Only 56% of staff said they felt motivated in their job, and less than a quarter thought the council was well managed. But in a remarkable turnaround in fortune, the council is not only back on track, but is leading the way in staff engagement.

Birmingham wins for its £1.2 million 'best' programme, an initiative that has turned disengaged employees into empowered staff trusted to identify and remedy problems themselves.

The council has created more than 1,800 'best leaders' who have the authority to implement service improvements. They in turn have trained and run workshops for a further 23,000 staff through manager network meetings, Facebook groups, internal communications and a Dragons' Den-style event where staff could pitch ideas for the chance to win £1,000.

The programme received praise for reaching the whole of the organisation, and for demonstrating impressive results - more than 75% of staff who have taken part in a best workshop say they feel more engaged and motivated. Those who said they felt motivated in their job rose from 56% in 2006 to 83% in 2008. Meanwhile, 90% of staff said they feel 'proud' to work at Birmingham City Council - up from just 50% in 2006.

Most importantly, best leaders have made an average of three service improvements each, meaning Birmingham's residents are benefiting from more than 6,000 changes. Public satisfaction with the way the council is run has risen from 53% in 2006 to 62%.

Judges' comments

"A challenging situation turned around in a structured way. It was creative, thorough and extensive, with results clearly evident," said one of the judges.

HIGHLY COMMENDED - TGI Friday's UK

Restaurant chain TGI Friday's created 'Fridoids', a dedicated blog site for staff to share their at-work experiences. Staff can express themselves freely, including writing job profiles and news stories.

In its first month, Fridoids attracted more than 6,000 hits. Analytics show that browsers look at an average of 7.4 pages per visit.

The site is now also being used for external recruitment.

HIGHLY COMMENDED - Mouchel

After maintaining 16th place in The Sunday Times' 100 Best Companies To Work For league, support services group Mouchel launched its 'Guiding Principles' and 'Recommending Mouchel to the World' projects to raise its game even higher. The company's top 1,000 managers were instructed in new leadership behaviour, and were then charged with spreading this business ethic to their staff.

FINALISTS

Grey - OPEN

Lastminute.com - Building and implementing a best practice employee engagement strategy

Royal College of Nursing - Dignity at work initiative

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