Employees are encouraged to mix with other departments through team building events and celebrations. Past events have included a masquerade ball and a summer day out which was extremely successful and received great feedback from employees. The day consisted of a BBQ, tug of war, football and space hopper races.

A large number of training courses are on offer to help develop their people managers and they have recently launched a new mentoring programme. They have also developed a performance management policy and training to help support their managers with effective management of their teams and have introduced external coaching which has helped focus the managers on their areas for development, develop their commercial ability to run the business and also help deal with change.

An annual bonus system is in operation and is based upon three criteria; Innovation – business development and process improvement, Satisfaction – retention of clients and quality of relationships with peers, Financial – meeting financial targets. All employees have a “BIG boasting sheet” where they are encouraged to record their evidence under these categories throughout the year. They are also regularly rewarded on an ad hoc basis, with champagne or a meal out with their partner for service/ results/dedication above and beyond the call of duty at the directors' discretion.

Employees may undertake a range of training activities from Managing & Motivating Staff, Client Handling Techniques, Selling Skills and Time & Project Management. The whole focus of their annual appraisal system is to challenge and enthuse staff to create their own “luck” and opportunities and they are open to suggestion from employees regarding their own development. Those with an interest in networking, membership of industry bodies, or in a specific business sector are encouraged and where appropriate, financially supported to pursue this. Younger staff are also encouraged to “shadow” more experienced staff and to attend networking, pitch and new business opportunities to advance their skills and experience.

There is an open door policy across BLP. Each year the Managing Partner hosts a strategy presentation for all staff which covers key achievements of the firm during the year, what BLP's goals are for the future and how they are going to get there. He notes key achievements across various departments and takes questions/feedback. This forum provides an opportunity for staff to ask questions. Department heads also hold lunches with fee-earners to answer any queries face-to-face and provide information of firm/department plans. The Managing Partner places great importance on cascading management information and plans to all staff as well as gathering their feedback.

Career development frameworks are in place for all staff including lawyers, secretaries and business services teams. The framework clearly sets out what individuals should be doing in their current role and what they should do to develop and gain promotion to the next level. There are broad salary bandings and individual performance determines where in the band employees sit. Exceptional merit bonuses are often awarded. The organisation work in a busy environment and reward staff for their contribution by an additional day's holiday over the Christmas period, an early finish on your birthday and time off in lieu as appropriate i.e. at the end of a deal.

This year BDP expect to have donated in the region of £41500 to charity. BDP has in place a CSR policy which sets out the way in which they feel they can best contribute to social and community programmes. They have also established the BDP Foundation, which has been set up to: - decide upon and contribute funding to firm-wide charitable donations; - select, contribute funding, and mentor educational sponsorships for BDP people, establishing follow-up and dissemination of best practice; - develop, co-ordinate, and share knowledge of BDP's educational and charitable activities; - select, contribute funding, and mentor student bursaries for non-BDP people; - project further BDP's reputation as a strongly people focussed organisation.

Aside from the intrinsic reward of working on quality architectural projects BDP's people receive monetary rewards in line with market rates that reflect their own contribution and the contribution of their part of the firm to the success of the organisation.

All employees are encouraged to submit ideas for business improvements and every idea is reviewed by the senior management team at the monthly board meeting. All ideas receive a small gift, with any implemented ideas receiving a reward through the benefits accounts. At the end of the year the best ideas can receive a cash bonus representing the impact it has had on the business, often related to ideas which have generated significant cost savings.

Balfour Beatty Plant & Fleet aims to support a good work/life balance, opening up the ability to request flexible working to all employees and remaining flexible in the way it supports individuals throughout their time with the business. They have recently introduced a Wellbeing Working Group, involving employees from across the company to put proposals to the board on initiatives that should be put in place for the benefit of employee wellbeing.

Azzurri communicate and engage with their employees through a number of channels including CEO's monthly update, newsletters, their Intranet and their employee representative forum. They have started to use e-newsletters called IMPRINT as a way of communicating new information to people in a more interesting and colourful format other than normal e-mail. They also have an Information and Consultation of Employees Council called Voice of Azzurri. There are 13 representatives from across the business who were nominated and voted for by all employees. They meet on a quarterly basis. The role of the VOA forum is to hold useful and worthwhile discussions between management and employees on a wide range of issues that impact all employees within the business where everybody can have their say and pass on ideas to the board.

Although there is no specific budget Azzurri does hold social events to increase team spirit which are fun including a bowling night, ‘Azzurri's Got Talent', a charity fundraising barbeque and quiz nights along with annual Christmas parties.

All of the companies 4 London charities were given £10,000 each plus Railway Children to which 50% of their Corporate Responsibility budget is donated. The company also have money tins throughout the building, sponsored sleep outs, quiz nights and pennies from heaven donations. Employees also undertake individual activities including a Trailwalker event where employees walked 100km in 3 days and Cookery workshop with the Kids Company.

As part of the companies Talking Talent framework they have ‘Voices 360', which is a feedback tool developed and used within their Leadership tool. The company also offer programmes in coaching, mentoring and leadership as part of this framework. The company are also open to individual employee development and all requests for qualifications are looked at on an individual basis and agreed when appropriate.

David Alberto makes it his business to visit centres regularly and speaks to all employees when he can. He is known as an inspirational leader in Avanta. His open door policy encourages all to speak with him whenever they need, take ideas to him and any Suggestions offered are taken seriously. David's invitations to events are spread widely so everyone has an opportunity to attend where possible. David starts any Induction day off with a presentation of the company, with an open and answer question and answers session. He has created an open culture and close family feel to Avanta, and has maintained this through a strong period of business growth. The current SMT started working with David in 2004, when the business started and they have continued to be part of this growing company alongside David, working as a team to build the best possible business that they can.

David Alberto makes it his business to visit centres regularly and speaks to all employees when he can. He is known as an inspirational leader in Avanta. His open door policy encourages all to speak with him whenever they need, take ideas to him and any Suggestions offered are taken seriously. David's invitations to events are spread widely so everyone has an opportunity to attend where possible. David starts any Induction day off with a presentation of the company, with an open and answer question and answers session. He has created an open culture and close family feel to Avanta, and has maintained this through a strong period of business growth. The current SMT started working with David in 2004, when the business started and they have continued to be part of this growing company alongside David, working as a team to build the best possible business that they can.

Each quarter, Autodesk UK holds "All Hands" meetings, a meeting for all UK employees to celebrate successes and share business updates. Employees and managers have the opportunity to nominate a colleague for going "above and beyond" and the winning nominee receives public recognition and a gift in front of their colleagues. "Autobucks" is a spot recognition bonus award program. It provides managers with a convenient, easy to use means of recognising and rewarding employees that demonstrate above and beyond performance. The purpose of a spot recognition program is to reward employees “on the spot” in order to recognise an exceptional work product or behaviour.

Autodesk is part of an extremely competitive global business environment. Their continued success as an organisation is dependent upon their ability to hire and engage great people throughout the world whose talents allow them to produce the best products and deliver the best solutions in the industry. There are many elements, like compensation and benefits, work environment and time off, that enable them to convince extraordinary people to decide to seek them out and once at Autodesk, stay with them. Their Total Rewards programmes are designed to help Autodesk accomplish their goal of attracting, retaining, and engaging the very best employees.

Managers at Elementus attend a variety of external courses such as ' People Management Skills for new managers'. New managers are trained externally over 1 to 3 days with their current training provider 'LDL' where they tailor the coaching to the specific management role. All new managers are also mentored by a member of the executive team. In 2010 Elementus introduced a new position of Customer Sales and Service Deputy Manager. This has been introduced to bridge the gap between consultants and managers and prepare them for Customer Sales and Service Manager positions when they become available. They currently have 5 people in this role.

A wide variety of training is completed every year, this includes; Internal technical training; which would include new procedures, quality awareness, using equipment etc, internal health and safety training; which would include display screen equipment usage, chemical usage and manual handling etc and internal environmental awareness training. In addition to this employees can also carry out external professional qualifications such as NEBOSH Diploma, AAT Level 4 NVQ in Accounting, BIOH P402 Asbestos Surveying etc, external technical and quality training provded by BSI and external commercial awareness training; which would include selling skills.