My Team - Employees' feelings towards their immediate colleagues and how well they work together
My team benefits from a high scoring My Manager factor as the manager is key to creating and sustaining a productive and positive work environment.
An employee’s perceived team will be those they work with on a daily basis.
The outcomes of Leadership Team meetings are cascaded down to all levels of the organisation. Employees can voice their opinions openly through the employee consultation forum. St Michael’s Hospice’s CEO also regularly provides update videos to keep employees informed on all the latest organisation news.
The organisation provides a number of opportunities for managers to learn new skills and for prospective managers to learn what is takes to take that next step. St Michael’s Hospice supports manager apprenticeship, degrees, and offers in-house training, coaching, and mentoring.
St Michael’s Hospice offer to facilitate sessions for teams to explore effectiveness and team relationships. Furthermore, teams are provided with support given by the organisation’s Spiritual Care Team and by Mental Health First Aiders for clinical colleagues on site.
The organisation has a staff counselling service which is available to all Touchstone employees and volunteers. Staff can access up to 6 confidential sessions, paid for entirely by Touchstone. It also pays for counselling from a therapist of staff’s choice, including a male or female counsellor, BME or LGBTQ+ background.
The CEO is an ex-Touchstone service user with lived experience of mental health and is supported by a Senior Leadership Team who also have lived experience of mental health and neurodiversity conditions. The CEO produces videos for employees and attends team meetings highlighting his personal vision and experience aligning this to Touchstone’s mission and values.
The organisation organises at least two fun away days per year, with teams doing additional social days as well. In September 2023, it held an whole organisation away day at Herd Farm. The day allowed staff to take part in activities such as giant swings, archery, pottery, walks, face painting, and much more.
The organisation asked its teams to have some fun and make videos to show how proud they are of what they do and the impact they have on our customers experience. It had a huge response with videos parodying Bake Off, M&S adverts, ABBA, game shows, Johnny Cash, and fairy tales.
VIVID’s internal talent programme targets non-managers who have a desire to develop into management. It has a rigorous selection process involving online tests and an assessment centre. It also has a job mentoring and rotation feature in the programme as well as virtual delivery of management skills by our own trainers.
The senior management recognise and reward employees across VIVID for living the values. Monthly winners of its Values Awards are communicated at the Let’s Talk VIVID monthly events and receive ‘love to shop’ vouchers. It also details the behaviours that the organisation wants all levels of staff to demonstrate in order to live its values.
Personal Development is a huge part of life at G3, with all employees encouraged to learn and develop both new and existing skills through a hands-on training programme. This aims to develop the next generation of G3 employees, whether straight out of high school, recent graduates or current employees looking to progress within their roles.
Colleagues can look forward to quarterly team events, as well as half-year 'all expenses paid' parties and regular Friday feasts. On the last Friday of each month, one team is given the chance to choose an activity of their choice, whilst those seeking sport can join in on Tuesday's 5-a-side football matches followed by beers.
G3 works closely with the Prince of Wales Hospice in Pontefract, participating in a number of fundraising activities whilst also donating a portion of its profits to the charity too. Since 2019, the company has also worked with chosen charity partner, Martin House Children's Hospice, donating £1 for every car sold.
The agency's monthly 'No Rest for the Liquid' company-wide meeting supports its 'integrated and collaborative working environment." Senior team members give business updates, and working groups lead interactive presentations to offer insight into their work and job roles. And there's a weekly newsletter celebrating birthdays, promotions, and what teams have achieved for clients.
Liquid has run a successful virtual work experience course for students interested in a career in public relations, highlighting the exciting work it does for its clients to attract potential new employees. It's also inviting students back into the office to get an all-around agency experience.
Liquid "strives to create a lasting, positive impact on communities." It helps local causes through donations and pro bono work and is currently supporting 17 local projects. Over the last four years, it's donated more than £400,000 to organisations such as Whitley Fund for Nature, the Cyrille Regis Legacy Trust and Acorns Children's Hospice.
Slack is the agency's heartbeat, with team members interacting on projects and industry developments to 'rate my plate' lunch sharing and parenting support. The office hosts' Crowded House' every Thursday to encourage social catch-ups, winter and summer company parties, and three work showcases a year to inspire and celebrate jobs well done.
Employees benefit from two bonus schemes. 'Made Born Bigger' is a performance-based annual cash bonus set against revenue goals, and 'Made Born Better' offers top-performing employees, voted for by the team, the chance to choose from a prize list including vouchers, new trainers, hotel stays and extra holidays.
Employees get time every week, month and six months to discuss their development. There's a clear progression framework so everyone can see the opportunities available and what they need to do to succeed. All staff have a learning and development budget and access to a learning library. There're also regular events on wellbeing and diversity.
It has action groups such as S.H.E Champions, a charity committee, and a wellness group which actively engage employees in activities and projects aimed at promoting wellbeing, diversity, charitable endeavours, and overall health. It also provides access to Medigold Occupational Health Support, offering employees valuable resources for managing their health.
Employees are encouraged to create a Personal VTO (Vision Traction Organiser), outlining their personal and career aspirations for the next one to five years. This document serves as the basis for a discussion with their manager, and any necessary training opportunities or flexible work arrangements required to support their personal objectives are identified and prioritised.
Voted for by staff, Dura’s local, environmental, and national charity partners are close to employee hearts. For 2023-2024, it has chosen to fundraise to support the work of EACH (East Anglia Children’s Hospices), Essex Wildlife Trust, and MIND. It also holds regular upcycling days and other well-publicised events to raise awareness of these charities.
Its new Consultus Way of Working (WoW) encourages proactive communication between teams. It is a collection of tried and tested tools and techniques to help its business encourage continuous improvement. It covers everything from first-time managers struggling to set their team objectives to implementing RACI as part of project delivery.
Consultus has many success stories such as Alison’s. Since starting as a receptionist, she has had several promotions, and she now holds a director position at the company. "Working for Consultus provides huge opportunity for its employees and I am living proof that through hard work, focus, and determination the sky is the limit.”
Consultus supports many charities such as Hope Against Cancer. More recently, it became involved in clean and green schemes in Leicester city centre and became a sponsor of Maidenhead United Football Club and attends match days to raise more money for Hope Against Cancer, raising over £500.
Verastar offers paid volunteering days for team bonding which help instil a sense of purpose and camaraderie among employees as well as supporting the wider community. Christmas and Summer socials are another way that the organisation brings its teams together in a festive and joyful atmosphere, reinforcing the bonds and developing the relationships between employees.
To support the ongoing business strategy, Verastar have launched a number of new initiatives, including system investment. The progress is underpinned by the CEO’s communication in his monthly newsletter, VNews, or via a senior leader cascade. It’s important that teams across the business are updated and can support each other with new ways of working.
The organisation operates a bonus scheme, STAR bonus. This scheme rewards colleagues with a quarterly bonus of up to 2.5% of their annual salary based on the achievement of specific objectives. Verastar also ensures that any goals set are stretching so that its employees are continually developing in their roles.
July 2023 saw the first NYLON Week, with the US team coming over for the summer party and a week of in-person collaboration. There are many smaller team-building initiatives too, likely weekly lunches with pop-up food stalls. And the Pride Employee Resource Group is the company's largest, with LGBTQIA+ members sharing experiences and organising events.
'The Golden Pen' is the company's weekly recognition award – an opportunity for teammates to celebrate each other's work. During the Monday meeting, the 'pen' is awarded by the previous holder, with the CEO giving the winner a shoutout. All winners from the previous four weeks get a voucher prize in the monthly meeting.
'Papier with Purpose' is the company's CSR programme encouraging employees to give back to the local community through paid-for volunteering days, as well as being charitable and mindful of environmental impact. Initiatives include mentoring young people to help them into the creative industries, donating excess stock and giving a proportion of card sales to charity.
