Team Cohesion = Performance

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.

Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.

Ixion hold an annual Staff Awards ceremony and all bar the CEO award is based on employee nominations from colleagues. Nominated staff are invited to attend and also invite two colleagues along to share the day with them. Staff are presented with engraved trophies and vouchers. The awards recognise employee's contributions that live and demonstrate the Ixion values. A CEO Honorarium Bonus payment is also allocated for the CEO to reward individual employees who make significant contributions or impacts within their role, team or division. The bonus pot is then distributed as the CEO sees fit.

When a customer contacts itsu to give brilliant feedback on one of the colleagues in their shops, a member of the Executive Team goes out to that shop to present a custom made Tiffany butterfly charm to them. This is really celebrated throughout the business and photos of these Executive visits are put within the quarterly its-us magazine, which is given to every colleague at itsu.

itsu have launched two Leadership Programmes this year for their emerging Leaders and Senior Leaders. An important element is a personalised learning plan for Managers, as this encourages ownership. The company ran a 360 based on the judgement-drive-influence model and each individual was given one to one feedback from the report. They were then asked to present their strengths, opportunities and how they were going to work on them, which has informed their personalised learning path. They will continue to be supported in their development through mentoring and coaching from their Line Manager. All Managers have a twice yearly performance review, which looks at their results and behaviours against itsu's current values. Shop Managers are measured in a champions league format which measures their KPI's. If they are under delivering they are performance managed throughout the year. Those that are meeting expectations will be in line for promotion. As well as this Head Office Managers are measured by personalised KPI's specific to their job role.

Inntel offers all staff an annual bonus, which is paid out if the company achieves its targets. The bonus is made up of 50% company targets and 50% individual KPI's. Whilst this is not unique in itself, all staff attend a monthly company update with either the Managing Director or another member of the Senior Leadership Team, where the names of those who have achieved their monthly KPI target are put into a pot and if selected can have a spin on the ‘wheel of fortune' to win a prize. The prizes include cinema tickets, bottles of wine, vouchers for a meal for two or gift vouchers. This monthly meeting is called ‘Scores on the Doors' and not only serves as an opportunity for staff to be brought up to date on what is happening within Inntel during the month but also allows the company to reward staff for their efforts in a light-hearted and enjoyable way.

Inntel seeks to enhance the wellbeing of its employees in many ways. The most successful of these is a monthly health and wellbeing focus, aimed at giving staff access to information to help them live a healthy lifestyle. During the last 12 months the company have been sending out wellbeing updates to all staff, covering subjects such as Healthy Eating, which coincided with a weekly delivery of two boxes of fruit from the local farm shop to encourage staff to eat healthily. During the Summer Holidays there is information on sun care and preventing sun damage. Inntel used this month to promote their cycle-to-work scheme and discounted gym memberships. The company also have an Employee Assistance Programme, designed to give staff access to confidential support and advice from qualified professionals about personal or work matters, all completely free of charge. The business operate an open door policy and all employees can speak to their Managers if they feel they are suffering from workplace stress. Once this is identified, steps are taken to reduce this stress and make any reasonable adjustments necessary.

As an organisation Immediate Media encourage everyone to have a good work life balance and to look after their physical and emotional wellbeing. At a company level they provide subsidised gym memberships, run mindfulness and yoga sessions and nutrition advice workshops. They also have an active social club which runs and promotes a range of activities to promote wellbeing. These include Zumba and Krav Maga self-defence classes, as well as seasonal activities during work like Pumpkin carving competitions and festive wreath making. Managers are trained in a model called 'Comfort, Stretch, Chaos', which teaches them how to keep a balance in people's jobs, when to recognise the signs of stress and the tactics to deal with it. At Immediate Media people are given the space to have fun and enjoy themselves so they come back refreshed and inspired from breaks. The company have a table tennis, table football and a garden area for relaxing outside, as well as break out areas across all the open plan offices. Employees can even leave at lunchtime on Fridays and are provided with an Employee Assistance Programme 24 hours a day.

As a highly matrixed organisation, effective communication across and within teams is essential and central to Immediate Media's communications strategy. From the company's inception in 2011 they've made this a cultural principle and there is no better example than the design of the head office. At its heart is an open space occupying the entire ground floor with a café, open plan and private meeting spaces, table tennis and pool tables, a bar and a 300+ seat theatre. This vibrant and permanently busy space provides a place where people come together to collaborate, eat, socialise and it's also the centrepiece of the company communications. In the theatre area the company run regular companywide and group Town Hall meetings. These are transparent, jargon-free updates on performance from the CEO, which are followed by a short show and tells celebrating success from different teams. Open communication lies at the core of the values, so every Friday the CEO sends out an update to everyone. He selects his highlights from around the company, covering everything from big commercial wins to brand news and initiatives. He then underlines the importance of the people with a welcome to all new starters, congratulations for those promoted or have good news to share and finally saying goodbye and wishing well to any leavers.

The Lifestyle Allowance Benefit is a small contribution (up to £150) from the Company towards you taking part in a life enriching activity which has a positive impact on your well-being outside of the work place. A few examples of what employees can claim the £150 on as follows; gym membership, cooking classes, membership to a cultural or sporting pastime and sports equipment. Health Assured Health Assured is an Employee Assistance Programme which provides employees with a confidential support service to help with the following issues; Family issues, gambling, domestic abuse, debt, legal, work etc. Employees are also provided with 8 face to face or telephone counselling sessions if needed. There is a subsidised canteen with a roof top area for employees to take some time out during their lunch break. The Company offers subsidised meals to all employees, the canteen is spacious and has an outside rooftop seating area which employees take advantage of during the summer days. The canteen turns into a bar on a Thursday and Friday evening. Subsidised yoga sessions are also offered to all employees.

For the first time, the organisation has nominated a number of charities to support through the course of this year. These were arrived at through consultation with employees in the agency – and supports both national charities and those that are proximate to each office site. The majority of fundraising activity is achieved through sweepstakes and bake sales in the office, but a number of individuals (including the Leadership team) are taking point in this year's Sleepout event for Centre Point. The agency supports the notion of giving something back to the community and wider society. This is demonstrated by the organisation's MD, who volunteers his time to support undergraduate and postgraduate students at the University of Leeds through their Nurturing Talent Mentor Scheme. This typically involves providing advice and guidance to a number of students – with a clear focus on gaining experience during their studies and employment at the end of their course. Typically, students who are nominated for the scheme are likely to be from a non-university background, and in some cases, from disadvantaged groups. Finally, the organisation continues to run both a formal ‘Academy' programme for graduates, alongside an informal internship or work experience programme in order to provide opportunities to young people looking to pursue a career in the industry.

Some teams have team circles where they update every one of their priorities for the day and any support they require from colleagues. Twice weekly Icelolly have 'stand-ups', their purpose being to keep people up to date with business performance, and ensure people are familiar with what's happening in all parts of the business. Every Monday the stand-up covers the previous week's business performance and highlights of what has gone well. They then cover the targets and challenges for the week ahead and specific activities of note that are taking place during the week. Every Thursday, a team gives an overview of the work which has taken place over the previous month, specific achievements and activities planned for the month ahead so that everyone, regardless of team, knows the focus of each part of the business. Icelolly have team days where everyone in the business participates. The aim of the team days is to develop relationships between colleagues and teams and for people to work alongside others that they wouldn't normally work with on a day-to-day basis, have fun, celebrate success and recognise the progress of the business and how the team have helped us gain these results. They also aim to raise money for a nominated charity. Activities they have successfully run to date include Cocktails and Cakes, Photo Rally, Ice cream Making, Geography Challenge and Treasure Hunt, Office Olympics and a Day Trip to Blackpool.

As part of Icelolly's private medical insurance, they have partnered with Vitality Health. Vitality rewards individuals for being healthy and provides incentives to help improve their overall health and fitness. This includes weekly rewards such as cinema vouchers and Starbucks if they achieve a certain level of physical activity in a given week such as walking, running, cycling, swimming or attending the gym. In addition, individuals receive points for undertaking a health check including weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, nicotine with additional points where the results are in the 'healthy zone'. Cash back is given quarterly to non-smokers. Since its introduction, there has been a definite change in peoples' behaviour and approach to a healthy lifestyle. Icelolly actively promote activities to support a healthy lifestyle and also believe that physical health and affect mental health. They have partnered with their local gym to offer reduced membership fees for all employees. As part of Icelolly's stand ups, they regularly have 'team energisers' which are usually short, fun activities which are not work related but they do get people interacting with others and help with alleviating any stress. They have an employee assistance programme which as well as offering a multitude of advice and fact sheets via their website, also provides counselling both over the telephone and face to face. The counselling includes CBT and is available for all employees and their immediate family. Flexi rewards encourages employees to treat themselves and suggested activities include spa days, massages and short hotel breaks. Icelolly are very supportive of employees who may be experiencing personal challenges outside of work and have offered adjustments to working hours to help individuals in their times of need.

Huntswood has a range of wellbeing initiatives, including free gym memberships, massages during work time, health checks, free fruit, cycle to work, discount shopping vouchers, social activities, a fun and functional office environment and an Employee Assistance Programme service. HR have also recently engaged ‘wellbeing champions' from across the business who volunteered themselves to help enhance the wellbeing of Huntswood employees. The champions help with the organisation of wellbeing events and initiatives and provide feedback and ideas around what employees want in terms of their wellbeing at work. The HR team also monitors absence closely by accurately recording absence information, holding return to work interviews and offering appropriate support to employees where necessary. HR have an open door policy and employees always feel that they can speak to a member of the team should they need advice or guidance. Managers are given guidance on how best to manage employees that could be at risk of stress and often provide one to one catch ups to monitor these employees. As well as all this where possible flexibility with working hours is permitted to inspire a healthy work life balance.

Every year Huntswood holds a New Year's party for employees and their partners. Although the concept itself isn't unique, the parties themselves are. The events are extravagant and employees often comment that the Huntswood parties are the best they have ever been to. This year's party was held at the Grosvenor hotel in London with a Great Gatsby theme. Employees and guests were treated to a three course meal, free bar and entertainment. This year's entertainment included Flavia and Vincent from Strictly Come Dancing and a big band with dancers. Last year employees received an all-expenses paid weekend in Paris, with entertainment including Michael McIntyre. At the parties the employees of the year award is presented. Throughout the year to celebrate key ‘wins' or events, the Founder and CEO often treat employees to lunch or gifts. For example, earlier in the year each Friday employees came into the office to find flowers, chocolate or champagne on their desks. Very recently, the Founder of the company hosted lunch for all employees to celebrate the company reaching its 20th birthday, which included Dominos pizza, burgers and Krispy Kreme doughnuts!