The Operational Board have increased the level of authority that managers and team leaders have in relation to employee relations and budgetary control. This was done to empower the lower tiers of management. In addition to this they are the people that work closest with staff members, they know them as individuals and by allowing them more authority to make decisions based on what they feel is best for their staff has helped to boost staff morale, productivity and in turn engagement.

Brookson Ltd held a 15 Year Party in September 2010 to celebrate the 15 year anniversary of the company. There was a large focus on how the company had progressed over the 15 years it has been in operation and awards and special mentions were given to staff that had helped to contribute to the success of the business. The event celebrated both the achievements of the company and also the achievements of individual staff members. There was a three course meal, free bar and lots of entertainment this combined with the awards demonstrated that the company recognised and wanted to reward staff for their hard work over the past 15 years which collectively has resulted in the company's success.

Casterbridge use a direct email system called 'Mail Matt', where employees can email Operations Director Matthew Moore directly with any kind of query, idea or feedback. This is available in a link off the intranet site. Additionally there is a 'Directors' email address, allowing employees to contact all the senior team directly. Casterbridge hold a quarterly Employee Forum where questions can be raised and they invite questions at all staff meetings which can be passed through the appropriate communication channels to whoever can serve the question best. Casterbridge aim to engender a feeling of being able to communicate across the organisation freely and easily.

Casterbridge's training department (The Casterbridge Academy) amongst other activities operates internally and runs apprenticeship schemes for Level 2 and Level 3 qualifications in Childcare and Young People's Workforce. The overall aim of Casterbridge Academy is to recruit, train, educate and progress the future leaders of the business. Taking on approximately 120 new learners each year, they are based in Casterbridge's nursery settings which provides them with the right balance of gaining excellent on the job experience with formal training courses and programme assignments and tasks. The apprenticeship programmes and the team of dedicated trainers and assessors work with the learners in order to develop their skills and knowledge to the level of becoming a premium childcare practitioner allowing them to offer only the highest standards of care to all their children and parents. Upon graduating from the Level 3 programme the learners are considered by the industry to be ‘qualified' and are allowed to work independently and even progress on to be Supervisors and Nursery Managers although Casterbridge provide them with a lot more training before then. As far as they are aware, they are the only company in the industry to offer internally run apprenticeship programmes.

Company social events are a regular feature. Addiction Worldwide hold Friday drinks every week, when they all get together at the end of the day to chat over a few beers. Their monthly staff meeting always adjourns to a local pub, and turns into a social event. Recently they decorated the building with cobwebs and pumpkins for Halloween, most people dressed up and the day ended in a party. They also have a well-supported softball team. They are hardworking, highly motivated individuals who genuinely enjoy each other's company. People will often hear of staff members who go on holiday together and spend time together out of office hours. Fun and playfulness are key to a culture that is creative and encourages innovation and socialising is a lovely by-product of this. Social events are not limited to the 'junior' or 'younger' members of staff. The long standing, more senior members of staff are not afraid to get stuck in either.

Addiction Worldwide is fast paced and often has intense periods of working, so they have to be communicating, observing and listening to what is happening throughout the organisation. They work on the basis of 'Ask forgiveness not permission'. Feedback is an integral part of their culture, which is something they bring in from the interview stage. They are an entrepreneurial, creative company which employs people who want and indeed need to share ideas on a daily basis. To that end there is no suggestion box or other 'one fits all' way of capturing all of this. Instead they make sure that every single member of staff knows that they will be listened to and answered. It is integrated into their DNA .

Supporters regularly refer to the role profiles ensuring that the employee is clear about their role and responsibilities and the company's expectation of them, recognising the effort and contribution everyone makes by saying thank you at Team Meetings and away days.

At an Away Day in April the Senior Management Team spent the day facilitating the whole team in the development of the 5 year plan. This was done by first asking the team to step into the tardis, and via various stimulations, come up with their vision of the future both professionally and personally. The team were then split into groups and each group had a lense to explore the future through and brainstorm what the business would look like in that area. The groups were then asked to present their thoughts back to the whole team at the end of the day. These thoughts and ideas were then used back at the office by the Senior Management Team in the final write up of the 5 year plan. The inclusiveness of the day had a huge impact on the team which was reflected in the very positive verbatims recieved in their bi-yearly employee engagement survey.

Bovey Castle display the correct behaviours by communicating regularly in the form of meetings and appraisals. They also provide training sessions.

Bovey Castle display the correct behaviours by communicating regularly in the form of meetings and appraisals. They also provide training sessions.

They have a passionate belief in supporting their colleagues and have faced numerous challenges since the merger of the two heritage businesses, each with their own training methods and practices. To further develop their customer service training, they knew they needed to radically change the way they developed the capability of their practice colleagues adopting not just a ‘Best of Both' but a ‘Better than Both' approach to the challenge. Historically D&A had operated a compulsory NVQ programme for all of its practice colleagues whilst Boots had adopted a less structured but customer-led approach. To best support their colleagues the decision was taken to retain the formal NVQ approach. They also decided to make the programmes increasingly flexible and fit for purpose in a fast moving sector. So last year they made the Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship programme compulsory for all new joins - 400 new apprentices each year with capacity to flex up to over 600, and to ensure a consistent training experience for all learners whether full time or part time, government funded or non funded. In the last year, with the mission to ensure successful take up of the NVQ programme, they have opened five new satellite or regional training centres across the country. These have been carefully sited to ensure that all colleagues are within reasonable travelling distance of a centre, and that their Optical Consultant population do not have to stay overnight. This is particularly important given the number of part-time colleagues and colleagues with families, for whom residential training is extremely difficult. The company have invested large amounts in facilities, equipment and staff for these centres and they have all been created with colleagues' personal needs in mind. They want to ensure all of their colleagues have the knowledge they need to succeed in their role and the opportunity to develop themselves personally while at work, and the apprenticeship programme is just one example of that.

They have a passionate belief in supporting their colleagues and have faced numerous challenges since the merger of the two heritage businesses, each with their own training methods and practices. To further develop their customer service training, they knew they needed to radically change the way they developed the capability of their practice colleagues adopting not just a ‘Best of Both' but a ‘Better than Both' approach to the challenge. Historically D&A had operated a compulsory NVQ programme for all of its practice colleagues whilst Boots had adopted a less structured but customer-led approach. To best support their colleagues the decision was taken to retain the formal NVQ approach. They also decided to make the programmes increasingly flexible and fit for purpose in a fast moving sector. So last year they made the Level 2 NVQ apprenticeship programme compulsory for all new joins - 400 new apprentices each year with capacity to flex up to over 600, and to ensure a consistent training experience for all learners whether full time or part time, government funded or non funded. In the last year, with the mission to ensure successful take up of the NVQ programme, they have opened five new satellite or regional training centres across the country. These have been carefully sited to ensure that all colleagues are within reasonable travelling distance of a centre, and that their Optical Consultant population do not have to stay overnight. This is particularly important given the number of part-time colleagues and colleagues with families, for whom residential training is extremely difficult. The company have invested large amounts in facilities, equipment and staff for these centres and they have all been created with colleagues' personal needs in mind. They want to ensure all of their colleagues have the knowledge they need to succeed in their role and the opportunity to develop themselves personally while at work, and the apprenticeship programme is just one example of that.

Bond Pearce has a confidential and free employee assistance helpline, for anyone to call and discuss personal or work-related problems. They also have regular occupational health visits by a qualified GP to each of their office locations. He is available for any employee to attend a private consultation, should he/she need to do so. They also have free eye tests and flu jabs for all employees.

Bond Pearce has an active Corporate Responsibility agenda with local committees in each office. One of their most innovative actions is the Business Action on Homelessness (BAOH), which is a unique partnership between business, homeless agencies and the Government. The campaign runs in a number of cities, including Bristol, and aims to break the cycle of "no job, no home", by helping homeless people to find employment and achieve independent living. The people on the campaign are “hidden homeless” i.e. not rough sleepers but people living in hostels or other forms of temporary accommodation. They all share the aim of wanting to change their lives by returning to work but often lack the confidence and the know how to achieve this for themselves. Bond Pearce (Bristol office) has hosted part of the BAOH training programme for their homeless clients. They help by providing some volunteers to help clients improve their interview skills. Bond Pearce have participated in this programme over a number of years. The homeless clients gain an immense amount of confidence simply from coming into a professional office environment, being treated with respect and finding out that people who work in this type of firm are interested in seeing them achieve success

Managers are expected to use the 'LMS' system to conduct regular reviews with teams. Employees are asked to rate each objective on a given scale and constructive feedback is provided to support development. Managers are also expected to use the 'Shine' recognition platform by reviewing nominations for employees and approving awards. Managers are also expected to utilise the full range of resources on offer to support personal and career development. Using such programmes enables managers to adapt to a variety of challenging situations and also offer support in giving feedback to teams.

The most innovative thing that the organisation has done this year with regard to giving something back, centres on the adoption of a more proactive and structured approach to organising their community and charity programme. The programme seeks to give back to the community and engage their people in a range of volunteering and charitable opportunities through the use of the company volunteer policy, allowing up to two days out of the office per year to participate in community initiatives. Run by an employee-led CSR steering group, the programme has been organised in two main areas; charitable giving and community investment. The objective of the charitable giving element is to ensure both employee involvement and maximum benefit for charity through fundraising and donations. This year Macmillan Cancer Support was selected by their people as the national charity and they set an ambitious target of raising £50,000, enough to fund a Macmillan nurse for one year. Employees can also sign up for payroll giving or apply for matched sponsorship for personal charity fundraising activities. Building on the theme of employee involvement, the community investment element of their programme aims to develop an awareness of the impact of their business on the wider community, encouraging their people to volunteer to participate in community based initiatives. These initiatives range from employability skills workshops to painting and maintenance in the local community. All volunteering activities are made available through their ‘oneCommunity' online volunteering platform.

BMT celebrated its 25th anniversary by launching a new significant philanthropic project called BMT Giveback. All staff were invited to submit ideas for ways in which the application of BMT's technical scientific and engineering capabilities could make a difference to the lives of people in developing countries. The winning idea which has been put into practice is the design and implementation of a low cost sewerage and sewage treatment system for a rural village in India. At present, with no sanitation system, dirty water flows in open channels down the middle of unpaved roads, creating health risks. The project is much more than just a charitable donation, it is a technical challenge which BMT's engineers have taken on to design a novel system which will work with very low water flows and be easy to maintain by the local people. By choosing materials and skills for the construction which area available locally, businesses in the area have been able to secure contracts to deliver the works, ensuring the maximum economic benefit to the local community. The new design having been created and piloted by BMT's technical experts is being given away to an international development charity who will seek to implement it elsewhere. So not only will the 2500 people in this village experience a significant increase in their quality of life, but potentially many thousands elsewhere.

BMT celebrated its 25th anniversary by launching a new significant philanthropic project called BMT Giveback. All staff were invited to submit ideas for ways in which the application of BMT's technical scientific and engineering capabilities could make a difference to the lives of people in developing countries. The winning idea which has been put into practice is the design and implementation of a low cost sewerage and sewage treatment system for a rural village in India. At present, with no sanitation system, dirty water flows in open channels down the middle of unpaved roads, creating health risks. The project is much more than just a charitable donation, it is a technical challenge which BMT's engineers have taken on to design a novel system which will work with very low water flows and be easy to maintain by the local people. By choosing materials and skills for the construction which area available locally, businesses in the area have been able to secure contracts to deliver the works, ensuring the maximum economic benefit to the local community. The new design having been created and piloted by BMT's technical experts is being given away to an international development charity who will seek to implement it elsewhere. So not only will the 2500 people in this village experience a significant increase in their quality of life, but potentially many thousands elsewhere.

The company provide employees with their own, personalised mug upon joining the firm to eliminate waste from the use of paper cups.

All partners and directors attended a workshop designed to help them to motivate, recognise and retain their employees. The Senior Management team have also approved a firmwide strategy session off site for May 2012. This is currently in the planning stages. Bob Rothenberg became Senior Partner at the company in 1997. He has an approachability and warmth that make him very popular with everyone within the organisation. He successfully lives the firm's values and has managed to nurture a firm that cares about its staff whilst also being supportive of new and innovative approaches to the way they do things.