The Society held its annual awards night in May via Zoom and sent everyone a box of treats to enjoy during the evening and even roped in the partners of Employee of the Year and Manager of the Year to surprise them with champagne and flowers.

Employees responded to the local NHS Heroes campaign by putting together care packages for their local hospital and each branch supported one care home locally sending a box of goodies to entertain and treat the residents. Employees have also been supporting the vulnerable in the community.

Staff can nominate colleagues who have been particularly helpful with a project or gone out of their way to provide a service for a Thank you Award with the recipient receiving a £25 voucher that can be redeemed against a wide range of retailers and leisure activities.

The Knowing Diabetes programme ensures staff continue to learn more about diabetes with a range of external speakers giving a talk every two months. New learning opportunities have included half-hour Five Things I Learnt About sessions and staff-led French and German speaking circles which ran over the summer.

Curtins promotes collaboration, encouraging virtual teams and engagement in central initiatives driven by staff working groups or forums, using social and digital platforms to create dynamic learning practices and knowledge transfer. Reverse mentoring is a pioneering initiative where junior staff partner with senior management.

The Strive Towards Excellence Programme (STEP Ahead) provides personal and behavioural development opportunities through collaborative learning in line with evolving managerial pathways. The programme is founded on the values, stories and people-focused culture of Curtins and how this is demonstrated through leadership.

Managers have been supported throughout the pandemic with weekly teams meetings and by pairing up with colleagues for peer mentoring and support. In offices where support bubbles have been set up managers know they have colleagues to work alongside and to call upon for help and advice.

Monthly “Outstanding Awards” recognise staff going above and beyond. Employees can be nominated by their peers or by managers for demonstrating outstanding work in line with the charity's values. The winner receives a gift voucher and are celebrated in the staff monthly newsletter along with all nominees.

The company encourages employees to gain chartership or industry-recognised qualifications. Staff are offered support and 1:1 sessions, with defined goals and objectives set. Those who wish to develop to leadership level can apply for bespoke training to achieve this. Formal appraisals include cloudThing's own CRM performance metrics evaluation.

All the in-date food, coffee and tea that was left behind when people started home-working was donated to a Black Country foodbank. cloudThing aims to achieve ISO:14001 certification by the end of 2022 and to be carbon neutral, both in itself and in the services it supplies, in five year's time.

Senior leaders communicate with all staff on a weekly and monthly basis to share business and market updates in person, if virtually. This includes open and live Q&A and feedback sessions, with full employee participation. An open-door policy has been extended to virtually directly access MD James Hardy and his team.

Prior to the pandemic, CCS Media had already implemented virtual employee group “huddles” every morning that took in direct team members – and with senior leaders periodically joining the calls on a rolling basis. This is replicated throughout the business for management.

Managers are all offered coaching and mentoring from an external HR professional, as well as regular one-to-ones, group meetings and support – all of which continued throughout the pandemic. Each is offered a tailored qualification pathway unique to their development, which can extend to CIPD or MBA qualifications.

CEO, Paul, leads from the front and treats his colleagues like family. During the pandemic, he initially responded by increasing the frequency and level of communication to all staff, including guidance on how to work safely during such difficult circumstances.

The CEO has led a development group to review Diversity, Inclusion and Equality policies, which is open to all within the organisation and an example of how the senior management team (SMT) promotes core values. The SMT holds weekly one-to-ones with Sabbatical Officers to help tackle any challenges.

With student support a career choice, managers attend compulsory training courses such as IOSH Managing Safely and First Aid at Work. They are also encouraged to attend courses that would be beneficial to their role and support their professional and personal development.

All managers had mental health training and regular morning catch-ups with their teams to ensure they could spot early signs of stress and help those that needed it.

Capital on Tap's values-based anniversary rewards ranges from £250 to try something new in their personal life after one year in the job to £500 to treat a loved one after two, £1,000 to spend on a holiday after three years' service and a four week paid sabbatical after four.

December survey results showed that 92% of Camelot employees believe the business operates with integrity and 96% of them feel well led. The executive team sent out care packages to everyone to thank them during this uncertain year, and the chairman personally called anyone who tested positive for Covid-19 to offer support.

Last Christmas, Watford Borough Council and local cycle-hire scheme Beryl Bikes encouraged residents to take part in a Laps To Lapland initiative to fundraise for the Watford Helps Covid-19 charities appeal. The aim was to collectively cycle the 6,307km distance from Watford to Lapland and back, and Camelot donated over £6,000 to the cause.