What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

Their corporate behaviours of Empowering & Motivating and Striving For Excellence both set the corporate expectations of how Managers and staff should perform and when they should challenge unrealistic expectations. The corporate PDR process outlines the number of performance objectives that should be set using the SMART principle. The HR team conduct a sample of all PDR objectives to ensure that they are fair and consistent across the organisation and free from any bias towards staff. Effective performance is rewarded within the PDR process with the bonus payment scheme. A corporate validation exercise process is undertaken to ensure that the performance ratings given to staff are evenly distributed and also free from bias.

Their corporate behaviours of Empowering & Motivating and Striving For Excellence both set the corporate expectations of how Managers and staff should perform and when they should challenge unrealistic expectations. The corporate PDR process outlines the number of performance objectives that should be set using the SMART principle. The HR team conduct a sample of all PDR objectives to ensure that they are fair and consistent across the organisation and free from any bias towards staff. Effective performance is rewarded within the PDR process with the bonus payment scheme. A corporate validation exercise process is undertaken to ensure that the performance ratings given to staff are evenly distributed and also free from bias.

CBG Consultants have all the standard good practice processes in place to gather feedback face to face, with regular formal meetings, presentations and informal conversation etc. They believe their open door policy and no blame culture provides the right environment to encourage honesty and transparency. The company also have a dedicated feedback
e-mail address which gives staff the opportunity to provide feedback in an anonymous way. This year CBG have also undergone their Investors in People re-assessment and they are delighted to have achieved BRONZE status.

CBG Consultants have all the standard good practice processes in place to gather feedback face to face, with regular formal meetings, presentations and informal conversation etc. They believe their open door policy and no blame culture provides the right environment to encourage honesty and transparency. The company also have a dedicated feedback
e-mail address which gives staff the opportunity to provide feedback in an anonymous way. This year CBG have also undergone their Investors in People re-assessment and they are delighted to have achieved BRONZE status.

In addition to the thousands of pounds raised over the years by their people through activities such as jeans days, raffles, donations at the annual Christmas carol concert and firm quiz, profits raised from book and CD sales, clothing collections and sponsored events, Browne Jacobson has established the Browne Jacobson Charitable Trust which is funded by the partnership and enables employees to apply for grants for their chosen charities. In the last financial year, ended April 2012, they have distributed £12,000 to worthy causes across the Midlands.

Browne Jacobson recognise that people work hard on their behalf and they aim to provide them with recognition for their efforts. They provide a range of core benefits available to every employee from the day they join the firm. These are income protection, a group pension and life assurance which give their employees peace of mind during their time with the company. In addition to these core benefits they also offer a range of flexible benefits and the employees were consulted on what they wished to be able to flex their salary for before the scheme was launched. The flexible benefits are the pension, private medical care, childcare vouchers, cycle to work, critical illness, dental insurance, travel insurance and the ability to flex their life assurance up or down. If someone reduces the amount of life assurance they enjoy, the firm gives them the money back into their salary. Brown Jacobson also hold annual Wellbeing and Benefits Fairs. This year all of the benefit providers were able to attend to inform and educate as well as to pamper. Free manicures, cycle repairs, commute planning, head massages, healthchecks and hand massages were offered. The feedback was excellent.

Long service awards - This is an annual event which rewards and recognises staff contribution through long service, loyalty and commitment. At the annual Long Service Awards Banquet, Botanic Inns recognises 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years service, through the awarding of additional holidays, presentation jewellery, holidays and cash rewards. This event is attended by staff receiving the awards, their partners and the Senior Management Team. To recognise the importance of this event and to emphasise the contribution made by staff, the Lord Mayor is invited to say a special word of thanks and to underline the part that staff play, not only toward company success but also to the community in which they work.

Long service awards - This is an annual event which rewards and recognises staff contribution through long service, loyalty and commitment. At the annual Long Service Awards Banquet, Botanic Inns recognises 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years service, through the awarding of additional holidays, presentation jewellery, holidays and cash rewards. This event is attended by staff receiving the awards, their partners and the Senior Management Team. To recognise the importance of this event and to emphasise the contribution made by staff, the Lord Mayor is invited to say a special word of thanks and to underline the part that staff play, not only toward company success but also to the community in which they work.

As a company Berkeley Scott strives to ensure that all of its employees are set challenging targets to get the best out of them, that are both realistic and achievable. The Managers of the business are given the autonomy and freedom to set their own financial targets, budgets and Key Performance indicators, which are benchmarked internally across the parent company and then externally across the sector. All managers are encouraged to operate an open door policy to facilitate open and approachable relationships with their teams. The Managing Director has individual 1:1s with each employee at least twice a year, to ensure that they have a clear understanding of how they feel within their role, which is then cascaded to the managers.

Reward for performance is a key facet of the remuneration strategy and therefore there is an opportunity for each employee to achieve a significant amount of their annual compensation through commission on sales. This is, however, a fairly rigid scheme and does not really achieve the relevant in company recognition desired. In order to address this the business has for some years run an annual incentive. This is launched each year at the annual conference and takes the form of the top ten employees/managers going on an all expenses paid overseas trip for four nights. The purpose of this trip is to engender healthy internal competition, create a high achiever business forum - one day of the trip is devoted to a business improvement workshop and recognise performance within the business. Every employee, whether in sales, administration or management is included in this incentive and there are regular monthly updates as to how each employee is doing against their objectives. For the first time in 2012 Berkeley Scott also introduced a silver and bronze level to reward individuals who over performed but did not make the overseas trip. This involved cash prizes and extra holiday days and was extremely well received

Armajaro run a not for profit organisation called Source Trust that supports and promotes sustainable farming pratices throughout the developing world. They focus on solutions which enhance the farmers ability to trade, help farmers living in poverty to improve crop yield and quality, to create sustainable livelihoods and improve the long term welfare of themselves and their communities. Armajaro also own a company called 'GeoTraceability Ltd which creates transparency around the sourcing of commodities to ensure that their customers can reassure consumers that products are fair trade.

The Leader of the organisation is open and approachable to all staff. He is passionate about their business, the history of it and the capability of his staff to continuing building the business globally.

In the UK Appsense hosted their kick off in July which was attended by the majority of the UK employees and the EMEA/ROW staff. It was a great day despite the rain - a very competitive afternoon of their own version of the Olympics followed by a wild west night and the first ever presentation of long service awards to staff with 10 years service. It was an emotional and highly motivating event.

In the UK Appsense hosted their kick off in July which was attended by the majority of the UK employees and the EMEA/ROW staff. It was a great day despite the rain - a very competitive afternoon of their own version of the Olympics followed by a wild west night and the first ever presentation of long service awards to staff with 10 years service. It was an emotional and highly motivating event.

Alongside the introduction of a resource library which contains textbooks on a variety of subjects which all employees can utilise to take ownership of their ongoing professional development. As a business the company long since focussed on the growing from within and ensuring that junior employees receive the support and coaching they require to succeed. However, the senior managers may have been slightly overlooked and as such the Management Training Programme was developed to ensure that they too receive ongoing professional development opportunities.

Managers hold regular weekly team meetings to ensure mutually defined objectives are clearly understood, individuals are clear on why they are important and have the support they need to achieve them. The company empower their managers and employees to feel comfortable raising issues with senior management, as well as adopting their own flexible approach to recognising individual achievements. All managers receive training and development support to assist them in running appraisals, coaching for high performance and to understand how to motivate and develop their teams. Managers across the business go out of their way to get to know staff and take an empathetic approach to their needs and the Executive Team also makes a point to get to know all new starters individually which builds the foundation for the open-door approach.

Absoft continue to commit to graduate recruitment and development. They have taken on 10 graduates over the course of this year and as a management team devoted considerable time and energy into a development programme to support this.

Absoft continue to commit to graduate recruitment and development. They have taken on 10 graduates over the course of this year and as a management team devoted considerable time and energy into a development programme to support this.

There is an annual allowance of £200 to spend as the employee chooses on an activity that they feel will aid their personal development in some way. Ths could be learning a language, help with quitting smoking, learning to drive, music lessons, an evening class or something of a similar nature. It needs to be a genuine development or learning of a skill not just an activity.

Angie Moxham, founder of 3 Monkeys, set out to create a culture where people can be themselves. Creativity was free to be expressed and everyone was treated as an individual, not just an employee. Nine years on, those sentiments still guide everything Angie does and this permeates the culture from top to bottom. Angie is accessible to all staff and continues to encourage, inspire and guide the team every day to do the best work, with the best brands and with the best people. Her humanity and humour are as valued as her big brain and her even bigger contacts book.