What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

Xceed offer a Line Managers Toolkit in the form of on-going coaching from an external Hogan Assessor and an informal Mentorship programme that is run internally. The Line Managers' Toolkit provides templates, guide-notes, best practices and policies for each step of a Line Manager's role. The Mentoring scheme matches mentors and mentees based on interests, personality and priorities. Line Manager performance is measured inline with the overall company objectives and performance framework. This requires a minimum of Quarterly reviews, with Objectives and PDPs being updated, Performance and Potential ratings being submitted and 360 feedback being solicited, reviewed, analysed and stored. Additionally, the People Function and Leadership Team review results and trends from Xceed's six weekly ‘Pulse Poll', which can highlight areas for focus. Finally, on a quarterly basis, the Board and Leadership team reviews data on attrition, churn and promotion and progress by team and Managers, all with the goal of highlighting and remediating any issues that relate to one team or Line Manager.

Perhaps the strongest indication from the Xceed Leadership Team is that 50% of their bonuses are related to ‘Demonstrating Values'. For many years the company have had Spirit Awards which are now Value Awards. These are ‘surprise' and personalised ‘awards' or prizes for ‘catching someone doing something great' that are always tied to the company values. Xceed's Founders, CEO and Board are actively involved in the business. The CEO hosts a ‘welcome' meeting or call with all new joiners within their first week. The Leadership Team also has a schedule of internal communications so that each area of the business is heard from regularly, as well as a weekly ‘Friday Five' that provides an overview of events and headlines for each week. Xceed also have both Town Halls and Open Forums. The CEO chairs the Future Leaders Programme and has an active role in leading people initiatives and working groups. This is in addition to a strong ‘open door policy', whereby anyone and everyone is encouraged to come straight to the CEO with any concerns or issues.

WDP's monthly Line Manager supervision process is very supportive, as well as focused on performance management. Employees Managers conduct a one to one return to work interview after every absence, which includes ensuring that the individual is indeed well enough to be at work and to help identify any underlying issues. The organisation also offers 360 coaching, 360 feedback and an annual appraisal for staff.

WDP operates a Health, Safety & Wellbeing handbook. They also have a Staff Handbook that includes a stress management policy and guide aimed at Managers and team members. The handbook includes suggestions about how to notice and mitigate stress. WDP's approach to flexible working contributes to employee wellbeing, as does their investment in employee learning and development. The company's L&D team delivers training open to all employees, which is particularly useful for practitioners engaging with service users. It covers noticing signs of stress, supporting team members, stress reduction techniques, ways to minimise stress and next steps if more than self-care is required. Most teams engaging directly with client caseloads also receive group clinical supervision with an external clinical supervisor or an alternative suitable reflective space.

As a rapidly growing company, Total Assist runs a regular and dedicated internal recruitment academy for new staff. This gives new team members a fully supported environment to learn their new role amongst their peers before they progress to a consultant desk of their own. The company have also found this is a great way for new starters to mix with existing employees and promotes a family feel within the company.

As a rapidly growing company, Total Assist runs a regular and dedicated internal recruitment academy for new staff. This gives new team members a fully supported environment to learn their new role amongst their peers before they progress to a consultant desk of their own. The company have also found this is a great way for new starters to mix with existing employees and promotes a family feel within the company.

At Test Direct all new starters undergo a one-week induction course outlining all of the company's tools and processes, as well as an overview of how Test Direct work as consultants. This is followed up with regular four week reviews during Probation. Following probation quarterly performance reviews then take place. Everyone has an Individual Development plan that is reviewed regularly by their Manager and the People and Talent Director. In addition to external certification courses, Test Direct have their own Training Database where there are 100s of documents, courses and templates for employees to read when they need them. Test Direct have an annual Company Training Plan focusing on the needs of their consultants, remaining at the forefront of technology and tools. Courses are arranged to meet the needs and skills required by both individuals and the business and the company offer external and online courses that lead to certifications and accreditations.

In addition to providing training for technical skills, all Test Direct Managers will attend Management and Consultancy in-house training and external courses, such as ISTQB Advanced Test Manager. The company also provide in-house training to all Managers on how to manage and conduct Performance Reviews, complete IDP's, Conflict Management and Delivering Effective Feedback. Test Direct have also just changed their Performance Reviews process so instead of every six months it is now quarterly. The company have done this to make it a simpler, quicker and more meaningful process. There are three quarterly reviews: self-assessment, client feedback and manager feedback, followed by a full detailed annual review. This covers managerial aspects of their roles such as project deliverables, client interfaces etc. Managers are assessed against specific objectives, dependent upon their roles and also based around a set of expected behaviours. Reviews are then countersigned to ensure consistency across the company and also look at utilisation of consultants as a metric of performance.

As a company tech21 invest heavily in providing an amazing work environment for their colleagues to work in, so as a company they encourage employees to give something back to the community. In the last three months they have introduced a policy to allow employees to volunteer and in return they offer paid time off for up to three days per year. tech21's company philosophy is to “pass it on”. This essentially means pass on the benefits that they provide to support local communities who are in need. Last year they managed to raise a total of just over £9,000 through activities that their employees had participated in. Through the local dragon boat race employees raised money for the NSPCC. This is just the start, their focus next year is to partner with a local charity and run different fundraising activities that employees can be involved with to help raise money and give back to the local community.

As a company tech21 invest heavily in providing an amazing work environment for their colleagues to work in, so as a company they encourage employees to give something back to the community. In the last three months they have introduced a policy to allow employees to volunteer and in return they offer paid time off for up to three days per year. tech21's company philosophy is to “pass it on”. This essentially means pass on the benefits that they provide to support local communities who are in need. Last year they managed to raise a total of just over £9,000 through activities that their employees had participated in. Through the local dragon boat race employees raised money for the NSPCC. This is just the start, their focus next year is to partner with a local charity and run different fundraising activities that employees can be involved with to help raise money and give back to the local community.

If they are not consistent or authentic in articulating their purpose and values internally, Stott and May becomes just another recruiter in an already crowded marketplace. As such they are constantly pushing the envelope and finding new ways of articulating ‘the Stott and May' way of doing things. They believe it starts with the workplace and in an attempt to create a positive and unique work environment for our staff to dare to fail Stott and May have created themed offices, including Alice in Wonderland in New York and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in London. The company wants their employees to think laterally and to be the ‘dreamers of dreams' or the ‘music makers', all of which was the underlying philosophy behind the office transformations. Founder and CEO Stephen Stott commented “It's a fun and slightly wacky idea I came up with and it's been evolving ever since. The story of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is really all about pushing creative boundaries and, much the same as Willy Wonka's factory, I wanted the office to be a space for innovation, where staff could think big and not be afraid to fail. We're not your typical corporate company and I wanted the office to reflect that.”

Stott and May launched their Career Progression Scheme this year for both sales and support functions, with the scheme enabling development and progression within the business that is seemingly limitless. The CPS is supported by a blend of internal and external training sessions, as well as useful desk coaching. As well as all this Stott and May have paired up with Andrew Sillitoe, founder of The Strategic Team Coach, who uses a unique method to quantify the health and psychological state of staff, monitor the level of fatigue, observe in real-time the psychological impact of recruitment and enable staff to manage thoughts, feelings and emotions under pressure using biofeedback during phone calls. A mentoring system is also put in place for senior managers using external industry experts, with everything stemming back to the Career Progression Scheme. Managers are measured through the performance of their teams and also engagement across the whole business. The company reviews teams on a monthly basis through the Career Progression Scheme and always takes the temperature of engagement each quarter.

The vision was drawn up at a brainstorming session of all Managers who felt that if everyone had their input in this, it would be more likely to be taken on board and implemented. This was rolled out to all team members in bulletins, employee representative meetings and the annual companywide meetings. SPV also communicate this though all forms of social media.

Working in a high risk industry SPV run a regular training plan which they draw up in conjunction with the CITB & NFRC. Over and above this, in 2016 they have put all supervisors through training to enable them to get gold CSCS cards. They have four team members booked on a heritage roofing course which they have requested and will also ensure they can offer another service to their clients. They have also enrolled all administration members in a customer services NVQ Qualification that they enrolled out to newly promoted supervisors onto the Institute of Roofing management and technician course. The MD Howard is The institute of Roofing Midlands Regional Chair and as such the company has a number of manufacturers CPD courses coming up later in the year. In 2016, SPV enrolled two new apprentices on a built up felt roofing apprenticeship with a further two to be enrolled later in the year. In 2016 they put three team members through a cladding apprenticeship which they are due to complete in early 2017. In 2015, they enrolled six team members on the pilot Liquid Waterproofing Specialist up skill Course. This programme was written by the Liquid Roofing and Waterproofing Association in conjunction with the CITB to infill the training gap in the industry between the Apprenticeship and OSAT. SPV Group then subsequently put a further three team members through the course early this year. In 2016 they enrolled a further three onto the Liquid Waterproofing Specialist Apprenticeship course.

At Seven Technologies Group they have created an environment of Empowerment and Innovation. As an employer within the engineering sector, one of their best attributes as an organisation is that employees have the opportunity to not only be part of an innovation culture, but are also empowered to make decisions and ultimately make a difference. The most commonly used phrase in Seven Technologies Group is 'crack on', as empowerment of the individual is an ingrained value in their business. The company see continual development as one of the key elements within our Performance Management System. Through technical, functional and management training they hope to give their people the skills and knowledge they need to be the best they can be, creating and delivering market leading products and service alongside formal training. Informal mentoring 'buddy systems' have also been a great way to share past experiences on what staff have learned and encourage those taking on new challenges to handle whatever's thrown at them in the best possible way.

At Seven Technologies Group they have created an environment of Empowerment and Innovation. As an employer within the engineering sector, one of their best attributes as an organisation is that employees have the opportunity to not only be part of an innovation culture, but are also empowered to make decisions and ultimately make a difference. The most commonly used phrase in Seven Technologies Group is 'crack on', as empowerment of the individual is an ingrained value in their business. The company see continual development as one of the key elements within our Performance Management System. Through technical, functional and management training they hope to give their people the skills and knowledge they need to be the best they can be, creating and delivering market leading products and service alongside formal training. Informal mentoring 'buddy systems' have also been a great way to share past experiences on what staff have learned and encourage those taking on new challenges to handle whatever's thrown at them in the best possible way.