Team Cohesion = Performance

They take a very informal approach to looking after employee wellbeing. Although they have policies and procedures, they regularly work outside of these to ensure the wellbeing of the employees comes first. For example, they offer enhanced sickness pay, very flexible working hours and home visits as often as the employee would like. Some members of staff contact senior managers and directors outside of the normal working hours for chats of support or encouragement, a practice that is very unique to JoJo and encouraged at all times. They conduct annual audits across the company to measure any stress levels and ensure all employees are achieving a good work/life balance. Many employees have the ability to log in to their desks from home which permits them to be more flexible. Employees are encouraged to leave work on time and all holiday must be taken each year. In special circumstances employees are given additional time off for special occasions or sabbaticals. Parents are encouraged to return to work and take up part time roles and JoJo has a large proportion of part time roles which works well for parents. There are events organised throughout the year which always involve family members.

JoJo contributes to numerous small charities which are based in the local vicinity of the JoJo stores. For example, they give a Christmas gift to all the children in care in Torfean, the borough local to the head office. These presents are collected up from the design studio and the head office and generous stockings are made up from items taken from stock. The senior designer at the London Design Studio has been designated Environmental Champion for the company and has been pro-active in implementing a company policy on environmental issues, ensuring that every element of design and production takes its environmental impact into consideration. They have an informal system of monitoring their effects on the environment and are constantly striving to reduce their impact. Such attempts have included ensuring that all packaging is responsibly sourced, reducing the amount of packaging and keeping the chemicals used to a minimum. The company re-uses as many materials as possible, including packaging and bubble wrap and all paper, cardboard, plastics and cans are recycled. The company has also introduced the Government bike scheme to encourage employees to cycle to work

Jobsite take the health and wellbeing of their employees very seriously and as such free flu vaccinations are offered to all employees as well as Tamiflu tablets, free healthcare is also provided as well as eye tests and a substantial contribution to new spectacles if required. Employees also have the benefit of enviormentally friendly office surroundings and flexi working is available in some areas. Ladies returning from maternity leave are encouraged to return to work on a part-time basis and several remain on these hours which Jobsite are happy to accommodate. Some departments work on a staggered start and finish time and they are quite flexible about people working from home in some areas.

Jobsite take the health and wellbeing of their employees very seriously and as such free flu vaccinations are offered to all employees as well as Tamiflu tablets, free healthcare is also provided as well as eye tests and a substantial contribution to new spectacles if required. Employees also have the benefit of enviormentally friendly office surroundings and flexi working is available in some areas. Ladies returning from maternity leave are encouraged to return to work on a part-time basis and several remain on these hours which Jobsite are happy to accommodate. Some departments work on a staggered start and finish time and they are quite flexible about people working from home in some areas.

As a College they have a vast range of internal resource so they can therefore usually provide the required support for the development needs identified by any member of staff. The College has a scheme in place called Communities of Practice where peers share best practice, share ideas and support each other which can help managers to develop within the role. As an organisation they live their values, teamwork, integrity, customer focus, confidence, success, at all levels of the organisation and they are used in decision making at the highest level by the senior management team and the board of governors.

Every member of staff benefits from generous annual leave, a final salary pension scheme, bike to work scheme, childcare vouchers, as well as reduced price membership at either the College's own spa & gym or others in the city, as well as a range of discounts at theatres and local shops. Staff are encouraged to have a healthy work / life balance.

The Leader of the organisation, Justin, commits a huge amount of his time to communicating and engaging with colleagues. From the face-to-face events that he does every month and his weekly store visits to the regular 'all colleague letters, responses to the Tell Justin suggestions and filming the monthly briefing and column in the Journal. The impact that this has is tangible as colleagues show huge warmth and respect for him and clearly find him very approachable. Every member of the board holds a ‘Start the day with' session every month. These are breakfast listening groups held with a colleague from every store in a region. With no set topic these are a chance for colleagues to say what is on their minds and to ask questions raised by themselves or their colleagues back in store. The operating board and directors tend to spend most Friday's visiting stores or depots to spend time face to face with colleagues and customers to hear first hand what is working well and where the opportunities are to improve the way they work or the way they implement new ideas for their customers.

The Leader of the organisation, Justin, commits a huge amount of his time to communicating and engaging with colleagues. From the face-to-face events that he does every month and his weekly store visits to the regular 'all colleague letters, responses to the Tell Justin suggestions and filming the monthly briefing and column in the Journal. The impact that this has is tangible as colleagues show huge warmth and respect for him and clearly find him very approachable. Every member of the board holds a ‘Start the day with' session every month. These are breakfast listening groups held with a colleague from every store in a region. With no set topic these are a chance for colleagues to say what is on their minds and to ask questions raised by themselves or their colleagues back in store. The operating board and directors tend to spend most Friday's visiting stores or depots to spend time face to face with colleagues and customers to hear first hand what is working well and where the opportunities are to improve the way they work or the way they implement new ideas for their customers.

Colin Forrest, the Chief Executive at ISG Pearce, attends every new employee induction session, is visible sitting along side other employees at the head office and will answer any question posted to him on the "ask Colin" intranet forum. He also holds a Q&A session at each of the twice a year business presentations and is happy to be put on the spot and address any issues or concerns or general comments made by employees within all levels in the company. At least one member of the Executive team will always attend the company social events organised.

Any member of staff can undertake a Performance Development Plan (PDP) to plot their progress through ‘career pathways'. The purpose of the PDP could be for career progression, technical or soft skills development in a current role. They also provide their employees with extensive training such as commercial awareness training for all site staff to improve knowledge of contracts and ISG Pearce commercial processes, equality and diversity training and operational processes training to maximise consistency in the use of ISG Pearce systems and processes across all sites. They also offer training of a variety of soft skills such as assertiveness, conflict avoidance and stress management and avoidance, all of which their delegates have found to be useful at both work and home. The ISG Pearce Graduate Training Scheme includes a structured 2 year programme that develops graduates' technical knowledge and skills and improves their awareness of the company and construction industry in general.

The appraisal system incorporates a training plan where any courses/qualifications that will enhance performance are identified. This incorporates management qualifications. Internal management development training is available and whenever possible Inventures recruit internally. Succession planning is supported through mentoring and coaching to develop management. This approach enables knowledge and skill transfer. The appraisal process is 360. Internal coaching/mentoring is facilitated for all new starters and where there are specific requirements for knowledge transfer. Where there are opportunities or specific requirements for knowledge transfer external coaching/mentoring is arranged. In addition, external experts are regularly invited to attend internal meetings to share their knowledge and experience. Inventures also provides mentoring to external organisations. Board meetings are held on a quarterly basis. Other managers forums and seminars are held when there is a business need.

Inventures was established following a management buy out in 2005. The Leader of the organisation, David Lawrence, purchased Inventures with five fellow directors and established it as a consultancy in the private sector. The Leader met with each individual and discussed what opportunities were available for them and recruited people into the new private sector organisation. This entrepreneurial move saved many people's jobs and ensured that the new organisation retained specialist skills and experience that benefited Inventure's unique selling point and enabled its transition into a profit making enterprise. The leader ensures that he meets all new recruits personally to welcome them to the organisation and assure them that his door is open to them. His approach is very personal, taking time to know every single member of staff, to understand their interests inside and outside of work.

i-level operate a monthly staff meeting in one location where different leaders host each month. They also have live Q&A or surgery sessions. The workspace is open plan even senior management sit on the same floor and not closed off from other employees. The layout of the office promotes easy access for all employees. The company hold Intranet blogs or present regular pieces of information in the organisation newsletter/magazine. They believe the sort of communication should be face-to-face. For a company of close to 150 employees, he knows everybody by name, position and contribution to i-level. The company is undergoing significant cultural and structural change and the leadership have ensured they hold regular updates at monthly meetings as well as ensuring he is accessible to every member of the business. The leadership believe in a strengths based culture and this involves tearing up the old rule book to identify and nurture what people are naturally good at and to tie this into their individual performance development structure.

i-level works extensively with the strengths academy and external management consultancy that focuses on helping employees to identify and nurture their strengths, and how to best apply this in their careers, the work-place and in their contribution to building super teams and department road-maps. Whilst it is a recession and most companies have held back on hires, i-level have a legacy of developing outstanding media talent. They recruited 19 graduates to participate in a comprehensive Graduate Development Programme this year known as i-Cademy. To promote work life balance and new experience, i-level provide all employees with a £150 allowance per year to spend on any training, with the specific condition that it is non work related. Continuous Professional Development (CPD) logs are an initiatives that operate an “on-line learning CV” where all professional training is recorded and used as a record for professional development and performance reviews. i-level have a comprehensive Performance Appraisal System. Employees are appraised at 3 months, 6 months and 12 months when they commence with i-level and then every 6 months following this. they take their appraisal process seriously and the annual reviews involve 360 degree feedback from clients, suppliers and colleagues. Employees also have their opportunity to provide detailed feedback about their progress and how they would like to develop professionally and personally.

The culture of Idis is very dynamic and encourages entrepreneurship. This is clearly driven by Natalie, their leader. She is a charismatic leader and passionate communicator, who is keen to provide updates and communicate with all staff. Examples include, leading the ad-hoc company “bus stop” meetings and attending team meetings. They also run a lunch with Natalie programme, where a couple of times a month a staff member will go to lunch with Natalie, individuals are randomly selected and it could be an employee from any level or department. The purpose of this is to get first hand feedback from staff and temperature check what the organisation are doing well and what they could be doing better. Natalie also leads our staff innovation team, providing a monthly forum to explore new ideas and how they can be implemented into the business.

The HR department work in strong partnership with people managers in Idis to coach and empower them to be more effective in their roles. To encourage people managers to further develop their skills the company support and fund external qualifications and 360 feedback is provided annually to senior managers, members of the directors team also have access to external business coaches as well as Management and Leadership academies.

Employees are rewarded and recognised for their efforts. Managers are encouraged to acknowledge good performance directly with their staff. Milestone recognition is given and usually takes the form of a celebratory event and a gift and instant recognition is usually by email.

Employees are rewarded through various means. There is an appraisal process in place during which employees and managers are encouraged to give balanced feedback. All employees are also eligible for a bonus. This is directly performance related therefore recognises those who have achieved.

Hyndurn Borough Council recognise and reward high performance teams and individuals in various ways such as Local Heroes in their newsletter, the Great Big Thank You event, Hyndsight, personal letters of congratulation from the Managing Director and token payments in recognition of staff who go the extra mile. Job evaluations are conducted regularly to ensure that salaries are paid equally for jobs across the organisation.

Over the last few years HBC has introduced many actions to reduce CO2 emissions and related environmental impacts from its operations. Some highlights of this include innovation in the vehicle fleet including environmentally friendly mayoral car and caretakers vans, measures to encourage staff to purchase more fuel efficient vehicles and efficient use of computer equipment with a central energy management system. More recently, the energy performance of 10 of the main buildings has been audited and they are committed to considering how to bring forward improvements to the energy efficiency of those buildings. To help with this, they created a Property Services post with an increased emphasis on energy management.