Training increased in volume over the past year as an important tool to keep employees engaged in their roles. The company helps to put people through exams and several staff members passed their qualifications in recent months.

Caspian introduced paperless documents, using remote training to bring in the e-signature system quickly. Not only did the streamlined process make the company's service greener but improved its service, tripling its Trustpilot review in 2020 compared with 2019.

Capco runs fortnightly Lunch with Leadership calls to provide business and people updates and to answer employee questions with different leaders leading each call. Virtual quarterly Town Halls celebrate individual and team successes and showcase new initiatives, as well as providing general business news.

Last year Capco raised £50,000 for a range of charities including Hackney Foodbank, and Veterans Aid and employees completed 400 hours of volunteering despite the ongoing pandemic. Staff continued to support education and youth empowerment through various initiatives including pro-bono consulting.

The organisation has three trained mental health first aiders and all employees have access to the meditation and mindfulness Headspace app. Staff are encouraged to speak with their line managers regularly and let them know of any problems working from home.

The organisation has used thermal imaging equipment on its buildings to pinpoint areas of heat lost to maximise the efficiency of any improvement works. Eco-friendly initiatives range from a beehives project to using only fair-trade or rainforest alliance certified coffee and it has switched to reusable glass milk bottles.

Since its launch three years ago more than 1,300 employees have been through the company's Aspire development programme, which won ‘People Development Programme of the Year' at the Learning Awards in February. Over 950 of those participants have been promoted into the role they wanted.

The recently launched plastic reduction programme called ‘Get Drastic on Plastic' has set a goal that by 2025, all plastic packaging will be reusable, recyclable, or compostable. BT Consumer encourages customers to return their products so they can be recycled or refurbished.

The Senior Leadership Team pitched in to deliver PPE to offices and carers when required to alleviate pressure on branch teams. All branch bosses had daily calls from a member of the SLT at the start of the pandemic offering step-by-step support and guidance and these now take place weekly.

The Bright Care Training Academy has continued to run throughout the pandemic to develop employees, who all have a personal development plan. An in-house performance coach is available to help and support the mental and physical wellbeing of all employees.

Responding to the Black Lives Matter campaign Bravissimo create digital listening groups to hear personal accounts of discrimination experienced by employees and has launched a Diversity & Inclusion committee to ensure it is more representative in all it does from its marketing and models, product range, recruitment and team diversity.

Over the last year Bravissimo's warehouse has recycled 72 tonnes of bailed cardboard, 17.3 tonnes of polythene, and 16.4 tonnes of tissue paper. The Product team have donated leftover textiles in an initiative that has meant local schools have been able to use the materials for Art lessons.

The senior leadership team communicates with staff through company-wide meetings every quarter, which involve Q&A sessions where staff can choose to be anonymous. They spoke one-to-one to every employee at the start of the pandemic and set up weekly management calls to ensure the flow of information through the business.

When senior managers noticed that some staff were struggling with home working and isolation during the lockdowns, they set up a virtual social calendar which had events, challenges and drop-in sessions. On the agenda were coffee catch-ups, photo competitions, virtual bingo and virtual escape room.

The results from staff surveys have been shared with employees and in 2020 the company tackled feedback about hiccups in communication by ensuring that all staff members can raise issues directly with the leadership team.

Boss has worked with Streamz, a London youth charity, for three years and its employees contribute to the cause not only through donations but by helping young people develop their CVs and advising them on how to interview well. The company is also the main sponsor for Hartley Wintney Football Club in Hampshire.

A mini MBA programme is a bespoke training scheme, created with London Business School, in which 20-25 future leaders take a two-week residential course to develop their leadership style and understand their future role in the agency, in terms of building internal and external relationships and acquiring enhanced management skills.

The agency has launched a BBH Parent Network, an advice site with its own interactive feed for working parents to connect and share tips and advice based on their own experiences of working from home. BBH Satellite was launched to connect colleagues living in the same area for non-work-related chats.

Leaders became reliant on video calls during the pandemic, but made sure to not just chat or write emails to employees, but to engage in weekly socials, consistent team meetings and quick calls to discuss an issue or concern. The company believes in the lead-by-example approach.

Bark offers secondments to all its departments. The aim is to make sure there is a smooth transition from one role to another and that everyone is happy with the transition. A variety of internal or external training is available to encourage staff to increase their skills.