What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

Hilti recently launched an IDP toolkit for all employees on how to build an effective individual development plan.

Teams at Hilti are using lean principles to drive implementation of paperless systems and streamline work processes to reduce waste - both in terms of physical waste and wasted time resources.

Giggling Squid support employees with paid time off to take part in external programmes such as educational trips to learn more about the provenance of their food, such as vineyards in France, fish markets in San Sebastian and food markets in Thailand and China.

Giggling Squid provide employees with benefits such as car allowance, free private healthcare and performance related pay.

etc.venues have created a recommend a friend scheme to bring in like-minded people to the organisation. They encourage current employees to recommend a friend and if the friend stays with them for more than 6 months they get a £500 reward.

Senior managers are very approachable to every single employee and like to know a little bit more about the individual. They are very present and have an open door policy. Every 6 months they give an update to everyone on the company performance, goals, ambitions and people initiatives.

Dovetail Games want all employees to live to work, not work to live. They operate core business hours of 10am to 4pm which allows their people to fit work into their lives with hours that suit them and their family commitments/sleep patterns/commute. They also allow an extra level of flexibility with regards to working around personal commitments, such as the school run or a boiler service, in which employees can adjust their hours even further, as long as they still complete their contracted hours.

Dovetail Games want all employees to live to work, not work to live. They operate core business hours of 10am to 4pm which allows their people to fit work into their lives with hours that suit them and their family commitments/sleep patterns/commute. They also allow an extra level of flexibility with regards to working around personal commitments, such as the school run or a boiler service, in which employees can adjust their hours even further, as long as they still complete their contracted hours.

All employees that work for DJS (UK) Limited work from the same office in central Bournemouth. The office is open plan, which means that every team can interact with ease. Even the CEO does not have a secluded office, and he welcomes anyone approaching him with questions.

Table tennis and pool tables, dart boards and a projector with a screen for gaming have been added to the break room for employees to use as a way to get away from the desk and combat stress.

CloserStill run a full management training programme which is given by an external trainer. They also encourage management to meet together on a regular basis to discuss issues and offer solutions to each other or to then highlight these to the senior management to provide training.

CloserStill have annual appraisals where a manager will sit with each member of their team on an individual basis and run through what they have achieved over the past 12 months and areas for development for the next 12.

Car allowance, flexible benefits, performance related pay and staff discounts are available to all employees.

The Chief Executive emails all employees on a weekly basis with a "blog". This keeps all employees up to date with the environment within which they work, new developments in the organisation, keeping employees up to date with what the CEO is doing, recognising achievements of the teams through compliments received both internal and external.

Free mindfulness sessions are on offer to all members of the team. They also offer free fresh fruit every day and physiotherapy/ massages at a local private clinic if requested by employees.

Non job-related training continues to be incredibly popular. Recent examples include a number of our directors having one-to-one life coaching, a member of the sales team learning to decorate cakes and a number of younger members of the team have signed up to driving lessons as their non job-related development.

Brainlabs believe that one of the biggest steps for addressing the issue of workplace stress involves tackling the stigma surrounding the effects of stress. They have worked very hard to create an open culture and have had members of the senior team host company-wide talks on how stress has affected their mental health. They have a policy, "Brain Days", whereby employees can take a sick day off work when they feel they're being affected by stress without having to give any more explanation other than telling their manager they need a brain day.

Brainlabs believe that one of the biggest steps for addressing the issue of workplace stress involves tackling the stigma surrounding the effects of stress. They have worked very hard to create an open culture and have had members of the senior team host company-wide talks on how stress has affected their mental health. They have a policy, "Brain Days", whereby employees can take a sick day off work when they feel they're being affected by stress without having to give any more explanation other than telling their manager they need a brain day.