What are companies doing with regards to 'Personal Growth'

Incisive Media values the wellbeing of its employees and they have a category in their flexible benefits programme dedicated to Health & Wellbeing to prove it! The company has fortnightly Chair Massages that are on offer to all staff. This has proved to be a very popular benefit and Incisive Media have received great feedback from employees. On top of the ‘ordinary' benefits that most companies offer, such as gym membership, private medical insurance and health cash plan, Incisive Media has gone one step further and has introduced a variety of Health Screenings which are available to all employees. The types of screenings on offer range from a wide selection of BUPA Wellness screenings to Skin Screenings and the newly introduced Breast Screenings which are on offer to all staff and their partners. Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure.

Incisive Media values the wellbeing of its employees and they have a category in their flexible benefits programme dedicated to Health & Wellbeing to prove it! The company has fortnightly Chair Massages that are on offer to all staff. This has proved to be a very popular benefit and Incisive Media have received great feedback from employees. On top of the ‘ordinary' benefits that most companies offer, such as gym membership, private medical insurance and health cash plan, Incisive Media has gone one step further and has introduced a variety of Health Screenings which are available to all employees. The types of screenings on offer range from a wide selection of BUPA Wellness screenings to Skin Screenings and the newly introduced Breast Screenings which are on offer to all staff and their partners. Everyone knows that prevention is better than cure.

One of the best examples which has been running for four years and which Harrods believe is completely unique to them is the ‘Harrods One Hundred'. This is a very exclusive club whose 100 members are their best sales people. Membership is driven by the amount of sales achieved and the top sales person achieved sales of over £6 million in 2010/2011. The rewards are a special yearly dinner awards ceremony with directors and their managers. They receive a gift bag containing a £1000 gift card, pampering sessions, gifts provided by brands such as Cartier and additional employee discounts as well as a unique ID card that gives them additional senior manager privileges and finally a Harrods 100 jacket lapel pin to wear with pride.

Michael Ward is a personable, warm and engaging leader. He brings a sense of realness to Harrods' world and ensures everyone takes what they do, seriously but not take themselves too seriously. The biggest demonstration of comittment to improving the working environment was to press ahead with the refurbishment of the employee restaurant at a cost of £500,000, even though the restauraunt is going to be moved to a different floor and location in approximately18 months time. Many companies would have said that the employees could wait, but because the leadership team were sensitive to the feelings and frustration the poor quality of food, the ambience, decor etc. was creating, they pressed ahead with the refurbishment. This was an appropriate grand gesture towards employees.

Listening to employees and gaining valuable feedback and ideas is of vital importance to Freestyle's business. The company believe it's only through listening to your employees that you can really gauge how your business is progressing and how the office is feeling in general. They could use terms vibe or team cooperation ratings, but when it comes down to it, it's just about how they are all getting along in both a personal and professional capacity. And getting along and working together is just about the most important thing in making a business successful. In recognition of this importance, at Freestyle Interactive they encourage managers to meet with their staff on a regular basis. These ‘1-2-1s' benefit both employee and employer by acting as a direct conduit between team-members and team-leaders. These meetings function as a platform on which employees can discuss work and job satisfaction, as well as putting forward ideas that could benefit the company as a whole.

In the last 12 months the senior management have started to run regular (but optional) company lunches. These drop-in sessions, each with a specific business focal point, have helped their staff to stay up-to-date with the wider news surrounding the business and have allowed employees to ask questions in an open forum. The lunches have helped staff feel part of the business as a whole, rather than as part of just a team or department. The lunches are very well attended and have created an engagement with the company hitherto unseen in the past.

Fortune Cookie hold regular reviews of performance, recognise and reward outstanding performance through incentives based on goals, have regular announcements to the company about great work and achievements, regular formal and social get together's for the whole company.

Fortune Cookie hold regular reviews of performance, recognise and reward outstanding performance through incentives based on goals, have regular announcements to the company about great work and achievements, regular formal and social get together's for the whole company.

What works particularly well at Fleishman-Hillard is that the results per office/team are shared in groups, providing a forum for feedback and an exchange of views. Senior leaders in the business agree particular areas of focus for the next year, either in teams or office-wide. This provides a strong sense of continuous improvement and a desire to seek feedback. Also this year, the Managing Director of the London office conducted a series of listening sessions – Staff Clinics – made up of groups cutting across the different teams to gather detailed employee feedback on a first-hand basis and to foster greater transparency and collaborations.

What works particularly well at Fleishman-Hillard is that the results per office/team are shared in groups, providing a forum for feedback and an exchange of views. Senior leaders in the business agree particular areas of focus for the next year, either in teams or office-wide. This provides a strong sense of continuous improvement and a desire to seek feedback. Also this year, the Managing Director of the London office conducted a series of listening sessions – Staff Clinics – made up of groups cutting across the different teams to gather detailed employee feedback on a first-hand basis and to foster greater transparency and collaborations.

Employee development by access to a variety of training interventions. Dedicated team of learning and development professionals, Head of Training, Group Trainer,specialist, Food / Beverage Training Manager. Dedicated departmental skills trainers who are experts in customer service field and knowledgeable in company specific operational procedures. Accessable to all employees, ensuring successful orientation of new employees. They monitor and record training provison to ensure consistency. Head of Training ensures courses accessible to all and pitched at different levels and job role. Ensures clear and progressive pathway towards achieving supervisory and management skills allowing development within the business . Includes management development programme, Supervisory Skills workshops, Food and Beverage academy, NVQ customer service and team leading, Graduate Management Training programme. Comprehensive training calendar published inviting all managers to nominate employees for the courses. Head of Training identifies employees who would benefit from specific courses and talented employees can enhance their skills and fulfill future leadership succession plans.

Employee development by access to a variety of training interventions. Dedicated team of learning and development professionals, Head of Training, Group Trainer,specialist, Food / Beverage Training Manager. Dedicated departmental skills trainers who are experts in customer service field and knowledgeable in company specific operational procedures. Accessable to all employees, ensuring successful orientation of new employees. They monitor and record training provison to ensure consistency. Head of Training ensures courses accessible to all and pitched at different levels and job role. Ensures clear and progressive pathway towards achieving supervisory and management skills allowing development within the business . Includes management development programme, Supervisory Skills workshops, Food and Beverage academy, NVQ customer service and team leading, Graduate Management Training programme. Comprehensive training calendar published inviting all managers to nominate employees for the courses. Head of Training identifies employees who would benefit from specific courses and talented employees can enhance their skills and fulfill future leadership succession plans.

FDM are a very active organisation encouraging any sports activities that help employees to interact in a more social environment. They have football, netball and volleyball teams which employees can get involved in and compete in an informal setting. They also have lots of employees taking part in marathons, bike rides, strong man conpetitions and other various activities which are in aid of charitable organisations.

The key attribute that FDM's leader Rod Flavell has, is the energy, dynamism and commitment towards the organisation and its employees. He believes in a hands on approach and operating in a flat structure environment whereby he and the other directors interact with all levels within the business and sit in an open plan environment. Rod spends time understanding who his staff are, their motivations and encourages internal career progression for high performers ensuring that the company reflects his dynamic approach. This makes the working environment fast-paced, interactive and interesting as it is always changing and adapting to get the most from its staff and to maintain their engagement with the organisation.

Exclusive Hotels always aim to create great hospitality careers instead of just giving somebody a job. Continual learning, development and progression are very much at the heart of Exclusive Hotels, demonstrated by the huge investment that they make into their people every year. All of their teams have the opportunity to attend internal training, receive specialist training by external providers, be sponsored by the Company, as well as receive day to day on-the-job training. Exclusive Hotels are passionate about enabling people to learn more, to deliver more, as well as to develop more and they are able to do this through bespoke training programmes and workshops, as well as personal coaching and mentoring. There are many opportunities for Exclusive People who take responsibility for their own personal development and progression.

Danny Pecorelli, Exclusive Hotel's Managing Director, is a man of great values and principles. He has integrity and operates with transparency and honesty, always warmly greeting team members as if they were old friends - in many cases they are! All Exclusive employees personally know Danny on first name terms and all remain firmly loyal to the Exclusive family. Exclusive Hotels started as a family business and remains so today, 30 years later. Their guiding principles are centric to a family unit, abeit extended, care and respect, hard work and integrity. Look after each other and look after their guests.

They have various social events throughout the year; however, their main focus is the Christmas Annual Awards. These are based solely on their employees; they are given nomination sheets to vote for their colleagues achievements over the year. The winners are announced at the dinner and are asked to accept their awards by the CEO; they are also given prizes and trophies. The winners are invited to functions during their winning year to celebrate their achievements further. They also offer long service awards and even best Christmas decoration awards.

The organisation hosted an EMCAS Extravaganza for staff and partners which included fairground rides, games, magicians and body painting. The event was a huge success and they had lots of positive feedback from staff. As the staff are across three sites these functions help to create community within the organisation.

dotDigitalGroup had a company-wide summer party in June 2011 which was held on a leisure boat which went up and down the Thames in London stopping at various piers on the way so that people could get off if they wanted to. Staff came from all over to attend, including the Minsk office in Belarus. Everyone had a great time with a BBQ, a DJ, karaoke and dancing, not to mention a few drinks. This was fully funded and a great team building event - the only problem was the weather but nobody let it get in the way of having fun! A great time was had by all and dotDigital also announced their Employee of the Financial Year winner and runners-up.

dotDigitalGroup constantly listen to employee feedback and have introduced a range of initiatives to support employee development and the focus of the new appraisal system is equally weighted between performance and development. The best current example is the offer of matched funds towards an employee's ambition or something on their bucket list. Does not have to be work related - just something that they can evidence will develop them personally. To date dotDigitalGroup have bids for sailing, pilot training, leadership training, drumming, paragliding, engaging a personal trainer and a tandem sky dive.