Over the years, Business Stream has grown and changed in response to customers' needs and market developments. To help staff to fully engage with and understand their business strategy, they literally drew them a picture – the big picture. The big picture is a visual interpretation of their business strategy as a music festival. More specifically, its objectives are to ensure people recognise and feel valued for their contribution, break down silos, create a sustainable process for engagement, keep people in the business focused on key priorities and have some fun. The festival is all about making fans, of our staff as well as our customers, by highlighting what benefits they offer and how their teams work together internally to deliver them.

Within their learning and development programme, Business Stream put a strong focus on developing leadership skills and nurturing the talent and potential of their existing staff. Over the past three years, 58 people have been on the Talent Stream training programme and this year they introduced an eLearning portal to give even more staff access to development programmes. Business Stream also introduced a two-year management trainee programme called the Business Stream apprentice. The apprentice gives four individuals the opportunity to rotate across all the functions in their business, gaining insight into how Business Stream works from every angle. They also receive training and development, mentoring from senior management and coaching throughout.

BIU provide subsidised gym membership, free fruit, sports clubs and counselling helplines.

BIU provide subsidised gym membership, free fruit, sports clubs and counselling helplines.

Each year the company hold their annual ‘Boxwood essence awards' as part of their April Away Day to celebrate those who are outstanding role-models and are held in high esteem by their peers for their actions and/or behaviours. Whilst there are prizes for the winners, the primary purpose is to recognise and celebrate individual and team contributions over the last year and to engage all of their people in the nominations process.

June 2012 saw another of Boxwood's legendary Summer Fun Day weekends – a sociable and fun weekend to thank their employees and their families for their effort and support during the year. This year the company took over Tylney Hall in Hampshire and managed to dodge most of the rain! The highlights were: a treasure hunt in the grounds of the hotel for the children, whilst ‘grown-ups' sampled fine canapés and champagne in a fantastic walled-garden, a fantastic hog-roast and BBQ accompanied by live entertainers – a roving magician, caricaturist, Barber Shop Quartet and late-evening live music. Even the ‘little ones' were kept entertained later with their own movie room before being swept away to bed by the babysitters. On Sunday they had an event-packed day of fun including: hovercraft racing, Segways, bunjee trampolines, bouncy castles, cake decorating, canapé making, face-painting - to name but a few! After a lazy lunch and more activities, families then made their way home on the Sunday afternoon.

Long service awards - This is an annual event which rewards and recognises staff contribution through long service, loyalty and commitment. At the annual Long Service Awards Banquet, Botanic Inns recognises 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years service, through the awarding of additional holidays, presentation jewellery, holidays and cash rewards. This event is attended by staff receiving the awards, their partners and the Senior Management Team. To recognise the importance of this event and to emphasise the contribution made by staff, the Lord Mayor is invited to say a special word of thanks and to underline the part that staff play, not only toward company success but also to the community in which they work.

The company held its Annual “Celebrate Your Success” event which celebrated and recognised training achievement and individual staff development. This event was attended by over 200 staff who undertook a variety of training programmes ranging from customer services to professional cookery. Staff who attended the event were addressed by the Managing Director who personally thanked each member of staff and awarded certificates to mark their achievements. The Celebrate Your Success event was also attended by a representative of the Pubs Federation who emphasised the importance of the Companies' reputation, not only within the trade but also in the wider community in which it operates. Attendees at this event had the opportunity to meet staff from different areas of the business and to see for themselves, how they as a staff team which is responsible for the continued success of the Company. Feedback from staff in terms of the “Feel Good Factor” has been excellent and it has resulted in an increase in morale as demonstrated in this year's annual survey.

Visitors to Boots' Support Office in Nottingham are greeted by a “Hall of Fame” that extends along numerous walls. This shows the names and faces of the hundreds of their colleagues in the Stores, Support Office, Logistics teams and Opticians who have been recognised for their exceptional performance. The achievements of these individuals and teams are celebrated annually at the company ‘Best of the Best' awards and whilst not everyone in the business can attend these events, Boots make sure everyone gets to hear about their achievements through cascades and magazine articles that follow soon afterwards helping showcase the great work that goes on across their business.

In 2012 thousands of Boots' colleagues and customers all over the country took part in events to raise money and awareness for Macmillan Cancer Support. These events included climbing mountains, running marathons, a virtual cycle ride from Nottingham to Monaco on exercise bikes, walking Hadrian's Wall and the Welsh coastal path. Their ambition is to cover 290,000 miles – one mile for each person diagnosed with cancer every year in the UK. Macmillan's Big Walk at Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire on 8 September was Boots' biggest event yet. They promoted the walk through a variety of communications, including an invite from their CEO and donated £10 for every colleague who signed up. Over 1,400 people took part, including the entire Executive team. Over 50 Boots colleagues helped as volunteers.

The Club organises and facilitates many events and opportunities throughout the year, predominantly aimed at their service users who are disadvantaged children and young people. These events benefit the whole of Bolton and its many highly deprived communities and although the events require lots of hard work and additional voluntary hours from staff, they are hugely enjoyable for all. A perfect example of this was Christmas 2011, when the Club's Staff and Volunteers made Christmas Lunch for 100 disadvantaged children and their families, complete with Father Christmas and a present for each young person and also Christmas hamper for each family. It was a fantastic and overwhelmingly worthwhile day for all staff and volunteers, local business donated funds and resources free of charge, and of course the children and their families.

Bolton Lads and Girls Club have created a Staff Forum, which has a representative from each department and ensures the majority of employees have the opportunity to influence change within the Club.

BMS introduced a number of new Well Being initiatives in 2012 and these included the subsidised funding of a well being activity and an annual health assessment. The comprehensive health assessments were held on site and each employee received a personalised health report giving the overall status of their well being and advice and recommendations on appropriate individual health targets and ways to maintain or improve their health. Both options were well received and take up was higher than anticipated. The activity funding was attractive because it allows individuals to do an activity of their personal choice rather than being limited to gym-based options and the health assessment was attractive because it was convenient to schedule in a welcoming environment and only took an hour out of the employee's day.

BMS introduced a number of new Well Being initiatives in 2012 and these included the subsidised funding of a well being activity and an annual health assessment. The comprehensive health assessments were held on site and each employee received a personalised health report giving the overall status of their well being and advice and recommendations on appropriate individual health targets and ways to maintain or improve their health. Both options were well received and take up was higher than anticipated. The activity funding was attractive because it allows individuals to do an activity of their personal choice rather than being limited to gym-based options and the health assessment was attractive because it was convenient to schedule in a welcoming environment and only took an hour out of the employee's day.

Avanta has a monthly team-based incentive scheme that seeks to reward employees collectively for achieving increases in performance. The main aim of the scheme to increase the number of job starts that can be sustained into claimed outcomes and sustainments. Each branch is set a monthly target based on a benchmark of their previous three months' performance. Performance is measured by the number of job starts, including first and subsequent jobs, as well as the number of starts on the Enterprise programme. In each of the five regions, the branch that demonstrates the highest level of improvement against their benchmark will receive the incentive. Measuring improvement on performance means that small branches have an equal chance of winning compared to their large branches. Each eligible member of a winning branch will receive £400.

In November 2011 Avanta held a Managers Conference for all Line Managers across the business. It was at this event when they officially launched their new vision and values, thus it provided the perfect opportunity for the Chairman and Managing Director to be clear about the strategy and the future direction of the business. All the Managers broke out into groups to discuss how they would practically implement the vision and values. This enabled the Managers to think creatively and share ideas with their peer group. Avanta also had an external motivational speaker at the conference, who spoke about their personal journey, to inspire their Managers to strive to excel in everything they do. In the evening the Senior Leadership team hosted a dinner and dance for all the delegates. This was particularly enjoyable, as the Managers were able to socialise outside of business hours and network with their peer group from different parts of the organisation.

Astbury Marsden aim to continually recognise and reward employees and they provide a number of incentives: Consultant and Contribution of the Month As part of their monthyl update meetings, they recognise the Consultant who has billed the most as well as the person in the business who has made an all round contribution, this can be a sales or support person. Quarterly High Achievers Lunch Anyone who has billed £75k in perm fees or completed 9 contract deals in the quarter as well as the person who has made the biggest contribution to the business is treated to the MD's quarterly incentive lunch. This is an all expenses paid afternoon out of the office to enjoy lunch at one of the finest resturants and it promises to be an afternoon to remember!

Astbury Marsden think it's important to continually invest in their people to equip them with the skills to always be at the top of their game. The company have been recognised with a Bronze Investors in People award.

Andrew Clinton, who has been with the firm for 22 years is a highly respected commercial litigator in his own right. He became the managing partner in 2006. His management style is open and egalitarian. Everyone is encouraged to ask direct questions at any time and is assured of a straight answer. He works in an open-plan environment and will make time for everyone, regardless of their role within the firm. A true champion of the firm's strategy, Andrew is constantly seeking to refine and develop the company's approach to market and the delivery of their services to ensure that asb law remain a sustainable, successful enterprise.

As an organisation asb law are committed to the well being of their people. This is apparent by their very effective family friendly policy which allows for flexible working/homeworking/flexi hours. Over the past two years every flexible working requests received have been granted and many of their people work from home or work an informal flexi hour arrangement. The company recruit part time employees, which is unusual in the type of environment they work in and have a sabbatical scheme to support those individuals who wish to pursue other interests for a period of time. They also offer first class benefits including a health care cash plan, which focuses on supporting their people for common ailments/conditions, provided for all staff. Cover can also be extended, at cost, to their families. A significant proportion of staff also have private medical insurance. The company encourage and support a variety of sporting activities from badminton, to 5-a-side football, to beach volleyball and operate a ‘Cycle to work' scheme.