What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

At the start of 2015 m/Six launched their "Beer Mats" programme. Every employee has been given twelve cards which they can award to anyone who has gone the extra mile for them. The mats can be redeemed for a free coffee or drink at the pub and this has allowed people to be recognised for their hard work. It has also afforded m/SIXers a new way to interact with one another, strengthen bonds between teams and individuals and to spread some positive vibes across the whole agency.

m/SIX understand that to attract and retain talent their people need to come first. By ensuring their people are happy, motivated and challenged they come to work inspired to create better work for their clients. The company put a lot of thought into developing a benefits package that promotes a collaborative work culture and strikes the right work life balance. Just some of the other benefits, processes and fun things that everyone working at m/SIX enjoys include Running Club, Monday Night Football, 3pm finish on a Friday during the Summer months, Childcare vouchers, an Employee Assistance, Life Assurance, Health Insurance, Private Medical Insurance, Season ticket loans, Free eye tests and Partner Discounts with companies like Apple and Majestic Wines. There are also Personal Finance Clinics, Film and Food nights and even a Book Club.

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.

Lightsource moved from its former base at Old Bailey to a new custom-built office space to accommodate its in-house team. The fast-paced and dynamic nature of the solar industry means that team interaction is key to the company's success. The open plan office space of more than 30,000 sq ft allows for quick and easy communication between teams, including the Senior Management Team, ensuring everyone can work together closely in order to meet often tough deadlines. But the work hard/play hard ethos is echoed in the Lightsource Social environment. The offices large breakout areas, complete with retro arcade games and table football, are where you'll find table football tournaments in full-swing or maybe one of the Senior Management trying to hit top spot on Pac-man! Open and honest interaction between staff and teams is led by the CEO, who hosts regular company update events for all staff. These updates include the latest news on a business front, upcoming events and candid Q&A sessions, where all staff are encouraged to ask any question they like with the promise of an open and truthful answer from the Senior Management Team.

Lightsource moved from its former base at Old Bailey to a new custom-built office space to accommodate its in-house team. The fast-paced and dynamic nature of the solar industry means that team interaction is key to the company's success. The open plan office space of more than 30,000 sq ft allows for quick and easy communication between teams, including the Senior Management Team, ensuring everyone can work together closely in order to meet often tough deadlines. But the work hard/play hard ethos is echoed in the Lightsource Social environment. The offices large breakout areas, complete with retro arcade games and table football, are where you'll find table football tournaments in full-swing or maybe one of the Senior Management trying to hit top spot on Pac-man! Open and honest interaction between staff and teams is led by the CEO, who hosts regular company update events for all staff. These updates include the latest news on a business front, upcoming events and candid Q&A sessions, where all staff are encouraged to ask any question they like with the promise of an open and truthful answer from the Senior Management Team.

The CEO treats all staff with respect and gives them the opportunity to speak to him directly if they have concerns regarding the business or themselves. He shows not only an interest in their time at work but in their families outside interests. In the short time he has been in post he has been very keen to seek to harmonise and improve terms and conditions for all staff. The MD ensures that he visits all sections of the business and speaks to as many staff as possible. He engages well and proactively with staff at all levels across the business. Due to the nature of the business a great amount of on-the job training takes place, particularly for field staff. This type of on-going training enables staff to maintain and develop their skills. There is on-going support available from experienced managers and staff. The business is proficient in providing support and guidance whilst business continues. For a small number of staff an MBO process is in place. The organisation is about to introduce a formal management development programme and to set up a number of supplementary support programmes, such as mentoring and coaching. There are also plans to implement a cross organisation performance management system in the next 6 months.

Throughout the Company posters and charts are proudly displayed on the walls to ensure staff are aware of the vision, mission and behaviours that are so dear to Hoppeckle's heart. These are even displayed in the reception area so visitors are also aware of the company's mantra. As Hoppecke are a relatively small company and approximately half their workforce are field based, the MD writes a blog to update all staff on changes and developments in the business and to celebrate success. For those staff who do not have access to a computer, their team leader meets with them to discuss the content, answer questions and obtain upward feedback, which is noted and as appropriate discussed with the wider leadership team.

Annually the Studio organises trips to a European City where £500 is paid towards flights, accommodation and food for each employee. This year staff had the option of going to Oslo, Lisbon. Arhaus, Eindhoven, Nantes and Rotterdam. In groups of 25 staff visit and explore various cities, reviewing architecture for the purpose of research and team building. The trips are led by a Partner and made up of a mix of people who don't normally work each other. The days include waking tours, visit to other architectural practice and cycle tours. While evenings are a time for everyone to socialise over dinner. It is said that Studio Trips are a highlight for staff and a calendar event much anticipated. Upon return staff are encouraged to share photos and present learning's from the trips to the wider studio.

Annually the Studio organises trips to a European City where £500 is paid towards flights, accommodation and food for each employee. This year staff had the option of going to Oslo, Lisbon. Arhaus, Eindhoven, Nantes and Rotterdam. In groups of 25 staff visit and explore various cities, reviewing architecture for the purpose of research and team building. The trips are led by a Partner and made up of a mix of people who don't normally work each other. The days include waking tours, visit to other architectural practice and cycle tours. While evenings are a time for everyone to socialise over dinner. It is said that Studio Trips are a highlight for staff and a calendar event much anticipated. Upon return staff are encouraged to share photos and present learning's from the trips to the wider studio.

Throughout Harbour teams hold team meetings and team development days to look at how services can be improved. There was also a Staff Health & Wellbeing event held in October 2016, which all Harbour staff were invited to attend. The event included presentations and workshops on topics selected following a staff health survey. The organisation also covered mindfulness, self-harm and suicide prevention. They even had organisations attend with information stalls on topics such as alcohol and cancer, as well as a health bus offering basic health tests.

The values are clearly set out and communicated at all levels. Harbour have a competency framework which contributes to the values and is incorporated into their recruitment, training and appraisal processes. The organisation's 360-degree appraisal process includes all Senior Managers so Harbour can receive feedback on how well they demonstrate their values. Lesley operates an open door policy and staff at all levels know she can be approached about any matter, something that happens regularly. She is based in Hartlepool but spends time in the working week based at other Harbour locations so she is visible and experiences the front line operations at all times.

Hall & Partners continuously seek new ways to reward their stars; therefore the company have put in place rewards that recognise the examples of behaviour that reinforce their culture. These rewards are given out during the quarterly gatherings, which allow them to share and celebrate individual successes with the wider team and, in some cases, the business. The individual rewards are hand-chosen and bespoke to the individual so that they are aligned to Hall & Partners core values of Courageous, Collaborative, Creative and Curious. The company go beyond financial reward to give people incredible experiences that they can enjoy and share with their colleagues, further promoting the initiative. Examples include the ArcelorMittal Orbit at the Olympic Park, Ice-skating at Alexandra Palace and the London Bridge Glass Platform Experience.

Hall & Partners are mindful of the importance of communicating with one another regularly outside of the daily and weekly team gatherings. Working in a busy and rapidly evolving environment, it's important staff are presented with new and innovative ways to interact and communicate with leaders. One of the avenues for doing this is through the company's annual company-wide initiative ‘Imagine Day'. This gives staff the chance to come together and share ideas through collaboration and training. This year saw a presenter from TrendWatching comment on the latest industry trends, encouraging staff to consider new approaches and areas of growth in their respective industries. Hall & Partners also hold frequent ‘London Pop-Up' meetings with the whole office to ensure all employees are kept up-to-date with Marketing, People, big wins, any key developments and news. They have also maintained their ‘Fifteen minutes of fame sessions', which are held monthly. These provide all employees with a platform to share and inspire their colleagues, showcasing examples of innovative and exciting work. Hall & Partners also encourage teams to enjoy a monthly ‘wellbeing day', an opportunity to leave their desks, escape the office and do something fun together. These include outings to theme parks, treasure hunts, sports days, cooking classes and even murder mystery days.

Every month Good Relations reward an employee with a ‘Passion Day'. This is an opportunity for an employee to take an additional day's holiday to pursue a particular passion or hobby – from singing in a choir to some extra training to run a marathon! Employees simply describe what they would do with a Passion Day, and then the company select a deserving candidate each and every month. As an agency that fully supports and encourages a good work-life balance, Good Relations find the Passion Day initiative very effective, in ensuring employees know that their hobbies and passions outside of the working environment are supported.

The Good Relations Training Academy provides ongoing support for managers of all levels. Training sessions are tailored to ensure they are as relevant and effective as possible for both junior and senior managers. One-to-one coaching and mentoring is readily available from the senior management team. Senior managers work closely with their teams to ensure that management styles are carefully honed.

Ewan Hilton Chief Executive works above and beyond his role within the organisation to raise public awareness of mental health and the difficulties faced by people with mental health problems, both through Welsh Government platforms and with the media in Wales. By partnership working with other organisations in the sector, he leads in a way that allows Gofal to deliver that message even more strongly than they could on their own. Part of the organisation's Strategic Plan is to create a culture which is led by Experts by Experience, involving their service users in every aspect of their work. The core competencies are linked to the Organisational values and demand that Senior Managers work as role models of each competency for the rest of the organisation. Ewan Hilton Chief Executive does not have an office base, enabling him to work from any of the satellite offices. Ewan is extremely approachable and enjoys engaging with employees, plus he takes the opportunity when working in different sites to speak to and listen to employees on a day to day basis. He is also able to email "all users" in the organisation.

Ewan Hilton Chief Executive works above and beyond his role within the organisation to raise public awareness of mental health and the difficulties faced by people with mental health problems, both through Welsh Government platforms and with the media in Wales. By partnership working with other organisations in the sector, he leads in a way that allows Gofal to deliver that message even more strongly than they could on their own. Part of the organisation's Strategic Plan is to create a culture which is led by Experts by Experience, involving their service users in every aspect of their work. The core competencies are linked to the Organisational values and demand that Senior Managers work as role models of each competency for the rest of the organisation. Ewan Hilton Chief Executive does not have an office base, enabling him to work from any of the satellite offices. Ewan is extremely approachable and enjoys engaging with employees, plus he takes the opportunity when working in different sites to speak to and listen to employees on a day to day basis. He is also able to email "all users" in the organisation.