The Leadership of Fairbanks is distinctive through its approachability and work ethic. Every member of the management team lead by example in all areas of their work and make time for employees should it be necessary on a work related or personal topic. Most members of management, at any level, attend and participate in company social events. From the Managing Directors down, all staff are known by name and made to feel valued and appreciated. The company has a ‘promote from within' attitude which motivates employees at all levels to work hard and demonstrate their dedication to the company as this will be noticed. Whilst not everyone can be promoted, events such as award dinners are offered to all staff, recognising that the company would not be what it is today without everyone playing their part.

The Leadership of Fairbanks is distinctive through its approachability and work ethic. Every member of the management team lead by example in all areas of their work and make time for employees should it be necessary on a work related or personal topic. Most members of management, at any level, attend and participate in company social events. From the Managing Directors down, all staff are known by name and made to feel valued and appreciated. The company has a ‘promote from within' attitude which motivates employees at all levels to work hard and demonstrate their dedication to the company as this will be noticed. Whilst not everyone can be promoted, events such as award dinners are offered to all staff, recognising that the company would not be what it is today without everyone playing their part.

The most important thing that the NextiraOne senior management team does in terms of employee engagement is to support the Company's culture and their people. All the senior management team display the values of the Company and are concerned for their team members and their development which is illustrated in the way they operate. The Managing Director's leadership style reflects the Company's vision, mission and values. He is an excellent example and role model of the Company values that he most certainly lives and breathes. He leads the business with respect, authenticity, honesty, compassion and humility. Such a leadership style has created a special culture and environment that is built on these characteristics; that in many ways feels like a family with high levels of trust, honesty and communications. The Managing Director is very organised and efficient in how he operates which creates a very calm atmosphere. He is a very influential figure, but he is totally undemonstrative and approachable to everyone. He also recognises the importance of people at all levels and he is extremely keen to develop the employees and support ‘home grown' talent.

The most important thing NextiraOne does in terms of giving something back to the community is to encourage all employees to create a culture that enables and supports the taking of time to give something back. NextiraOne employees are currently involved in various projects and activities both locally and nationally in their own time and within working hours. An example of this is where NextiraOne facilitated music lessons over a series of weeks for 'novice' musicians so they could learn to play a musical instrument. The music lessons were provided by one of their employees who is also a music teacher. Each 'novice' paid a tuition fee for these lessons and this fee was donated to a local special needs school. The Company matched the fees paid by the employees who donated via this programme amounting to a total donation of £480 to the school. The money is being used by the school in order to provide music education to the pupils.

The company have created a unique culture capable of supporting diverse talent. They call their collaborative way of working blending, and it's central to everything they do – allowing them to take ideas from strategy and concept to launch and evaluation as quickly and effectively as possible. Whether in a single room or across their 40 offices worldwide, blending lets them cast the right people for the challenge. Their approach embraces the creative tension between left brain and right brain. They believe that when they combine data and storytelling – when mathematicians and poets join forces – they get more powerful results. They have designed their offices to enable this collaborative way of working, with open-plan seating (no offices for senior management), flexible spaces, hot-desking and lots of informal areas for meetings.

The company have created a unique culture capable of supporting diverse talent. They call their collaborative way of working blending, and it's central to everything they do – allowing them to take ideas from strategy and concept to launch and evaluation as quickly and effectively as possible. Whether in a single room or across their 40 offices worldwide, blending lets them cast the right people for the challenge. Their approach embraces the creative tension between left brain and right brain. They believe that when they combine data and storytelling – when mathematicians and poets join forces – they get more powerful results. They have designed their offices to enable this collaborative way of working, with open-plan seating (no offices for senior management), flexible spaces, hot-desking and lots of informal areas for meetings.

Throughout the year delatre hold a number of company-wide and team specific relationship building events to maintain a high employee morale, strengthen the intra-company relationships and say thanks for all the hard work their dedicated staff put forth. deltatre financially supports a 5-a-side football team that plays weekly throughout the year. Moreover, they sponsor an industry-wide philanthropic football tournament as well as theme days like Football Shirt Friday in order to raise money for charity and give back to the community. On a team level, they support departmental team building sessions like the Go-Kart outing their video team recently organised to relieve tensions during the lead up to the launch of an important project. However, the highpoints of their team building activities are unquestionably their two company wide workshops. In the summer, delatre take to the outdoors and stage a light-hearted physical activity that is fun and inclusive. Earlier this year they recreated the retro hit TV show “It's a Knock-Out” complete with absurd games and large costumes. In the winter, they stage a glitzy Christmas party for all full and part-time employees and freelancers as well as their partners. Last year's Christmas festivities took on a masquerade theme and had masked guests enjoy a three course meal and trying their luck at the casino games.

Placing openness as one of delatre's 4 core values truly helps to encourage and facilitate open discussion and feedback at deltatre. They use the appraisal process to create the space for giving feedback to employees and the opportunity for them to do the same with their line managers in a safe environment. Their monthly functional board meetings allow staff to present the case for new ideas. However, their bi-annual workshops are truly a unique feature because it provides an opportunity for everyone in the company to share new ideas and receive feedback from the larger cross-departmental 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.