They are fortunate enough that they have two opportunities a year where the entire organisation comes together in London. Although they have increased their staff force by a large amount in the past year, the leaders still value the importance of spending time as a whole organisation. This year in April was the 4th anniversary and they held an event to celebrate. The event began in the afternoon with all staff being split into groups and rotating round a carousel of different sessions. Each session was led by a different group of staff. Each local leadership team led a fun and interactive session, such as a quiz or a treasure hunt, around how their office works and their local area. They also had a session with the senior leaders with the opportunity to ask them any questions staff wanted answered. Another enjoyable session was a ‘getting to know you' game to mix all staff together and find out some interesting things about people they didn't know before. This all lead up to the social in the evening where they all came back together for some food and drinks and opportunity to just relax. They had some entertainment provided by some of the local choirs who sang beautifully and even wrote their own Challenge Network version of a Les Miserable classic. They ended the evening with karaoke and dancing at a local bar which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

Any issues or trends that come out of the survey results will be taken very seriously and meetings with Senior Leaders and Local Leaders of all zones will be held to discuss them. Depending on the results they may set up working groups to look into how they could make this better next time. The Challenge is very flexible and is not afraid of change. The staff's well being and happiness is more important to them than anything else.

In September 2013, TSL held a summer party at Kensington Roof Gardens to thank everyone for their incredible hard work. This party was fully paid for by TSL and included a sit down meal, a free bar as well as a live band and a video booth which gave people the opportunity have their 5 mins of fame! The feedback was brilliant and everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

TSL are very conscious about the well being of thier employees particularly as they have such a high growth company. They offer the usual well being initiatives such as paid for private healthcare benefit, employee assistance programme and a cycle to work scheme. However their private healthcare benefit is exceptional, their cover includes pre-exisiting conditions. It is great when they are able to offer colleagues with an ongoing health complaint excellent medical cover. This helps remove some of the stress of dealing with the medical condition. Following the feedback from their last years survey they have engaged EnergiseYou to run monthy seminars on a variety of different topics such as nutrition, sleep and how to achieve high energy. They are also looking at other topics such as worklife balance so they can extend this across the year. The new seminars have been well received by colleagues. They also provide free fruit, drinks and smoothies to give colleagues and added boost during the week. They also offer an annual free flu vaccination.

TBG Digital's 6 monthly Staff Happiness Surveys, which are totally anonymous, have been particularly effective. They always receive constructive comments and suggestions and many beneficial suggestions to improve life at TBG have been received and implemented.

This year the company has organised and paid for: Go-Karting, Cocktail making and most recently Silly-Sports day on the Hampstead Heath and they also hold regular monthly ping-pong tournaments. Earlier this year TBG Digital held a Macmillan coffee morning. Everyone was encouraged to bring in a home baked cake or biscuits. The response rate was excellent and the winner of the best home baked entry won a small prize. The office was decorated in Macmillan green. The donations from the staff were generous and the coffee morning was a huge hit, it generated a real buzz in the office and of course, there was lots of recipe swapping going on.

Sweatshop believes running is a force for good. They know that they are able to help provide support for runners of all abilities. If you have never run before but want to start, or run but have no one to do it with, they can help by giving people a place to come to, free of charge, where you will have a chance to go running with supportive and friendly staff at Sweatshop plus other runners to share this experience, with a real community feel. They have created the Sweatshop Running Community, the SRC. It's an entry level running group within every store and runners are incentivised for regular participation. The Running Community doesn't just stop at this entry level running group with many stores offering a variety of running groups for all abilities. With over 20000 registered members in 3 years and over 2000 people running with them every week, they are the largest (and probably most inclusive) running group in the country. The community is growing as is the recognition and appreciation from their runners for providing this free community group. For many it has transformed their lives, enhancing healthier lifestyles with both mental and physical benefits.

Last year Sweatshop launched a staff development programme called 'achieve'. This was in response to staff feedback and with a view to helping internal development of new managers. The company invited applications from staff and had over 20 applications and have had 6 people who started have already been promoted and a large part of this is down to the training and opportunities provided within the programme. They also have 10 people who will be starting Achieve going forward. After the great response to Achieve, they have developed a high performing manager's programme which will aspire those on it to achieve outstanding success. Those on the scheme have the unique opportunity to work closely with senior managers and the board of directors. The most successful managers will be given HPM mentor status and become an integral part in successive managers' development.

A large proportion of Swanswell's executive team have previously worked in front line roles so they are clear about the expectations and pressures on front line team members. The organisation encourages team members to shadow others, especially at induction stage, to ensure a shared understanding of what everyone does, this is especially used for support and head office team members who may not have worked in this arena before. In addition, the corporate induction day is a really important opportunity for team members to learn about what others do and for the senior team and organisation as a whole to learn. All new team members attend these events. Swanswell offers a number of routes for support to understand the pressures and workloads team members have. Flexi time is offered for team members to work when pre-arranged with an executive team member. Occupational health and wellbeing support is available for all team members with a regular occupational health service and a confidential employee assistance programme. Access to a specialist stress management consultant for confidential support is also available within the organisation and Swanswell's give monthly clinical supervision for front line team members and regular performance reviews with line managers for all team members.

A large proportion of Swanswell's executive team have previously worked in front line roles so they are clear about the expectations and pressures on front line team members. The organisation encourages team members to shadow others, especially at induction stage, to ensure a shared understanding of what everyone does, this is especially used for support and head office team members who may not have worked in this arena before. In addition, the corporate induction day is a really important opportunity for team members to learn about what others do and for the senior team and organisation as a whole to learn. All new team members attend these events. Swanswell offers a number of routes for support to understand the pressures and workloads team members have. Flexi time is offered for team members to work when pre-arranged with an executive team member. Occupational health and wellbeing support is available for all team members with a regular occupational health service and a confidential employee assistance programme. Access to a specialist stress management consultant for confidential support is also available within the organisation and Swanswell's give monthly clinical supervision for front line team members and regular performance reviews with line managers for all team members.

Sutton Housing Partnership offers all staff and their family members the ability to access a free employee assistance service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is a confidential service offering advice, counselling and support to staff and/or their family members. SHP has recently introduced a healthcare cash plan whereby staff can reclaim costs of a range of health care activities from optical and dental appointments/treatment to physiotherapy, health screening and scans. Staff membership of the plan is fully funded by SHP.

The senior management team at Sutton Housing Partnership has taken on board feedback that they are not sufficiently visible to staff and have made a conscious effort to become more visibly involved in the business through spending a day working in a particular area of the business. Their chief executive recently spent a day answering phones in their customer care team. They are also working more closely with the heads of function to enable them to become more involved in the strategic planning process, which in turn supports succession planning.

St Anne's have recently re-invested in a new EAP, which provides day one stress intervention and serious illness/accident support. This has been effective in returning people to work and supporting them through periods of depression and anxiety.

St Anne's have recently re-invested in a new EAP, which provides day one stress intervention and serious illness/accident support. This has been effective in returning people to work and supporting them through periods of depression and anxiety.

Spirit Pub Company offers “employee care”, an employee assistance programme, provided by First Assist. It's a confidential service where employees have access to a website and a helpline providing advice and support on all aspects of their lives from financial concerns through to quitting smoking. The helpline is available 24 hours a day 365 days a year and is completely free of charge. There is also a telephone counselling service and face to face counselling service available. They also offer employees at the support centre a discounted gym membership at a local golf and country club in Burton where employees can receive a corporate rate peak membership of £49 per month with no joining fee, compared to their usual rate of £65.50 with a £199 joining fee. Memberships can be extended to golf at a special rate too.

Spirit Pub Company offers “employee care”, an employee assistance programme, provided by First Assist. It's a confidential service where employees have access to a website and a helpline providing advice and support on all aspects of their lives from financial concerns through to quitting smoking. The helpline is available 24 hours a day 365 days a year and is completely free of charge. There is also a telephone counselling service and face to face counselling service available. They also offer employees at the support centre a discounted gym membership at a local golf and country club in Burton where employees can receive a corporate rate peak membership of £49 per month with no joining fee, compared to their usual rate of £65.50 with a £199 joining fee. Memberships can be extended to golf at a special rate too.

Shopzilla have a monthly charity budget, that determines the level of contributions to individuals/team who are raising money for their chosen charity partner. Currently their monthly guide is £500, but they are always willing to review this.

Shopzilla run wellbeing awareness weeks, offer subsidised gym memebrship and other activities such as yoga and football. They also give quarterly massages.

Although Seymour House scored quite well in this category last year, it is an area that as a company they are looking to improve on. They are currently building a team section within their intranet which will incorporate links to health campaigns, healthy eating and wellbeing initiatives.

Although Seymour House scored quite well in this category last year, it is an area that as a company they are looking to improve on. They are currently building a team section within their intranet which will incorporate links to health campaigns, healthy eating and wellbeing initiatives.