the company and give staff their birthday off work, in addition to their allocated annual leave entitlement.

Their most recent team event was the summer quarterly company meeting, in which they presented the Livity business plan to the whole business. They did this outdoors in the local park, and added in some fun stuff like rounders and a quiz featuring everyone in the business, so they could all find out more about one another (such as guessing who was a childhood opera singer and who has danced with Pharrell Williams). Previously they went for lunch at The Clink restaurant at Brixton prison a restaurant onsite where prisoners gain experience in a real working environment and have a higher chance of sustainable employment post-release. Following this and a company meeting they took the team out to a local venue for a themed night out. They generally have at least two out of four of their events in a local venue to contribute to the local economy. The ‘Livity Talks' team have invited many inspiring people to the office to round off the week with a Friday afternoon talk, designed to inform and inspire. The most recent one was by Rob Burnet from Kenya based Well Told Story, a social enterprise that combines the power of good stories with strategy, creativity, deep analysis and hard science, to design and produce communications that spur positive social changes that can be proved and measured. A really aspirational talk for the teams who are working on projects with similar goals.

Sam and Michelle are committed to total transparency of business performance lived through their quarterly company meetings, a shared googledoc dashboard of key commercial and purpose metrics such as income contracted year to date, numbers of young people matched up with space on somewhereto, and new recruits to the Live Mag UK team. Sam and Michelle have always been true to the principle Livity have of taking feedback on anything and everything business-wide whether that's face to face, over email, google drive, or anonymously. This regularly comes up as something people really respect and enjoy about working at Livity. As well as these regular collective moments Sam and Michelle also take the opportunity to have individual moments that might make a difference to someone's day or long term - whether that's bringing ice creams in for the team on a hot day, handing out £20 notes to everyone on ‘blue Monday' to make it a bit more cheery, bringing those they don't work with often to meetings with them, having a cuppa with new people, or mentoring those with out-of-work entrepreneurial ambitions - there's a genuine commitment to personal engagement. How approachable and accessible they are is regularly referenced by their employees, and it's something Livity will protect, however much the business grows. They also take their themed socials very seriously! This has seen them over the years dress up as the a King and Queen, Cyndi Lauper and a Storm Trooper, a flapper girl and a gangster.

As part of their Liverpool Hope University's volunteering initiatives, staff and students host "Contact the Elderly" tea parties each summer.

There are a number of formal processes that take place at Liverpool Hope University, from team meetings to full departmental or Faculty forums. At these meetings, staff are encouraged to participate and make their views known. In addition, they have a corporate JCNC (Joint Consultation and Negotiation Committee) with their recognised trade unions that meet each term. At these meetings, the unions have the opportunity, on behalf of their members, to put forward any issues, ideas or comments and these are given full consideration by management. All these formal forums are minuted.

Every quarter Limelights hold company wide meetings that take place during the working day. The purpose of these meetings are to act as a knowledge sharing platform, provide an opportunity to celebrate success and create a platform to ensure the team are aligned to their strategy. The format of these meetings vary according to the content but are always interactive, participative and provide a unique platform for the team to input into wider strategies or projects as well as share ideas. Many of the sessions will have an element of sport built into the day, for example in March they held a session for the team at Fitness First's Fusion gym. As sport is what they do, the team are passionate about sport and physical activity and therefore, they use as many opportunities as they can to allow the team to take part in sport and try new fitness or sporting opportunities. Once a year they also hold an annual summit, which across three days and has previously been held at Watergate Bay, Cornwall. This provides an opportunity for team bonding, sharing of new strategies and the team to input new initiatives as well as a chance for them to celebrate success and reward employees for their hard work throughout the year. These quarterly meetings have proven invaluable over the past three years that they been in place in terms of team building, cross department integration and celebrating success.

An example of how Limelight support employee development was demonstrated with Alice. Alice was working as a co-ordinator in the CRM team and in the middle of 2013 she expressed an interest to develop her technology skills and asked that if there was an opportunity to work in the Technology Department, could she be considered. Following conversations between Department Heads it was decided that Alice should be given the opportunity, as she demonstrated passion, commitment and a desire for excellence and was transferred to that department at a co-ordination level. Whilst working in that team it was soon recognised that Alice had an aptitude for UX Designing and therefore, an opportunity was created to allow Alice to become a UX designer. She was put on a 5 day intense UX designing training course, which resulted in her achieving 88% in her final exams. Supporting staff who have a desire to develop in other areas is a key part of their talent management strategy and they will openly support and encourage employees who wish to develop their skills in other areas of the business. This was also seen with Rachel, now a Project Manager in their experience team who had expressed her desire to develop her live event management skills whilst working in the Marketing team. As a result she attended a CIPD course that introduced her to management and helped her to develop the skills she would require to manage a team.

The company has the Liebherr "Future Faces" incentive scheme which is designed to reward current employees that take an active and personal interest in the development and progression of Liebherr, by introducing individuals they feel have the ability to succeed as future team members.

Last year, the company paid for each employee to have a cash plan with BUPA, this gives each individual a pot of money to which they can claim against in areas such as dentistry, physiotherapy and prescriptions. This benefit also included up to 4 children under the age of 21, each with their own pot. This has now been extended to spouses. Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd have also worked closely with Hampton Knight last year in terms of occupational health; putting together a matrix showing critical areas that should be assessed on a regular basis.

Together with their neighbours on Timbermill Way, Liberty Wines cover the cost of keeping the road clear, well-lit and all the local vegetation trimmed and neat to discourage fly tipping and vandalism.

Liberty Wines have an open plan office and open door policy to ensure all staff are able to speak freely with senior managers and people are aware of what is happening throughout the business. The company have weekly team meetings that are attended by all senior management where appropriate - this is led by the Managing Director to ensure feedback and issues are communicated between the teams and with customers. Everyone at Liberty is passionate about premium wine and supporting the vineyards where the wine comes from - the senior management encourage the team to share views on recent trips to producers as well as their customers. Staff will often see senior managers and their teams bringing in produce to be shared and enjoyed, such as fine cheeses and olives. This encourages everyone to be interested in the venues where their wine is served and gain an understanding about the regions where the company import wine from.

Installation of the water machines, The Colour run event and health and fitness Occupation Health are all part of wellbeing in Leven Energy Services Limited.

In Leven Energy Services Limited they have Suggestion boxes and the Employee of the month Employee Forum. They also have Dress down Fridays.

The Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KMT the Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KM&T = Knowledge, Management and Transfer. The Leadership Team are all experienced Consultants who have progressed through the organisation. For this reason, they are respected amongst their peers. Equally they are respected by clients for their commercial awareness and professionalism. They conduct themselves with integrity and lead by example.

The Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KMT the Leadership Team are committed to the values of the organisation through their interaction with their staff and clients. KM&T are very proud of the internal talent development of their team members. This is also reflected in the work with their clients as they endeavour to transfer their knowledge to their teams. This is the meaning of the organisation KM&T = Knowledge, Management and Transfer. The Leadership Team are all experienced Consultants who have progressed through the organisation. For this reason, they are respected amongst their peers. Equally they are respected by clients for their commercial awareness and professionalism. They conduct themselves with integrity and lead by example.

All consultants are supported by a Practice Manager who is constant contact with them to ensure that they have everything they need on a practical and personal level to perform their role. This is especially necessary in a remote working environment. As careers with Kloud often incorporate remote working this is often a huge benefit to the wellbeing of employees. Being able to significantly reduce or eliminate commuting time enables our consultants to have more leisure time.

All consultants are supported by a Practice Manager who is constant contact with them to ensure that they have everything they need on a practical and personal level to perform their role. This is especially necessary in a remote working environment. As careers with Kloud often incorporate remote working this is often a huge benefit to the wellbeing of employees. Being able to significantly reduce or eliminate commuting time enables our consultants to have more leisure time.

EAP schemes are available across the firm and include access to online portals where helpful advice is immediately available. Face to face counselling is included, in addition to the 24/7 helpline. Kinetic have annual flu jabs, organising a nurse to come into the office to administer the vaccinations to encourage as many of the team as possible to take advantage of this benefit. Anyone who cannot take advantage of the on site programme has access to a drop in clinic where they can have the jab at their own convenience. Kinetic have gym membership as one of their flexible benefits and encourage staff to use this benefit to encourage well being and exercise in the firm. They also support a charity run every year where around a quarter of the office run in a 5K fun run fully subsidised by the firm called the 'Chartered City Race'. This is a great way of building team spirit, keeping fit while supporting a good cause. They try to arrange wellness weeks annually to raise the team's awareness of what is on offer and how they can benefit.

EAP schemes are available across the firm and include access to online portals where helpful advice is immediately available. Face to face counselling is included, in addition to the 24/7 helpline. Kinetic have annual flu jabs, organising a nurse to come into the office to administer the vaccinations to encourage as many of the team as possible to take advantage of this benefit. Anyone who cannot take advantage of the on site programme has access to a drop in clinic where they can have the jab at their own convenience. Kinetic have gym membership as one of their flexible benefits and encourage staff to use this benefit to encourage well being and exercise in the firm. They also support a charity run every year where around a quarter of the office run in a 5K fun run fully subsidised by the firm called the 'Chartered City Race'. This is a great way of building team spirit, keeping fit while supporting a good cause. They try to arrange wellness weeks annually to raise the team's awareness of what is on offer and how they can benefit.

JMC has a strong culture of ensuring that staff look after their well-being. All staff are offered a health scheme that can be used to fund a range of health related treatments including physiotherapy. JMC also provide a wide range of resources and support for those that wish to take a break from the working day and improve their fitness and/or relax. Their facilities include on-site gym, circuit training sessions at lunch, two table tennis tables, a badminton court, three mountain bikes that can be used for lunchtime rides, pool table and darts board. Anyone taking part in any competitive activities can do so under the “JMC's Team JMC banner”, and receive a range of free support options including funding, a branded weatherproof gazebo, their Team JMC van, branded clothing. Getting people involved in the above has been hugely beneficial for the business and the people involved. From just letting off some steam at lunch, to developing new skills and interests, through to getting to know people within the business that you wouldn't normally meet. JMC have also uncovered some real stars amongst the team that have gone on to achieve some amazing results including one of their engineers Jason Miles, who has won many 24-hour mountain bike races and Alex Lawton who is now Team GB triathlete.pasting

Staff are allocated a paid half-day every three months that they can use to “Give Something Back”. A member of staff's annual entitlement can be combined to allow them to undertake two days consecutive work if needed. JMC allow staff to suggest the causes that they would like to support rather than present themselves. This financial year they are supporting Salford Foodbank with all funds raised going to this great cause. Currently they have people using their Giving Something Back time to undertake shopping collections and deliveries, as well as packing food parcels for Foodbank visitors.

Being very proactive in supporting company-wide events, for example the Jelf Sales Conference and Central Services Conferences. The conferences give employees the chance to meet and network with their colleagues, sharing ideas, opinions and best practice.In 2014 these events also gave employees the opportunity to put forward suggestions to improve various practices within the company through a "Dragon's Den" workshop. As a result there is a clear action plan of initiatives sponsored by the Group Executive Board, many of which have already been implemented.

The senior management team are committed to acting as advocates for the 7 Jelf Guiding Principles during their day to day activities. They act as role models to show that their clients needs are paramount and that the company's objective to be their Trusted Adviser should drive the behaviour of all their staff. They guide, coach and support their direct reports to ensure that their people are managed well throughout all stages of the employee life cycle. They frequently "walk the floor" in order to understand employees' issues and thoughts about matters which concern them. They demonstrate that they are in touch with current issues and have an "open door" policy allowing staff to approach them too.

Each year ITC hold a staff party at the end of their financial year and as this year they were celebrating their 40th year, they celebrated in style. ITC paid to transport all their staff to a sailing club on the beach and hosted a Caribbean themed beach party with a live steel band, hog roast, surfboard simulator, authentic rum punch, volleyball and limbo dancing. All food and drink were paid for. As a result of the success of this year's sailing party they have, as a company, committed to next year hosting 'dash for a splash' as a thank you to all of their staff which will be held abroad.

Each year ITC hold a staff party at the end of their financial year and as this year they were celebrating their 40th year, they celebrated in style. ITC paid to transport all their staff to a sailing club on the beach and hosted a Caribbean themed beach party with a live steel band, hog roast, surfboard simulator, authentic rum punch, volleyball and limbo dancing. All food and drink were paid for. As a result of the success of this year's sailing party they have, as a company, committed to next year hosting 'dash for a splash' as a thank you to all of their staff which will be held abroad.

IPU recognise team members who have gone the extra mile by publicly recognising them at their company meetings and giving them a 9 foot tall medal. IPU send out company side emails to share in any successes.

IPU enlist the support of a local company to provide a well being service for all employees who wish to access it. This involves a health screen and personalised health report with advice on healthy living.

The International Tennis Federation's Christmas Party was organised around a fun team building event instead of simply going to a restaurant or bar. They have organised a team event in the style of Masterchef where all staff have to work with people they don't usually work with and there is a competitive edge to it too. Additionally, across the Federation, a number of charity fundraising events have taken place, including entering the Corporate Challenge in July plus various other social events which are open to everyone and included representation from all Federation departments.

The International Tennis Federation's Christmas Party was organised around a fun team building event instead of simply going to a restaurant or bar. They have organised a team event in the style of Masterchef where all staff have to work with people they don't usually work with and there is a competitive edge to it too. Additionally, across the Federation, a number of charity fundraising events have taken place, including entering the Corporate Challenge in July plus various other social events which are open to everyone and included representation from all Federation departments.

The company have a 'Celebrating Success' awards evening. There is an annual Christmas party and a lunch time hog roast event. Company wide initiatives are fully supported and it is encouraged that teams have regular team events. Most departments/teams within the last 18 months have had away days which have included army-type assault courses, chocolate making, Belbin team activities including facilitation by a Belbin facilitator, drumming workshop, Haka taught by a Maori warrior. These have taken place off-site away from the office.

Interchange and Consort Hotel's cultural values were identified by colleagues across their business, through a CEO sponsored project. Their SMT endeavour to ensure that business decisions are congruent with their values and that all colleagues are supported in, and recognised for, displaying behaviours in line with their values. Their main meeting rooms and CEO's office prominently display their values, and these are referred to during discussions. Many business visitors are given an overview of their values along with a set of “values cards” - business cards displaying their values. Every candidate is told about their values in the early stages of their recruitment process, and selection always includes questions related to these values. The company have ongoing values nominations where colleagues can nominate each other for behaviours in line with their values. Nominations are displayed on their Intranet and in their atrium, a prize draw is used to recognise nominees every few months and annual values awards are judged and presented by our SMT.

For a larger organisation, they have a surprisingly non-hierarchical atmosphere and senior managers freely invite staff to contact them directly with questions or feedback, to which they always reply. They are also regularly to be found in the kitchen making tea rounds! The senior managers are the first to applaud a colleague's good work and there are good news stories circulating daily, showcasing the excellent work of local teams and individuals. Importantly, their managers always relate their communications to the benefit their work brings to clients. Respect for each of their colleagues is paramount, as is being professional, ethical and above all, friendly.

The first themed week to be held as part of Shine, was Giving Back Week – a topic specifically identified as an area of importance to employees. Giving Back Week in July was launched by an introductory email to all staff from the CEO, Dean James. It encouraged everyone to get involved and prompted many staff to make full use of both their personal and team community giving days. The contact centre in Oban maintained the gardens at a local parrot sanctuary, the compliance team transformed a community space in Leeds, planting flower beds and litter picking, Derby colleagues spent the day in a local school, passing on CV and interview advice and the Midlands management team cleared pathways, chopped wood and fed the animals at a city farm.

In 2013, Informa became more focused on the issue of mental health in the workplace and all their UK HR directors have now received Mental Health in the Workplace Training. As one in four British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one year, Informa believe this is a valuable focus for them and also becomes a business issue. Flexible working is also supported around the Group and they have had a flexible working policy in place since 2006. Between 2012 and 2013, the proportion of Informa employees working part time increased from 7.5% to 8.6%. In a 2012 survey on flexible working, out of 141 respondents, 112 gave Informa a top rating of creating work/life balance and 84% said they couldn't continue working without the flexible working policy.

In 2013, Informa became more focused on the issue of mental health in the workplace and all their UK HR directors have now received Mental Health in the Workplace Training. As one in four British adults experience at least one diagnosable mental health problem in any one year, Informa believe this is a valuable focus for them and also becomes a business issue. Flexible working is also supported around the Group and they have had a flexible working policy in place since 2006. Between 2012 and 2013, the proportion of Informa employees working part time increased from 7.5% to 8.6%. In a 2012 survey on flexible working, out of 141 respondents, 112 gave Informa a top rating of creating work/life balance and 84% said they couldn't continue working without the flexible working policy.

Through customer feedback imago realised the customer journey could be enhanced by improving the effectiveness of the processes and relations between their sales and operations functions. In order to address this, they invited the lead from each customer ‘touch point', 14 in total, to a meeting, dinner and overnight stay at Burleigh Court, their four star hotel. One of the main topics for discussion focused on identifying areas for improvement, especially in terms of communication and understanding, between the various teams involved in the customer journey. This company wide team building exercise served to bring all the appropriate people together in a positive, non-confrontational environment and gave them the opportunity to consider issues with their colleagues in the wider team, to air concerns and to discuss imaginative solutions. The event was a huge success. People began to view issues from a different angle and to understand the impact of their role on other teams. In particular, they gained a better understanding of how customers experienced the journey through their organisation. They began to think more as a whole team working together to improve the customer experience, rather than working in isolated units where they didn't always have the opportunity to engage with other teams or understand the impact of their roles on others. Using the outcomes of this team building exercise, this work has been used to remodel the processes and teams to improve the customer experience which will also increase staff engagement and motivation and ultimately company success.

imago are involved with 'Business in the Community' - Princes Trust and use a 'Business Connector' to help develop and direct their local community activities/plan. They are active in an award winning 'Bridge to Work' Scheme through Loughborough College which works to improve the employment prospects of local students by bringing together schools, colleges and employers. imago are involved with both the steering group and employers forum. They have introduced their own 'Apprenticeship Programme' this year and currently provide employment to eight young adults. Each employee is doing an NVQ qualification through Loughborough College. They are currently working with three charity groups two of which are based in the local community. Along with fundraising and cash donations they offer skills volunteering, donate lost property/equipment and provide facilities for off-site meetings/activities. They have sponsored the Leicestershire and Rutland Oldest Athlete Awards for two years and recently hosted their annual celebration event/awards ceremony.

The Health and Wellbeing group are a sub group of ICAS' main staff committee which aim to support staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle and will therefore focus on issues of concern to their employees. Following on from the success of the Global Corporate Challenge they again sponsored as many of their staff who wished to participate in the 16 week, GCC event. This year they had 28 people in four teams, one more than last year. The aim of the challenge is to improve staff health, wellbeing and performance at work. The teams covered either walking, swimming or cycling, an overall distance of 33,213km over the 16 week period. In the feedback received 91.4% now exceed the 10,000 steps recommended. They promote healthy eating and supply fruit to their offices for all their staff to enjoy on a fortnightly basis. While they provided tea, coffee and water to all staff, following requests, ICAS have now added herbal and other decaffinated teas to this selection.

The Health and Wellbeing group are a sub group of ICAS' main staff committee which aim to support staff to maintain a healthy lifestyle and will therefore focus on issues of concern to their employees. Following on from the success of the Global Corporate Challenge they again sponsored as many of their staff who wished to participate in the 16 week, GCC event. This year they had 28 people in four teams, one more than last year. The aim of the challenge is to improve staff health, wellbeing and performance at work. The teams covered either walking, swimming or cycling, an overall distance of 33,213km over the 16 week period. In the feedback received 91.4% now exceed the 10,000 steps recommended. They promote healthy eating and supply fruit to their offices for all their staff to enjoy on a fortnightly basis. While they provided tea, coffee and water to all staff, following requests, ICAS have now added herbal and other decaffinated teas to this selection.

Hoxton work very closely as a team when qualifying, implementing and communicating ideas. They encourage people to make the bold decision and not the easy one which goes back to their value - only dead fish swim with the current. Hox-in-a-Box, a pop-up hotel container at BoxPark which came from an idea the brand director had. They then ran this for a limited period, got the whole team involved in coming up with ideas for events in the box and PR'd it to great effect.

Hoxton are happy to and encourage their employees to seek out training courses, both external and internal which they will then pay for.

All teams within the organisation take it in turn to hold events called 'Thirsty Thursdays,' which occur every 6 weeks. This event is usually themed and hosted by a different team on each occasion. The hosting team will welcome new starters and introduce them to existing staff members across the organisation. The event is paid for by the company and a wide selection of food and drink is available to all. The event is always a big success and most importantly allows the growing company to interact.

All teams within the organisation take it in turn to hold events called 'Thirsty Thursdays,' which occur every 6 weeks. This event is usually themed and hosted by a different team on each occasion. The hosting team will welcome new starters and introduce them to existing staff members across the organisation. The event is paid for by the company and a wide selection of food and drink is available to all. The event is always a big success and most importantly allows the growing company to interact.

Directors of each area of Havens Hospice gave feedback and put in place action plans to improve on issues that needed addressing.

Directors of each area of Havens Hospice gave feedback and put in place action plans to improve on issues that needed addressing.

Hangar Seven run an Employee of the Month award whereby everyone votes for a crew member who has really gone the extra mile and delivered against their company values. It's a great accolade and the winner receives £100 to spend as they wish. They also have a yearly overall winner who receives £500. This is a person with the most votes over the year. Hangar Seven operate a company wide profit share scheme and they have the most elaborate fully paid for Christmas parties in the industry.

Hangar Seven's leader speaks with everyone as much as possible on a daily basis. He knows about their families and their social life outside of work and he misses nothing. He picks up when they are struggling and if possible offers help. This might be financial or time off, or simply a word in the right manager's ear. He is extremely caring and treats everyone with respect.

All Senior Management staff have shared their own motivations for working at Groundwork as part of their “Little Green Book” guide, with some motivated by the concepts of sustainability and others by social justice.

All Senior Management staff have shared their own motivations for working at Groundwork as part of their “Little Green Book” guide, with some motivated by the concepts of sustainability and others by social justice.

Grand Union Housing have so many community initiatives as their organisations have a strong social purpose and one of their key corporate strategies is building and maintaining sustainable communities: ‘Project Mackenzie Community Cafes', two food bank partnerships, strive wheels to work, community kitchen, credit union partnerships, charitable donation funds, environmental improvement projects and ‘Giveagift'.

Grand Union Housing have so many community initiatives as their organisations have a strong social purpose and one of their key corporate strategies is building and maintaining sustainable communities: ‘Project Mackenzie Community Cafes', two food bank partnerships, strive wheels to work, community kitchen, credit union partnerships, charitable donation funds, environmental improvement projects and ‘Giveagift'.

Golin and Virgo are led by President Matt (Golin) and two CEOs/MDs Sarah and Angie (Virgo). All three are all very well respected in the communications industry and this is a definite draw for employees who choose to join Golin/Virgo. They are all very hands on and accessible, encouraging team members to come and pick their brains about any challenges they may be facing as well as actively mentoring junior members in order to nurture their raw talents. They all bring the values to life setting an example to the team and perpetuate an environment where hard work and outstanding performance is rewarded and success is celebrated on a regular basis. The senior leadership has high visibility at team meetings in both office locations, presenting, sharing and demonstrating excellence and best practice across the company.

Golin and Virgo are led by President Matt (Golin) and two CEOs/MDs Sarah and Angie (Virgo). All three are all very well respected in the communications industry and this is a definite draw for employees who choose to join Golin/Virgo. They are all very hands on and accessible, encouraging team members to come and pick their brains about any challenges they may be facing as well as actively mentoring junior members in order to nurture their raw talents. They all bring the values to life setting an example to the team and perpetuate an environment where hard work and outstanding performance is rewarded and success is celebrated on a regular basis. The senior leadership has high visibility at team meetings in both office locations, presenting, sharing and demonstrating excellence and best practice across the company.

GGHT has an appraisal system setting 5 objectives for each employee. If these are scored as having been met, the employee receives an additional incremental pay increase on top of their cost of living rise.

GGHT runs a trainee programme, taking 25 local residents aged between 16 - 19 and providing them with 12 month paid work placements based on the local estates and doing visible improvement work there, along with training to enable them to become more employable.

The company look at reducing their electricity consumption wherever possible, with measures such as the ‘Switch-Off' campaign, which promotes employees to switch off all non-essential equipment outside office hours e.g. printers, lighting and IT equipment. They encourage staff to switch their laptops to the eco or power saver mode and do quarterly audits to monitor this. Their IT team has installed the relevant technology which enables them to provide data on energy consumption across the various equipment within the office, from laptops to servers. This provides greater clarity on current consumption levels and better use of equipment to reduce consumption where possible. They look at business travel and try to encourage staff to use low carbon methods when travelling to and from work and client meetings. This is measured by an annual survey of staff travel patterns and recording the business travel to each client meeting. The company also have a policy to encourage staff to cycle to work, so if a new bike is required, employees can purchase one through our cycle to work scheme. All of our paper is 100% recycled and they measure staffs printing consumption on a monthly basis. They recycle as much of their waste as possible and this includes confidential paper waste which is measured and recycled, and goes towards reducing their carbon footprint. The company have an annual carbon footprint survey and offset their equivalent carbon emissions via a donation to Pure the Clean Planet Trust.

The company look at reducing their electricity consumption wherever possible, with measures such as the ‘Switch-Off' campaign, which promotes employees to switch off all non-essential equipment outside office hours e.g. printers, lighting and IT equipment. They encourage staff to switch their laptops to the eco or power saver mode and do quarterly audits to monitor this. Their IT team has installed the relevant technology which enables them to provide data on energy consumption across the various equipment within the office, from laptops to servers. This provides greater clarity on current consumption levels and better use of equipment to reduce consumption where possible. They look at business travel and try to encourage staff to use low carbon methods when travelling to and from work and client meetings. This is measured by an annual survey of staff travel patterns and recording the business travel to each client meeting. The company also have a policy to encourage staff to cycle to work, so if a new bike is required, employees can purchase one through our cycle to work scheme. All of our paper is 100% recycled and they measure staffs printing consumption on a monthly basis. They recycle as much of their waste as possible and this includes confidential paper waste which is measured and recycled, and goes towards reducing their carbon footprint. The company have an annual carbon footprint survey and offset their equivalent carbon emissions via a donation to Pure the Clean Planet Trust.

This summer Flamingo embarked on their annual Expo; following last year's three-day trip to Lake Como in Italy, this year's chosen location was Istanbul. Expos act as a ‘thank you' to their employees for the work they carry out throughout the year, bringing everyone together in a cultural setting far away from the office to socialise and unwind. These meetings communicate the company vision, and the values that help maintain Flamingo's success, both in terms of the work they do for clients, and the company culture they work so hard to nurture and develop. The trips allow employees from across their offices to develop team spirit and lasting business relationships and brings people together as one united group. Their Co-CEOs deliver many of the sessions personally, and this has had a significant impact in enshrining excellence in their daily business, and making this available to all employees at all times.

Staff development takes many forms at Flamingo: They believe learning and development should be broad, encompassing, and tailored to the needs of each individual. They deliberately use the language of ‘learning' rather than ‘training', to communicate that staff development should be ongoing, self-directed, and participatory. The core of their business lies in understanding people, culture and brands, and their learning programme encourages staff to develop their understanding of these pillars in the broadest way possible. So, naturally, Flamingo senior staff run regular sessions on core skills internally, and they encourage staff to attend external sessions, but they also encourage a wide range of activities which, though they may not look like ‘training' as such, are hugely beneficial for staff development. Flamingo encourage staff secondments to both their own and their clients offices, all over the world. They encourage staff to write for their blogs, and present internally on subjects of interest to them in informal, lunchtime sessions. Flamingo encourage staff to learn languages, to read about the industry, to mentor other staff, internally and externally, to attend conferences, and museum exhibitions. Crucially, they acknowledge these as great learning experiences, ensuring their staff feel they have both individual freedom, and a wide range of resources to help their development in a way that is right for them. Flamingo share all of their learning resources on their intranet (which also provides a space for discussion and commentary), and discuss staff development at each review, ensuring open and continuous discussion and guidance

Firefish have an annual company team-building event, known as Fireflung. This year's event took place on Osea Island, a former wartime base just off the coast of Essex, which is connected to land by a causeway that disappears as the tide comes in. In the build-up they kept the location secret and created a huge amount of intrigue by giving the event a wartime / 1940's theme. On arrival they spent the morning firstly delivering an update on their progress since the last Fireflung, and then results from the staff survey. Firefish then worked together as a group on a couple of key issues for the business - maintaining growth in their client list and creating more time for people to focus on their primary tasks. This process included splitting out into smaller groups defined by different levels of the business, ensuring that ideas from more junior members of the team were given as much 'airtime' as those of more senior colleagues. Following lunch, they then ran a team-building game where 8 teams competed against each other to defuse bombs hidden all over the island! This involved much running around, pedaling down country lanes on bone-shaker bikes, a few gin and tonics and an almighty bundle to grab the last 'bomb'. The evening was then a 1940's themed dinner and party. Firefish all revelled under the stars and by campfires till the small hours and then those with most stamina kept going until dawn in one of the various cottages.

Firefish' value set is completely driven by the people they are, they are not nice ideas that make them sound like an interesting and caring place to work, they are how they meet the world every day. So, to some degree, everything that they do shows their commitment to the values, however they do recognize the importance of making this commitment explicit... Specifically, they used the values as one component for the leadership team's annual reviews. 360 feedback was gathered from across the business, and part of the feedback captured each degree to which each board member lived each of the values. So, for each value the individuals were given a score on a five-point scale ranging from "they never demonstrate this value" to "they always demonstrate this value", and then examples were given to illustrate the score. This provided informative feedback on where each member of the leadership team needed to increase their efforts to be seen as living a value, and also highlighted who could be seen as a 'standard-bearer' in each value. In addition, they refer back to values in meetings of all descriptions - from company-wide to individual groups - and use them as a guide or moral-compass when making decisions. If managers with in the business are unsure about how to progress with certain issues, they often ask "what do their values suggest you should do".

FinancialForce.com offer rewards based not just on performance but on effort and contribution to the team and overall success of the business. They give everyone the flexibility to run their personal and professional lives, supporting people to make the right decisions good and bad. FinancialForce.com offer financial and stock based incentives that link to their Monthly Recurring Revenue.

Working with Participate projects FinancialForce.com have built sensory gardens for blind children, converted elderly residents of a local villages gardens to a more manageable space, built disabled paths and walkways from Leeds and Liverpool canal to a local mill.

The Financial Ombudsman really values the importance of team building. You can see managers doing this in a variety of ways from using their reward and recognition budget to arrange an event for the team, to team meetings to allow everyone in the team to get to know one another. It's something they encourage at all levels. Across the organisation they have put a lot of energy and thought into planning events they arrange for their people. As a not-for-profit organisation it's really important there is a purpose and value. They regularly hold events for their management team including their “the big questions” where managers have the opportunity to meet and network and ask their executive questions about the work of the organisation. This is their way of getting their managers together to talk about what's happening in their area. Following great success last year, they took all their managers off site again this year for an event that included various workshops to share knowledge and develop their skills, to focus on their purpose as an organisation and working together on what this means they expect from people working here. This involves a range of different interactive workshops and talks led by senior leaders and inspirational speakers.

The Financial Ombudsman really values the importance of team building. You can see managers doing this in a variety of ways from using their reward and recognition budget to arrange an event for the team, to team meetings to allow everyone in the team to get to know one another. It's something they encourage at all levels. Across the organisation they have put a lot of energy and thought into planning events they arrange for their people. As a not-for-profit organisation it's really important there is a purpose and value. They regularly hold events for their management team including their “the big questions” where managers have the opportunity to meet and network and ask their executive questions about the work of the organisation. This is their way of getting their managers together to talk about what's happening in their area. Following great success last year, they took all their managers off site again this year for an event that included various workshops to share knowledge and develop their skills, to focus on their purpose as an organisation and working together on what this means they expect from people working here. This involves a range of different interactive workshops and talks led by senior leaders and inspirational speakers.

This year they have offered work-life balance and healthy-eating workshops. They offer a weekly yoga class and monthly massage sessions during working hours.

For the first time in the Trust's history, every member of staff shared in the success of the financial year 2013/2014 with a 2% bonus. The record breaking year was a triumph of dedication and hard-work from the whole team which was recognised by the board of directors.

Fairpoint have set up a charity committee containing 16 self nominated charity champions. The purpose of Fairpoint's charity committee is to make a difference in the local and wider community through fund raising, volunteering and taking part in activities that help their community. The role of the charity champions that make up the charity committee is to organise fund raising events across the business They will lead and promote fund raising activities across the business, contribute to the monthly charity newsletter, attend monthly charity meetings, promote the Making A Difference framework across the business, produce promotional material to promote various charity events, encourage ideas across the business to help make a difference in the local community and promote and organise any social events across the company. A charity calendar is produced at the start of the year created by the charity committee based on feedback from employees on what charities should be supported this year. This meant that the company has a set charity or charities to support each month. Fairpoint set a target to reach £15,000 through fund raising activities, sponsorship and workplace giving in 2014. They were on target to reach this as they raised over £13,000 to September 2014 with more events planned during the last quarter of the year. The fund raising events and sponsorship that takes place in the company encourages employees to work together as a team and also makes employees feel proud to work for a company that helps the local and wider community.

Fairpoint have set up a charity committee containing 16 self nominated charity champions. The purpose of Fairpoint's charity committee is to make a difference in the local and wider community through fund raising, volunteering and taking part in activities that help their community. The role of the charity champions that make up the charity committee is to organise fund raising events across the business They will lead and promote fund raising activities across the business, contribute to the monthly charity newsletter, attend monthly charity meetings, promote the Making A Difference framework across the business, produce promotional material to promote various charity events, encourage ideas across the business to help make a difference in the local community and promote and organise any social events across the company. A charity calendar is produced at the start of the year created by the charity committee based on feedback from employees on what charities should be supported this year. This meant that the company has a set charity or charities to support each month. Fairpoint set a target to reach £15,000 through fund raising activities, sponsorship and workplace giving in 2014. They were on target to reach this as they raised over £13,000 to September 2014 with more events planned during the last quarter of the year. The fund raising events and sponsorship that takes place in the company encourages employees to work together as a team and also makes employees feel proud to work for a company that helps the local and wider community.

EMaC is a hands-on highly personal business. The experience delivered to customers is consciously personal. This ethos is reflected by the SMT. The SMT walk the floors and walk the talk. ‘Catching people doing things right' is an approach designed to reaffirm confidence and empowerment. Having grown from 2 to almost 100 people in ten years, the Values are very much part of the business DNA. Deeply embedded into business processes and procedures under the banner of ‘doing the right thing' team members are empowered to act in a way that supports the values and the needs of EMaC's multiple customer layers.

EMaC is a hands-on highly personal business. The experience delivered to customers is consciously personal. This ethos is reflected by the SMT. The SMT walk the floors and walk the talk. ‘Catching people doing things right' is an approach designed to reaffirm confidence and empowerment. Having grown from 2 to almost 100 people in ten years, the Values are very much part of the business DNA. Deeply embedded into business processes and procedures under the banner of ‘doing the right thing' team members are empowered to act in a way that supports the values and the needs of EMaC's multiple customer layers.

Elmhurst holds an annual barbecue event every summer. Families of their employees are also invited and all is paid for by the organisation. They also hold fun 'race nights' every 3-4 months at the local golf club. The food and venue is all paid for by Elmhurst. Elmhurst holds quarterly employee briefings. Some are interactive and some are for giving employees information. They involve their staff during these sessions and invite and encourage them to give feedback on strategy development.

Managers at Elmhurst support the wellbeing of employees by giving paid time off for medical and dental appointments, working from home to support domestic challenges, and paid time off for funerals and bereavements. The company also offers its premises for weekly yoga classes.

Elior's Safety & Wellbeing team developed a management programme and awareness campaign helping deal with stress before it becomes an issue which can have an adverse affect. It addresses the person as a whole and also encourages them to seriously look at their lifestyle and what they can also do to help themselves. Having spoken to both the colleague and the line manager who participated in the assessment, they both felt it had been very productive and unblocked the communication between them which was partly causing the problems. Elior's Safety & Wellbeing team encourage all colleagues to think about everyday activities and provide thought provoking summaries about how they can go about things in a safer way. On Elior's internal Extranet this year they have provided guidance about safety at Christmas including Christmas tree lights, driving in adverse weather, how to keep cool in extreme summer weather. They are also trying to encourage managers to use their common sense. It's not necessarily about going by the rule book, but by being genuinely supportive.

The senior management team has fully embraced the You Made a Difference scheme, using it to engage with colleagues for a job well done. There is a genuine warm and friendly approach adopted by the senior leaders that makes colleagues at all levels comfortable with approaching them. It is an informal yet clear approach that makes colleagues feel that they are not simply a number in the organisation. This is clearly demonstrated by the back to the floor days during which a member of the senior team spends a day at site, where they really get their hands dirty. Elior's HR Director, Arran McDowell was the most recent member of the Leadership team to show his commitment, spending a full day in the kitchen preparing food for service. It is also important to note that 60% of their board has been promoted internally – there is a real focus and dedication to colleague development.

East Thames invests heavily in the training and development of its employees in order to maintain and improve the quality of service delivery. Through their achievement of the Investors in People Bronze award, and their ongoing commitment to its principles they have acknowledged the importance of developing staff skills to meet the long-term organisational objectives of the Group in ways that are consistent with their core values. The strategic priorities of the Group include a commitment to improve their capacity to manage their business and sustain growth. This can only be realised with a competent, motivated, and committed workforce. This is achieved by ensuring that staff have the materials, tools, personal development plans and training to do their job.

East Thames Group's performance briefings are organised by the senior management team to ensure all staff have the information they need on East Thames' performance. The quarterly presentations are delivered by the Chief Executive, alongside other senior members of staff who present on the important issues affecting East Thames. As well as providing important information they are often interactive and aim to educate staff about various areas of the business. During the briefings there are frequent opportunities for staff to ask the senior management team questions and ensure two-way communication is taking place.

DCH recognises that the engagement and commitment of skilled and enthusiastic staff is absolutely essential to the achievement of their group strategy and the long term success of DCH. They want to be a high achieving employer that people aspire to join, enjoy working for and where all staff feel recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Their reward strategy outlines the core principles that will shape their pay structures, benefits, terms and conditions together with associated initiatives. To attract skilled and enthusiastic staff and to motivate everyone in the group in supporting achievement of group strategy, its aims and values.

DCH recognises that the engagement and commitment of skilled and enthusiastic staff is absolutely essential to the achievement of their group strategy and the long term success of DCH. They want to be a high achieving employer that people aspire to join, enjoy working for and where all staff feel recognised and rewarded for their contribution. Their reward strategy outlines the core principles that will shape their pay structures, benefits, terms and conditions together with associated initiatives. To attract skilled and enthusiastic staff and to motivate everyone in the group in supporting achievement of group strategy, its aims and values.

All staff are offered the option to enrole in PruHealth Vitality scheme as part of their private medical offering. This scheme provides members with a wealth of wellbeing information and offers them rewards in the form of cash bonuses and discounts for engaging with it. It also subsidises gym membership and schemes such as 'Fitbug' to promote exercise. They have also turned a currently empty office space into a relaxation lounge where people can rest, read, eat, or just chat. It is basically made up of bean bags and second hand couches that people can nest into for times when they need to be out of a strict office environment.

Employees are rewarded for their efforts through their release and end of project parties which are used to celebrate achievements as well as thank the entire groups who have committed huge time and effort into getting a job done and done right for their clients and partners.

Cooper Lomaz hold events in Dublin, Marbella and Prague. They hold a summer social BBQ and have an annual awards ceremony. They have the Cooper Lomaz football Cup and the Cooper Lomaz bake off.

As an organisation Cooper Lomaz have a very strong commitment to employee development, encouraging promotion from within, taking risks to give staff new opportunities and investing generously in training. One of the clearest indicators of this is the Sales Director and the Operations Director both of whom started their careers at Cooper Lomaz as consultants and have achieved director status in as little as 5 years. Progression is based on merit rather than length of service and Cooper Lomaz are constantly reviewing their staff to see what their next step could be. Last year 38% of their staff received a promotion. Much of this progression is achieved by mentoring and whenever they identify a rising star they will buddy them up with someone already in the role they are aspiring to. Cooper Lomaz run internal training on sales, recruitment and management topics, and have training boards in both offices where anyone can sign up to offer training on a given topic or to request it. They also invest in external training, and currently have staff working through their CIPD and taking Prince 2.

Colchester Borough Homes continues to support employee development and employ a Training Co-ordinator. A wide suite of training is available to Staff and the most highly praised and valued is that of the annual ILM L3 First Line Management programme for new and aspiring managers. Managers carry out annual appraisals identifying objectives and L & D required to meet objectives and regular 1-2-1s to measure performance and identify ongoing training or support required and to listen to employees aspirations. CBH have a strong commitment to Health and Safety training and the multiskilling of their trades workforce where practical and possible. Professional qualifications supported by Colchester Borough Homes include University degree courses, AAT, CIPD, CIH, IOSH, NEBOSH, M.A, ILM3, ILM 5 and ILM7.

Colchester Borough Homes continues to support employee development and employ a Training Co-ordinator. A wide suite of training is available to Staff and the most highly praised and valued is that of the annual ILM L3 First Line Management programme for new and aspiring managers. Managers carry out annual appraisals identifying objectives and L & D required to meet objectives and regular 1-2-1s to measure performance and identify ongoing training or support required and to listen to employees aspirations. CBH have a strong commitment to Health and Safety training and the multiskilling of their trades workforce where practical and possible. Professional qualifications supported by Colchester Borough Homes include University degree courses, AAT, CIPD, CIH, IOSH, NEBOSH, M.A, ILM3, ILM 5 and ILM7.

Annual summer and Christmas events, allows Clinical Professionals to be updated on their aims and objectives and to share in their vision moving forward. This is split between their locations in London and Reading, with all employees in attendance. They run a number of games days throughout the year, for employees to be able to give to charity and for incentives for the business. They also support local charities, and have entered teams into triathlons and candidate social events run by the employees.

Clinical Professionals hold daily WIP meetings, they have an open door policy for Associate Directors, ongoing training and provide support for all employees.

Civica UK Limited reward employees by giving them awards, C Star Points and thank you boxes.

Civica UK Limited reward employees by giving them awards, C Star Points and thank you boxes.

The CEO, owner holds quarterly breakfast meetings with pre-selected staff which change for each event, so they can share ideas, be recognised etc. The CEO has an open door policy and all senior management work in their respective areas in an open plan office amongst their teams which creates an environment of sharing and invaluable discussion. The COO asks for feedback, news and ideas for the monthly company update which goes out electronically to all staff.

In line with their company vision, mission and values, they have developed the monthly 'Value Champion Award' which can be for an individual or a team. The latest award was given to a cross discipline team of individuals for their sterling efforts in implementing their new account; Houses of Parliament. They received fantastic feedback from the client about the way in which they worked together and demonstrated the value that the Chambers brand portrays. Each staff member was given a £50 voucher, an award and dinner with the CEO. Their pictures now take pride of place on the 'Value Champion' board on the company wall - alongside previous Value Champions. At the bi-annual staff conferences, staff are recognised and rewarded across a wide range of disciplines and categories for work ethics, performance and going that extra mile.

Cerner via First Hand Foundation gives back to community as much as possible. First Hand Foundation does various fundraising activities such as internal cake sales, movie nights to associates entering competitions such as Tough Mudder and The Strongest Man. There is also First Hand Foundation Football series and last but not least The Three Peaks Challenge. All the physical challenges resonate Cerner's efforts, as a health company, to keep associates healthy and active. Funds raised go to qualifying individual cases that have been referred to First Hand Foundation or on regular basis to Stephen Hawking School for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties where they primarily fund Sensory integration therapy that would otherwise not be available at the school. The company have also done a couple of nonmonetary activities - The Buddy Bag programme, which provides and helps children begin the process of restoring a sense of security and safety into their lives easing their transition through tough situations. The bags provide children with belongings they can call “their own”. The Christmas Wish Tree for Stephen Hawking School where the school identified appropriate gift for each child, this got then transferred onto a little card, put on a little Christmas trees around the office and each associate could pick up the card and buy a particular present for a particular child. All the presents were delivered to the school for their last assembly before Christmas.

Cerner via First Hand Foundation gives back to community as much as possible. First Hand Foundation does various fundraising activities such as internal cake sales, movie nights to associates entering competitions such as Tough Mudder and The Strongest Man. There is also First Hand Foundation Football series and last but not least The Three Peaks Challenge. All the physical challenges resonate Cerner's efforts, as a health company, to keep associates healthy and active. Funds raised go to qualifying individual cases that have been referred to First Hand Foundation or on regular basis to Stephen Hawking School for children with profound and multiple learning difficulties where they primarily fund Sensory integration therapy that would otherwise not be available at the school. The company have also done a couple of nonmonetary activities - The Buddy Bag programme, which provides and helps children begin the process of restoring a sense of security and safety into their lives easing their transition through tough situations. The bags provide children with belongings they can call “their own”. The Christmas Wish Tree for Stephen Hawking School where the school identified appropriate gift for each child, this got then transferred onto a little card, put on a little Christmas trees around the office and each associate could pick up the card and buy a particular present for a particular child. All the presents were delivered to the school for their last assembly before Christmas.

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.

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.

Senior Managers and Directors are available and accessible, listening to ideas and feedback and genuinely doing something about it. Face to face feedback and collation of more ideas via the we are ASK Italian engagement tour. You can never over communicate, continuing to evolve their communication processes, checking how to reach all employees by testing new communication channels and asking what works and what doesn't for their teams. Striving to increase their green credentials and sustainability and telling everyone what they have achieved. Focussing on what they do well including team events, team and individual development, non hierarchical inclusive culture personal contact in restaurants, making time for everyone. They have a clear career path, they continue to make it as visual as possible. Adding in new elements regularly to the ASK Italian journey, to keep it fresh and providing opportunities for promotion.

The ASK Italian Journey has had a major impact on our business results and HR metrics as well as employee development and engagement. The Journey is open to everyone and it provides an opportunity for self-driven learning and career progression from waiter to operations manager and from kitchen assistant to chef trainer. The journey provides clarity around the responsibilities, knowledge and skills required for every role, with training before graduating into a role or taking up a promotion. This year they have added further development modules to the journey for managers to develop as area support trainers and a special programme called Spotlight that prepares managers for high volume sites and managing large teams. The journey is enhanced by a bespoke 12 month leadership development programme for high potential head chefs, a bespoke 12 month leadership programme for high potential restaurant managers, and leadership development for their operations managers and senior department heads. In addition they use Myers Briggs for team building and developing collaborative working across all functions.

The most distinctive way Asidua's leader engages colleagues in their organisation is through empowerment, encouragement and open communication. Asidua management team have a focus on empowering and engaging employees hence highlighting commitment to the values of the organisation.

Asidua works closely with the Simon Community in order to help the homeless. This includes raising funds and also providing gifts such as scarves, hats, gloves etc. for distribution. The company promotes a 'switch-off' policy for all electrical equipment not in use and energy efficient practices are included in all employee induction programmes. Equipment such as the photocopier, printers etc. have low power stand-by or sleep features enabled. The purchase of energy efficient equipment is kept under ongoing review and considered at the time of purchase in line with business needs. Asidua has also undertaken a server consolidation programme to switch off servers which are either older and inefficient or no longer required.