Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.

Lorica consider themselves to be a very baby friendly company. They have a very effective and accommodating system in place for all expecting parents. Once they are made aware of a pregnancy for a staff member they hold meetings to discuss their plans and run a risk assessment of their work station, providing back and feet supports where needed and generally making it as comfortable and suitable as possible. They also allow time to be taken for anti-natal appointments, which are fully paid. After the pregnancy they offer 'Keeping in touch days', whereby the employee will visit the office to catch up with everyone and often show off the new baby. Meetings are then arranged with Line Managers where they discuss returning to work conditions. The company are extremely flexible concerning the changing of hours or reductions from full to part time hours. They encourage employees not to check their emails whilst on holiday, instead naming team members/Line Managers to pick up important emails in their absence so that a holiday can remain a holiday.

Each Local Care Force office actively look to support their community and the people that they work with. As many of their customers are charities they regularly work with their fundraising teams and are actively involved in numerous money-raising events. Every employee takes part in days like Jeans for Genes, Alzheimer's Day and many others and, in addition to numerous 10k & 5k runs/walks, they have been involved in the following activities in the last 12 months. One of their team went to Kenya to help build a school and Local Care Force donated clothing, stationary and raised money. The Sales Director did the London Marathon to fund a kitchen build for Together for Mental Wellbeing and will be doing another Marathon this year! They got hands-on to help a service user (a person they support in the community) recreate their garden. In 2016 16 of the Local Care Force team completed Total Warrior event for Hospitallier St John of God. They held a Christmas afternoon tea for their Nurses, with the president of the Royal college of Nursing in attendance to raise money for her charity but also for the Leeds flood damage. A team of Managers did a night rave-run. More recently, the company have supported an ex-employee to raise money for a family member who needs rare cancer treatment in Germany. Finally, in 2017 25 of the team have booked to do the tougher Lake District Total Warrior course, 8 to do Leeds Total Warrior, 3 to do tough mudder all for charity and 10 doing Gung ho for Love hope Trust.

Local Care Force constantly look to motivate their employees – the vision is that everyone looks forward to coming to work! They appreciate their team, thank them when they work late and continually express their gratitude and appreciation. They have a shift pattern to help avoid rush hour, help with child care and allow staff to go to the gym. A number of incentives run throughout the year, including activities to incentivise those who aren't targeted or on bonuses. Innovative Incentives for the administration team are taken just as seriously. A recent example is Bingo cards with customer-service related tasks to complete for prizes like luxury hotel stays, bar tabs, a parking pass and team meals out. There are often days dedicated to a given task like quality assurance or new business, where the team are given a week to plan, with prizes worth making a serious effort for, including recently an all-expenses paid holiday to Barcelona! The eventual winner of the holiday to Barcelona took a colleague with him to help celebrate his success, a real testament to Local Care Force's ethos of being friends and not just colleagues. The Management Team are dedicated to praising those who work hard, when a record or target is hit or someone simply goes over and above. The Management Team reward their entire team with a paid lunch or a meal after work to promote morale and strong relationships. Any praise is also emailed company wide, with the team positively commenting each time.

To celebrate livin's 52nd position in the Times Top 100 they ran 52 ‘Great People Moments.' The moments were designed to make staff feel good about themselves and their role in the business and ranged from fun activities to surprise treats. Examples include a One Direction ticket extravaganza, free health checks, free Starbucks, a hike in the Lake District and much more. In addition to the Great People Moments the company also invested significantly in the health and wellbeing of staff with the launch of the Every Penny Helps scheme. 85% of staff take part and the extra pennies from their monthly salaries has raised nearly £1400 for the Healthy livin Fund. Matched by livin, nearly £3000 has been raised to fund a range of activities, facilities and staff services. The funds are put towards fitness classes, fitness equipment hire, healthy lunches, bikes for use over lunch breaks, group walks, beauty and massage treatments and health checks. A telephone based Employee Assistance Programme is available 24/7 for all staff and their immediate families to access counselling and guidance on matters as diverse as financial worries, stress and household issues. Livin's commitment and approach to staff wellbeing was recognised last year with the award of the Better Health at Work bronze award and this year they've just been evaluated for silver status.

With a real focus on team interaction and to support the delivery of Plan A, livin's new business strategy this year launched 'Connected Leaders.' All participants undertake a transactional analysis questionnaire to identify individual behaviour preferences and how these effect relationships. Through a series of coaching sessions staff are then equipped with skills to effectively manage their own and others behaviours to improve relationships. Ongoing team interaction is supported through livin's internal social media platform, Yammer. 100% of staff have profiles and the platform has 98% engagement rate, with 44 subgroups of cross department teams working of specific projects. 'Eurofever' was a companywide employee engagement event which demonstrated livin's multi-cultural awareness at the height of the European football event in 2016. Teams were selected randomly at a FIFA-style grand draw, with the Chief Executive presiding. Departments were challenged to display not only their own football team's colours in their work areas but to also come up with innovative ways of promoting the countries culture. Flags were raised, fascinating weird and wonderful facts were presented in wall art, histories were written and fun was had through quizzes and interactive art. The Berlin Wall was raised once more and staff were encouraged to write slogans on it - even The Hoff was resurrected (but didn't appear for a visit). Staff even brought in sweet and savoury food they had made to share with their team from their 'countries', including German sausage, pizza, pasties and goulash.

LCF Law understand that their people are their strength and as such they ensure that they support their development wherever they can. The company appraisal process is heavily geared towards personal growth and the development of skills both directly relevant to the employee's job role and those that are important for the individual. They fund courses for their team, ranging from soft-skills coaching all the way to professional qualification lasting several years. They have also embraced apprenticeships and currently support the development of seven, with three more being actively recruited for the Summer. They make sure that their employees have the time they need to fulfil their development goals with paid time off for studies, exams and activities in a wide variety of areas.

LCF Law encourage employees at various levels to spend a day or longer in the company's other offices to ensure that everyone works as one team, maintaining the feel of a family firm, despite multiple the locations. This has made collaboration easier, plus has led to new business opportunities. As well as this, the company have an active social scene involving colleagues from every office as a result.

At Kohler, each associate is given a paid volunteer day which they can use either as an individual or a team. Previous examples include the Marketing department spending the day at the National Star College redecorating a Sports Hall and the Operations Team helping at the Butterfly Garden. Every year, Kohler associates nominate a charity to support and the business doubles any funds raised. Throughout 2016 many sponsored events have taken place, including a head shave, sponsored walks and a Skydive. As a final fundraising engagement activity for the year, a 4-week long fundraising interdepartmental competition is held in aid of Stand up to Cancer. This provides a great opportunity to increase internal engagement as well as the profile of individual departments, with events including a charity golf day, star prize raffle and a sponsored cycle challenge.

At Kohler, each associate is given a paid volunteer day which they can use either as an individual or a team. Previous examples include the Marketing department spending the day at the National Star College redecorating a Sports Hall and the Operations Team helping at the Butterfly Garden. Every year, Kohler associates nominate a charity to support and the business doubles any funds raised. Throughout 2016 many sponsored events have taken place, including a head shave, sponsored walks and a Skydive. As a final fundraising engagement activity for the year, a 4-week long fundraising interdepartmental competition is held in aid of Stand up to Cancer. This provides a great opportunity to increase internal engagement as well as the profile of individual departments, with events including a charity golf day, star prize raffle and a sponsored cycle challenge.

KCTMO have recently launched the bi monthly 'Food for Thought' lunches. Each one is hosted by a different team, who are given a set amount by the company to host the event. The lunch is themed around their team and the activities that they carry out. The aim is to better inform other teams of what that particular team do on a day to day basis. All staff are invited and food and refreshments are provided for everyone that attends. These lunches are designed to be fun, informative and interactive. A good example is the Environmental Services team, who hosted a garden party complete with plants and fake grass. In July this year KCTMO also held their annual staff conference, with the offices being closed for the day so that everyone could attend. The delegates were also asked to consider some key business issues and tasks, which this year focused on current and future climate, different ways of working and finalising the new KCTMO behaviours to support and underpin their existing values.

The Chief Executive has an inclusive leadership style, with a strong ability to speak and engage with people at all levels. He "walks the office" and spends time with staff at their desks or work locations, getting to know both the individual and what they are working on. Staff know Robert's style and openly discuss his open door approach. They are also aware of his desire for staff to feedback to him on any issues or concerns they may have. Robert's Executive Team are also visiting different locations and staff who are outside their usual teams. This has enabled both staff and the Executive Team to improve both their leadership and visibility within the organisation. Robert has conducted town hall style briefings and without exception these have all been well attended. The most recent had over 60 attendees at one session.

The nature of their business as an agency means that sometimes clients do put pressure on their employees. It is their priority to ensure employees maintain a health work life balance and as such they continuously invest in the wellbeing programme that was introduced in 2013. Kantar's wellbeing mission is to support people in seven key areas: financial, physical, mind, social, environment, ethical and spiritual. The latest enhancement to their wellbeing portfolio saw the introduction of free on-site weekly yoga classes, on-site massages, smoothie making classes and physiotherapy sessions. Kantar also continuously market the programme to ensure it is in front of mind for employees and managers alike. As mentioned above they have a comprehensive wellbeing programme which has been put in place to ease workplace stress. Each employee is unique and as such the business has a flexible approach and an open mind when it comes to dealing with a stressed employee. This approach is only possible because of the trust culture that is advocated by the senior management. The majority of their managers have attended a mental wellbeing programme run by the charity Mind which helps them identify any factors that may cause stress to Kantar employees and tips on how to support or manage it. The business also has a strong partnership with their private insurance provider, occupational health practitioner and an EAP service to support all employees should they need specialist help. This partnership allows them to provide prompt and personalised support to Kantar employees.

They offer a variety of learning support for their managers and this can range from informal on job shadowing to formal secondment opportunities so the employees can put themselves in real situations. New for 2016 was the introduction of the e-learning programme which was created to allow their line managers to manage and focus attention on their people management skills in their own time, without disrupting other business or client priorities which also form a part of their roles in the business. The e-learning programme now hosts over 30% of their courses. They strongly believe that managers are the key to employee engagement. A third of the population are line managers and as such in 2014 Kantar committed to transforming their role in business through the introduction of their three Line Manager Principles of Leads, Motivates and Cares and the Ten Behaviours. Colleagues are now only promoted or moved to “people management” roles once they have demonstrated their ability against these line manager principles, and this forms a part of the decision-making process during assessments. Learning gaps and needs are also identified in advance of an employee moving into a “people management” role. They are provided with the necessary support through job shadowing, coaching, classroom learning and the e-learning programme, which is then monitored and measured during the mid and annual performance review process. The annual employee survey results provide Kantar with a good measure of their line managers' performance both as a business and at department or team level. The data also provides Kantar with rich information about which teams and department need special attention and where the gaps are, so that they are able to improve and influence employees' experience of and engagement with the business.

Senior Management frequently work extra hours, including weekends, to ensure consistent delivery of high quality services within SLA targets for all clients. They very much believe in "walking the talk". Having happy staff is vital to a successful business so employee engagement is key to the Senior Management Team. There is a weekly report to agents covering performance, upcoming forecasts, issues and anything else that is relevant. The Team Leader groups carry out team briefings on a weekly basis to inform individual teams of campaign specific matters and more detailed performance and forecast requirements. They also hold regular drop-in workshops where all team members are encouraged to contribute by making suggestions for improvements in respect of client services and processes. Journeycall even hold monthly Employment Engagement meetings, where elected representatives from each department meet and discuss issues and suggestions to improve services and the working environment. On top of this, Theresa Wishart was named Employer of the Year at the 2016 Scottish Business Women awards. In 2015 Theresa also collected the Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce award for making Journeycall the Most Enterprising Business of the Year.

Journeycall have a nominated charity which is decided upon by staff. This year it is Arbroath Infirmary Dialysis Unit. The company also do a lot to raise charitable funds for organisations like Macmillan Cancer Nurses. Most of the fun initiatives organised by the company Entertainment Committee have a charitable link, including charitable donations for dress down days. Last year Journeycall raised over £3200 for Angus Women's Aid. The company take part in careers fairs in the area and are one of the largest employers in Angus, being the biggest single employer in Arbroath. The company also have a longstanding and successful partnership with the Towards Employment Team, who they engage with to recruit candidates who have completed the Towards Employment programme. Further to this, Journeycall have an ongoing partnership with Triage, which supports those who have been unemployed for a long period of time getting back into work.

JDX has consultants based on multiple client sites, meaning it is hugely important that they facilitate company-wide interaction in many different ways. As a result of this the company hold a ‘Townhall' every six weeks for all employees to attend. This is where JDX's performance and strategy are discussed, outstanding individual performances are acknowledged by Management and awards are also given. It is also a chance for new consultants to integrate with the JDX family. The SMT hold a number of initiatives throughout the year, including a quarterly ‘beers n ideas' forum. This gives employees a chance to put forward any ideas on how to further improve JDX. The best ideas are collated and presented to the MD's for consideration. The SSCC (Sports, Social and Charity Committee) is a peer-run committee dedicated to providing funding for events proposed by employees. Recent examples include Dodgeball, Salsa Dancing and Wine Tasting. The company also host a reoccurring movie night and poker tournaments throughout the year, which encourages healthy, if not ruthless, competition!

JDX has consultants based on multiple client sites, meaning it is hugely important that they facilitate company-wide interaction in many different ways. As a result of this the company hold a ‘Townhall' every six weeks for all employees to attend. This is where JDX's performance and strategy are discussed, outstanding individual performances are acknowledged by Management and awards are also given. It is also a chance for new consultants to integrate with the JDX family. The SMT hold a number of initiatives throughout the year, including a quarterly ‘beers n ideas' forum. This gives employees a chance to put forward any ideas on how to further improve JDX. The best ideas are collated and presented to the MD's for consideration. The SSCC (Sports, Social and Charity Committee) is a peer-run committee dedicated to providing funding for events proposed by employees. Recent examples include Dodgeball, Salsa Dancing and Wine Tasting. The company also host a reoccurring movie night and poker tournaments throughout the year, which encourages healthy, if not ruthless, competition!

JCT600 have introduced a new programme of "Energy Management" sessions this year. These run regionally for 1.5 hours each in a highly interactive and fun way. All colleagues are invited and multiple sessions run on one day. The Coach that runs these is hugely positive, down to earth and fits the company's culture well. He forces colleagues to think about what they put in their bodies and how this impacts on their energy at work and at home, all of which has really helped the workforce this year. Colleagues have given up caffeine, cut down on sugars or are simply considering their nutrition a lot more. Rob used fun techniques to get people thinking generally about their food, drink and energy levels. All of this has led to some true light bulb moments, great results and even greater feedback. JCT600 also provide full counselling via their OH or through their industry charity BEN for those that suffer in this area.

JCT600 have three separate Leadership Programmes. One is for fundamentals, one for introducing real Leadership Skills and one is a Potential Programme focused on emotional intelligence that is run in the Lake District and spans seven months. After programmes Managers re-group in Learning Sets to keep their relationships and form tight networks. The company's Talent Manager Sarah is taking a Coaching Diploma and provides internal Exec Coaching for some Managers following the High Potential Programme, along with coaching provided by an external facilitator. The company pays for groups of managers that have been through the High Po LDP in the Lakes to go back up for an overnight stay when they want to come back together, as they see this as a real investment in their long term development. One member of one intake was diagnosed with terminal cancer last year at 40 years old. His group met with him regularly and took him back up to the lakes before he died, a real demonstration of not only how they bonded but how they support one another long after the programme has finished. JCT600 also provide staff with quarterly in site and brand reviews and monthly one to ones with Managers. They also have a Year End Review Process. The company are a performance driven, target orientated business and this dynamic cycle is just part of the way they do things.