What are companies doing with regards to 'My Team'

DeepOcean is a member of Darlington Cares. Darlington Cares is a partnership of leading employers committed to making Darlington a better place. The project works by centrally coordinating the skills, expertise and volunteering power of members and matching these to community and charity projects where they can have the most impact. The Darlington Cares programme ranges from physical outdoor challenges through to utilising business expertise, all of which deliver tangible benefits for the local community, and workforce development opportunities for employers. DeepOcean's HR Director is on the board and fully supports both the initiative and involvement from employees. DeepOcean arranged a project to clear an area of wild vegetation at West Park Nature Reserve in Darlington, which coincided with World Environment Day in June. Meadow seed was then planted, which will grow into wild flowers for the local community to enjoy. During one of the companies busiest ever periods, DeepOcean was still able to send 12 volunteers for half a day during work time to support the project. All employees were given the opportunity to take part.

DeepOcean provides very competitive salaries for a company in the North East of England. DeepOcean also provides employees with teambuilding events and branded merchandise such as jackets and bags on an ongoing basis as a reward for their continued efforts. DeepOcean also has a bonus scheme, which is not awarded to all employees, but all employees can be selected to receive the bonus based on their performance.

The Chairman, MD and General Manager visit branches on a very regular basis at least weekly and make a point of talking to all staff, retail and workshop, not just the manager about a wide range of topics, seeking feedback and ideas on: how to improve the customer experience; views on product range; marketing materials and sales opportunities. Each member of staff is personally known and this helps to establish a good dialogue and opportunity to raise any issues or concerns that they may have. As a small company with many employees having long service - average service is almost 11 years, there has developed an extended family culture with a strong ethos of doing the right thing: for customers and each other.

The Chester showroom team recently went to London for an overnight stay which was primarily about team building and exposing them to the fine jewellery offering in the capital city. The evening was spent at a top London restaurant which was an excellent introduction into luxury living, a theme carried into the team meeting the following morning. Ideas for growing the Chester business and making the most of social media were explored. This was particularly important as the Chester location had lost a key watch account and was going to be focusing on the origins of DMR - fine diamond jewellery supported by two Master Goldsmiths based on site. The team then took the opportunity to conduct some mystery shopping after lunch including competitors' window displays, giving them ideas to bring back and implement within their own showroom.

Companion Care always try to ensure that all of their colleagues utilise all of their holiday entitlement along with taking time back for additional work they may do. They also actively promote regular rest breaks and none of their colleagues are contracted to work over 40 hours per week. They continue to monitor hours worked to ensure that they can spot any pressure points before they become an issue. Companion Care also offer Cycle2Work along with a number of other health related schemes.

All of the events Companion Care run are designed to bring their teams and functions together breaking down some of the barriers that can develop. Their Directors and board are always involved in their events to lead by example and show what a great team they are. Recently Companion Care expanded their Support Office into a new building and they ran competitions with the team to name the rooms, send pictures of their pets for the walls and their Directors held a free "Barn Warming" celebration with drinks, champagne and treats to welcome their colleagues and to present the "winners" with their prizes. Throughout the development of this expansion colleagues from different departments were involved to make sure areas such as the colleague rest area was designed how they would like it to be.

Phil encourages every employee to treat the business as if they were the owner and to do the right thing based on the company's values rather than follow a detailed rule book of do's and don'ts.

Each employee has a mentor who should have empathy with the key development challenges that the employee faces over the short and longer term. This person is not a line manager to the employee. They meet regularly to provide counsel and advice on short and long term development issues and will debate areas such as where best to invest the employee's personal training and development budget. Clearwater Corporate Finance spent roughly £16k on external training and also had a team strategy day, deal leaders day and intern induction days.

Feedback from their last annual staff survey told them that CSM needed to better engage with employees and their CEO reported at the last conference that this would be the focus for this year. An engagement strategy was developed and implemented and a range of activities have taken place. Examples are: forum sessions have been held with staff groups across the business, appreciative enquiry interviews were held with the Leadership Team, tenant focus groups have been held, regular updates have been given on engagement at departmental meetings and engagement is a standing item on team agendas, the senior management team has concentrated its efforts on being more visible, "walking the floor" and "going back to the floor" - the Director of Operations spends an afternoon a month in the call centre, they worked with their apprentices to develop a new and improved apprentice and trainee offer, their CEO held an interactive session with all operative staff to get their views on how the service could improve and feedback was given to all involved to inform them of actions taken and progress and this continues now on a regular basis.

The most innovative point of CSM's work which truly gives back to the local community is the sheer range and depth of the menu of opportunities CSM's present to local residents, and the fact that they work in partnership on that menu with local private and social businesses. Some examples of the range of this work include: The award winning and highly effective "Works" which they set up in Moss Side in partnership with local employers and which has already delivered over 1,000 residents into jobs or training. The wide range of training into jobs or setting up in your own business they are providing local residents in south Manchester. The launch of the newly opened Pod in Moss Side, which is a hub for start-up business and was set up by CSM in partnership with Bubble Enterprises and Mosscare Housing. The launch of the South Manchester Enterprise Network which brings together private and social SME's in this part of Manchester and has acted as a trail blazer for business working in the community. CSM set it up and administer the Network on line and on the ground. A CSM Youth Network which is highly active, growing fast and award winning. A unique range of cultural offers, including a major partnership with the quality Royal Exchange Theatre which has led to over 1,500 cultural offers being taken up in the community including back stage tours, meet the author and actors and performances of drama.

Centrica support their managers and leaders to set the standard and expectations and role model behaviours, to help develop their people to make Centrica Storage a great place to work. There is an online recognition scheme called RecogniseMe in place. Tools are provided for the managers to take ownership for delivering and supporting their people's development. Coaching for managers at all levels.

Centrica support their managers and leaders to set the standard and expectations and role model behaviours, to help develop their people to make Centrica Storage a great place to work. There is an online recognition scheme called RecogniseMe in place. Tools are provided for the managers to take ownership for delivering and supporting their people's development. Coaching for managers at all levels.

Chris is a natural leader as Cadwyn's previous Best Companies results have shown. As the leader of the organisation she operates in an open, fair and honest way and is hard working and focused on doing the right thing for tenants and employees. She adapts her leadership style to meet the needs of those she works with, providing intellectual stimulation and encouragement for people to develop. She uses a mentoring and coaching approach to empower people to make decisions and take responsibility for their decisions and actions. She has the ability to inspire people to want to make a difference and exceed customer expectations. This is important in the environment and climate Cadwyn are currently working in as resources are more limited and the business is relying on employees to do more with less. Chris has high energy levels and a drive for new projects and is willing to take risks and be accountable when things go wrong and she is not afraid to hold her hand up and say when they do. Chris encourages and maintains a no blame culture by reinforcing this in her language and behaviours. She is passionate about people, improving the lives of the people and has strong values which permeates the culture of the organisation. People enjoy working for Chris as she is truly inspirational, she never complains, is interested in employees and their lives and shares with employees the importance of what they do as an organisation.

Chris is a natural leader as Cadwyn's previous Best Companies results have shown. As the leader of the organisation she operates in an open, fair and honest way and is hard working and focused on doing the right thing for tenants and employees. She adapts her leadership style to meet the needs of those she works with, providing intellectual stimulation and encouragement for people to develop. She uses a mentoring and coaching approach to empower people to make decisions and take responsibility for their decisions and actions. She has the ability to inspire people to want to make a difference and exceed customer expectations. This is important in the environment and climate Cadwyn are currently working in as resources are more limited and the business is relying on employees to do more with less. Chris has high energy levels and a drive for new projects and is willing to take risks and be accountable when things go wrong and she is not afraid to hold her hand up and say when they do. Chris encourages and maintains a no blame culture by reinforcing this in her language and behaviours. She is passionate about people, improving the lives of the people and has strong values which permeates the culture of the organisation. People enjoy working for Chris as she is truly inspirational, she never complains, is interested in employees and their lives and shares with employees the importance of what they do as an organisation.

However busy Cabot's people are, in whatever role they have they actively provide opportunities for employees to take a break from their work and do something positive that will enhance their overall wellbeing. ‘Know your Numbers', is a free service for employees who go along and have their BMI, cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors assessed. They receive personal, confidential feedback and advice on their numbers and information on lifestyle changes that may help to improve their health. We receive great employee feedback from people who have already taken active steps to improve their health and wellbeing based on the advice they received during their sessions. “My weight has been an "issue" for over a decade.........I have now finally changed my eating habits in a sustainable way and increased my activity levels - already lost half a stone and feel so much better!” This year, the Company has also offered free on site back and neck energising massages and a 6 week stop smoking clinic during working hours which have also made a positive difference to many of Cabot's employees wellbeing as illustrated by the following quotes: “Personally, I can categorically say that I would not have quit smoking if had not gone to the Stop Smoking Clinic, so thank you.” “The Well Being Massage is a pleasant experience that leaves me in a positive mood. I find it very therapeutic and relaxing hence helping to concentrate better on my daily tasks”

Cabot Credit Management launched a game called Skills 4 Bills. Skills 4 Bills is a financial learning game that is targeted towards students within the Year 6 age bracket. The game teaches children the importance of money and how to successfully budget. The game was originally launched to the local communities in Stratford upon Avon and West Malling. The employees are able to volunteer to attend the schools to play the game and as a business they offer each employee one day per year to attend this or another community activity. To enable Cabot to launch the game to the wider community and become easily accessible, they have obtained the PFEG accreditation and have launched the Skills 4 Bills website - skills-4-bill.co.uk. This website allows schools and businesses to download a free version of Skills 4 Bills or purchase a hard copy of the game at cost price. Cabot have been working with their clients - high street banks, to support them rolling out the game within their local communities. They have attended Cabot's Skills 4 Bills sessions and have then purchased the game to enable them to engage their employees with community activities. This initiative is managed by the Community POD who are a group of employees who have volunteered to dedicate part of their working lives to ensure that the game happens within the local community and also to offer their support to other organisations wishing to run the game within their local communities.

It is testament to Tom's leadership skills that the values created by Byron's people embody his own personal style. As the founder of the business, he hasn't had to dictate or compromise on his beliefs; instead through osmosis everyone knew what the values were before they did the work around articulating them. He spends 95% of his time in the restaurants; however has implicit trust in his teams and is always available for anyone in the business to speak to him, contact him on Twitter, email or give him a ring on his mobile. Tom will also, any time he passes a Byron restaurant, pop in to say hello to the team and then leave. Tom is a people focused CEO, making sure he knows his people, from Alfredo their oldest kitchen porter through to Fenwick their newest general manager. He is extremely engaging as well as empathetic; putting himself in each individual's shoes to make sure he can articulate and understand what doing it properly means to that person. Inspiring, thanks to his drive, unrelenting energy, slightly strange sense of humour, irreverence and his ability to empower people to do what they want to do. His direct team are encouraged to challenge him and naturally imitate his leadership style with their own personality.

Secret squirrel is Byron's monthly mystery guest programme and to make this competitive they introduced the ‘Squirrel Cup'. This pits restaurants against each other to strive for the best customer satisfaction scores across the year. At the end of the financial year, scores are averaged out and everyone from the winning restaurant is taken out for the day to a secret location where they take part in different fun activities. For example ,we've been go karting, punted up the river in Oxford and even had our CEO, Tom, dress as a squirrel. We think he will do this on a regular basis – he seemed to like it!! This has proven to be huge success, with Byron's mystery guest scores rising by 2% across the business as a whole. It's the talk of the restaurants and even covered in their employee magazine on a leader board. This year they took the winning restaurant out for the day Go-Karting and then for a long lunch and then out into the early hours of the morning!

Sponsoring beehives is among the more unusual environmental initiatives at Brookwood. The company has a Planet Matters Team of people who discuss and implement new initiatives, running vegetable and herb plots, using local suppliers, fairly traded products and refillable water bottles. There's a Waste Less programme to reduce and monitor food wastage and last year the firm had a Planet Matters Day. Every single one of its catering operations in schools – all 96 of them – took part, planning a day to raise awareness that the planet matters to it, its schools, and pupils who eat in its restaurants. They helped pupils grow herbs and vegetables for the kitchens, and encouraged them to reduce food waste and drink tap water in reusable, not plastic bottles. People say it genuinely cares about the environment. More than a third of employees got involved with charitable activities in work time last year, and the firm supports the charities Build Africa, Magic Breakfast and Springboard. It encourages people to do their bit.

Sponsoring beehives is among the more unusual environmental initiatives at Brookwood. The company has a Planet Matters Team of people who discuss and implement new initiatives, running vegetable and herb plots, using local suppliers, fairly traded products and refillable water bottles. There's a Waste Less programme to reduce and monitor food wastage and last year the firm had a Planet Matters Day. Every single one of its catering operations in schools – all 96 of them – took part, planning a day to raise awareness that the planet matters to it, its schools, and pupils who eat in its restaurants. They helped pupils grow herbs and vegetables for the kitchens, and encouraged them to reduce food waste and drink tap water in reusable, not plastic bottles. People say it genuinely cares about the environment. More than a third of employees got involved with charitable activities in work time last year, and the firm supports the charities Build Africa, Magic Breakfast and Springboard. It encourages people to do their bit.