Morningstar have partnered with the City of London and a charity based in the city fringes to provide teenagers in deprived areas with an opportunity to visit a City office, go through a workshop with employees on City careers, practice interviewing, learn more about career paths in a financial company and take part in work experiences and internships potentially leading to a permanent role.

Morningstar's flat non-hierarchical environment, casual culture and open architecture encourages and fosters open communications at all levels of the organisation. The company actively encourages questions, ideas, and debates and state they aren't likely to hire individuals who aren't curious question askers. Morningstar have an open upwards communication policy where employees are invited to write, call or meet senior management regularly. The company organises breakfast sessions with senior management, town hall meetings with their CEO and founder and country meetings, social events and seek employee feedback through several different surveys.

At Metaswitch, a line manager is an individual's Personnel Manager and is responsible for their wellbeing, engagement at work and their career. Weekly status meetings are a key element of this role and it guarantees one-on-one time every week between the manager and employee. Managers are trained to be able to manage their people effectively and this means using careful judgement and thought when making decisions about the employee and agreeing all key decisions with their line.

Metaswitch believe the key to the wellbeing of their employees is their relationship with their manager. The happiest and most productive employees are those treated with respect and fairness and who have clearly defined goals. Each employee is guaranteed one-on-one time with their manager every week and they believe that this is invaluable for their employees' general wellbeing. If they have any concerns or worries, the manager will dedicate as much time as is needed to resolving the issues. Metaswitch also give employees a lot of flexibility with managing their time. They are able to fit their work around their life, so that they are not under any unnecesssary stress. For example, many of their employees in Enfield are in a lunchtime sports club, which has been set up for for Metaswitch employees. There are currently groups for football, rugby, ultimate frisbee, badminton, and many more! Employees play these sports in the local park and then use their changing room and shower facilities on site. They are able to take extended two hour lunch breaks to accommodate these sports and make up the time later.

Mercedes-Benz UK have 600 e-learning programmes on-line for employees to access as well as Ashridge's Virtual Learning which all employee have access to.

With all Mercedes-Benz products there is a 'Blue Efficiency' version that is specifically environmentally friendly. The UK environment benefits from the vast amounts of research that is continually undertaken to ensure vehicles are as environmentally friendly as possible. The company actively allows employees to support National Charity Days e.g. Wear it Pink and Comic Relief.

Mercedes Benz Retail regularly hold road shows for all their staff to ensure they are kept up to date with the business performance and reminders about their core values to ensure that they are all pulling in the same direction. The top line results will be communicated to all staff with the more detailed results being disseminated to each department/site to ensure action plans can be put in place to act upon the feedback where appropriate. Mercedes Benz Retail have always looked at the results and created action plans to address the feedback provided to ensure that employees realise that their feedback is very important and is acted upon.

Mercedes Benz Retail offer their Technicians the opportunity to spend one week's work experience with the Mercedes Benz F1 Grand Prix team.

Medicare First believe the key to ensuring the wellbeing of their employees is to offer a strong inclusive leadership within an atmosphere of professionalism, fairness, respect, fun, friendliness coupled with reward and recognition for a job well done. The open plan office environment and the hands on approach of their senior management team enables them to communicate, understand and work effectively with the employees to demonstrate they are the company's most valuable asset.

In March of this year Medicare First took part in a fund raising event for "Red Nose Day". Employees were requested to wear at least one item of red clothing and contribute to the charity. The day was a great success with some very interesting displays of inventive red items of clothing, some of which could only be displayed momentarily! Good fun was had by all and the money raised went to a very worthwhile cause.

The managers show much greater flexibilty. It is now commonplace for staff to be working from home on some occasions, to be given opportunities to leave the business earlier on a Friday if travelling away for the weekend. The managers create and agree development plans with staff on an annual basis. The managers feedback the vision to their teams and quarterly objectives are created in line with the plan. The managers review competencies with each of their staff at least once a year.

The Christmas Party is a major event in Matchtech's company calendar. At a time when many businesses have been keeping a keen eye on costs, expenditure on staff social activities has been reduced or even cut. Their business has prided itself on maintaining their social activities. Matchtech pay for all their staff and partners to attend the black tie party and awards ceremony. This involves arranging for their staff from their four UK offices and one German office to converge for the occasion at the Guildhall in Southampton. It is the event in the company's social calendar.

Managers conduct employee reviews twice annually to understand employees' ongoing needs. Managers lead by example regarding ongoing development and actively encourage non-management employees to harness all the training and development opportunities available to them. Managers offer on-the-job mentoring outside of set hours and/or appraisals to continuously give and receive feedback. Managers actively encourage all employees to get involved in CSR initiatives and lead by example on this. The same goes for social sports and other social activities outside work hours.

Following the Marks Sattin Mid-Year Review, employees participated in 'The Apprentice Challenge', followed by drinks and snacks. This was a half day event that saw all Marks Sattin employees in the UK and Ireland come together in London to celebrate the company's achievements and participate in an Apprentice themed challenge. Employees were split into groups and tasked with appointing a team leader, then followed clues to different areas of London and carried out challenges to earn points. Each team was given £50 for any purchases required and evidence such as photos and receipts had to be supplied for each challenge. Prizes included bar tabs and dinner at Michelin star restaurant for the entire team.

As the majority of the managers have themselves progressed through the company they have the ability to empathise and understand the workload and pressures that comes with each role. Because Team Managers sit with their teams they are accessible and approachable and are on hand to recognise and observe any excessive workload or pressures their team may have and can rectify the situation before it manifests into something larger. Targets are discussed regularly and performance around the targets is constantly reviewed. All managers actively encourage their teams to recognise their colleagues successes by asking them to vote for who that week is most deserving for recognition and receive the team's trophy.

As the majority of the managers have themselves progressed through the company they have the ability to empathise and understand the workload and pressures that comes with each role. Because Team Managers sit with their teams they are accessible and approachable and are on hand to recognise and observe any excessive workload or pressures their team may have and can rectify the situation before it manifests into something larger. Targets are discussed regularly and performance around the targets is constantly reviewed. All managers actively encourage their teams to recognise their colleagues successes by asking them to vote for who that week is most deserving for recognition and receive the team's trophy.

Manx Telecom run an idea scheme called 'innov8' whereby staff can submit ideas for improvement. These are evaluated by a committee of managers and staff who can make financial awards based on the quality of the idea. They hold annual staff update sessions with the senior team and their managers hold monthly team briefs. Manx Telecom encourage staff to play an active part with their managers to identify specific issues and actions to address areas for improvement. After last year's survey, employees were invited to take part in a competition to submit 88 reasons that make Manx Telecom a great place to work. All the entries were rolled together to come up with the definitive list.

Manx Telecom run an idea scheme called 'innov8' whereby staff can submit ideas for improvement. These are evaluated by a committee of managers and staff who can make financial awards based on the quality of the idea. They hold annual staff update sessions with the senior team and their managers hold monthly team briefs. Manx Telecom encourage staff to play an active part with their managers to identify specific issues and actions to address areas for improvement. After last year's survey, employees were invited to take part in a competition to submit 88 reasons that make Manx Telecom a great place to work. All the entries were rolled together to come up with the definitive list.