Medical and safety technology firm Dräger UK & Ireland holds silver Armed Forces Covenant status and is progressing towards gold certification. The business has embedded Covenant principles through enhanced support for adult reservists, veterans and cadet volunteers, alongside community partnerships that include investment in Northumbria Army Cadets. The initiatives reflect Dräger’s values while strengthening its employer brand, supporting the local community and enhancing trust with customers, partners and government stakeholders.

As one of the first construction companies to sign the Armed Forces Covenant in 2013, reaffirmed in 2021, Kier Construction works with clients, supply chain partners and organisations to provide employment and training opportunities. A gold award holder, the firm – which employs about 10,000 people nationally – helps service leavers, veterans and military families transition into sustainable civilian careers, while championing inclusive employment, skills development and social value across the industry.

Northumbrian Water Group’s initiatives – which include its Joining Forces with Water venture – have helped increase armed forces hiring by 200 per cent. The company’s buddy programme provides mentoring, and the firm has strong partnerships with the Catterick and Colchester resettlement hubs. The firm supports reservists and Cadet Forces Adult Volunteers, and is supporting a UK NATO‑aligned Special Forces exercise, sharing its expertise while learning about security resilience from military partners.

Darlington Building Society refreshed its parental leave offer with 26 weeks’ full-pay maternity leave and 13 weeks’ full-pay paternity leave – both as day one rights. Introduced in a year where the high street mutual reached £1 billion in assets and surpassed £1 million in community donations, the venture aims to promote equality while easing financial pressures and supporting family bonding. The move includes support through partners such as Octopus EV.

Newton Aycliffe-based Husqvarna UK has increased staff reward and recognition through its My Husqvarna Benefits platform. The venture connects recognition directly to the company’s Bold, Dedicated and Care values. Its impact has been significant, with a 95 per cent activation rate complemented by 89 per cent monthly engagement and 78 per cent of employees actively recognising each other. The firm has seen further upticks in employee satisfaction, belonging and happiness.

Newcastle-based Percy Hedley Foundation supports people with complex disabilities through education, care and lifelong learning. To support its workforce’s financial wellbeing, the charity’s HR team introduced a welfare loans and grants scheme, offering interest-free loans and non-repayable grants for staff facing hardship. The charity also committed to becoming a real Living Wage employer and enhanced its benefits package. The measures have improved engagement, reduced turnover and delivered powerful staff feedback.

The 1300-staff hospitality operator has built its own people development strategy. It runs two leadership programmes; a chef academy with a 100 per cent end-point assessment distinction rate; a head chef bootcamp; and a learning management system used by 95 per cent of the 30-plus site business’ workforce. Last year, all general manager appointments were made internally, with four graduates from its Lead INN programme promoted to general manager.

Technology business One Utility Bill has grown its workforce from 75 in 2022 to more than 200 through a warm, informal, energetic and deeply human approach. In 2025, it invested all of its annual profit into people development. The results were profound, with a 28 per cent year-on-year increase in revenue per employee matched by a 62 per cent rise in profit per employee and its strongest ever eNPS scores.

The rolling stock repair and maintenance firm’s expansion over the last decade through acquisition-led moves created an inconsistent employee experience. In response, the company’s people team introduced a strategy to transform leadership capability and create a consistent and values-led employee experience. The move delivered more than £800,000 in people-related cost improvements across 2025, created a more equitable workplace and helped the organisation achieve the first profit-making year in its history.

The fertiliser maker introduced a number of measures to support its near 150-strong Teesside-based workforce. Acknowledging increasing operational pressures, changing employee expectations and evolving risk factors, the business rolled out moves including Bluecrest health assessments, Bupa Dental and Hinge Health, a musculoskeletal programme and wellbeing committee, mental health first aiders, financial wellbeing initiatives and benefits resource TotalRewards. Data is used to track and influence decision-making, with feedback captured and shared.

The South Shields-based waxed jacket maker introduced a comprehensive health and wellbeing strategy. Initiatives included exercise and wellbeing classes, physiotherapy support, endometriosis and menopause awareness sessions, financial wellbeing workshops and healthier food options in its canteen. The move has helped reduce musculoskeletal and mental health-related absences, lower employee turnover and improve engagement. The company recently achieved a bronze Better Health at Work Award, and is now progressing towards silver status.

Supporting about 200 staff through major organisational change, the company introduced a wellbeing strategy focused on physical, mental, emotional and financial health. Initiatives included unlimited holiday, flexible working and financial wellbeing benefits, while employee voice and psychological safety were prioritised through regular feedback channels, surveys and chief executive sessions. The approach saw employee engagement rise from 37 per cent to 72 per cent, with employee happiness reaching 83 per cent.

Educational charity and vocational and technical learning leader NCFE created a centralised people dashboard to address a gap in its ability to take a consistent view of people metrics. An in-house solution, the dashboard brings together workforce insights to provide leaders with clear visibility of their teams and support evidence-based decisions aligned to organisational priorities. The dashboard enables future-focused conversations on areas including workforce planning, skills capability and team priorities.

Newcastle International Airport shifted from paper-based processes and spreadsheets to a fully digital platform through the introduction of a human resources information system via HiBob. The move – designed and delivered in partnership with leaders, managers and employees – has transformed daily operations. The switch has enabled the business to digitalise onboarding and PDRs, improve communications, automate workflows and introduce people analytics, improving speed, consistency and data security across all people processes.

Family-run tea, coffee and sweet treats firm Ringtons introduced an interactive employee platform to boost communication and staff engagement. Known as The Hub, the venture has centralised business messaging and reinvented peer-to-peer recognition across its 600 workers and 20-plus sites, boasting an active user rate of around 90 per cent. The Hub has significantly improved engagement, accessibility, cross-functional visibility and dramatically increased recognition, strengthening both culture and employee connection.

Through staff-led moves that include the Women’s Network, Men’s Shed, Development Network and Wellbeing Network, a strengthened employee council and open access to senior leaders, Darlington Building Society has created an environment where colleagues feel heard, supported and can grow. The approach has delivered stronger belonging, increased confidence and progression, with staff moving into promoted and seconded roles. The mutual’s impact extends to volunteering, trustee roles, coaching and charity support.

Northumbria University’s People and Organisational Culture team is transforming lives through a supported internship programme for young disabled people, which it says is a first of its kind in the North East. The multi-partner initiative has achieved exceptional outcomes, with more than half of participants moving into paid employment and none becoming NEET. Recognised as a gold standard by DFN Project SEARCH, the programme has been replicated regionally and nationally.

Pearson Engineering is using its expertise to create meaningful opportunities beyond its core work. The Newcastle-based company designs life-saving equipment for armoured vehicles, but is equally focused on supporting future skills development. Through targeted partnerships and community engagement, Pearson Engineering – and daughter company Responsive Engineering – is helping raise aspirations, build confidence and improve access to STEM and enterprise pathways for young people, particularly those facing disadvantage in the North East.

Recognising critical industry skills shortages, Commercial Maintenance Services UK transformed its approach to talent attraction and workforce development. It introduced an apprenticeship and early careers model, built around strong college partnerships and a fully joined-up support network between the business, training providers, managers and apprentices. Through enhanced workforce planning, values-led recruitment, development reviews and investment in engineering pathways, it has strengthened talent pipelines, improved engagement and created career progression opportunities.

Hospitality operator The Inn Collection Group built its own employer brand. Led by its people team, the venture was rooted in feedback gathered from workshops with ten per cent of its 1300-strong staff. Five brand pillars were showcased across social media, with TikTok generating 59,000 views. Direct hire rates additionally rose to 13.24 per cent, with vacancy coverage exceeding 96 per cent and 14 hires coming from newly-activated attraction channels.

Northumbrian Water Group redesigned its approach to demonstrate a more inclusive and authentic representation of career opportunities. It introduced inclusive hiring training for managers, removed requirements not essential to a role and revised job advertisements to prioritise behaviours and transferrable skills. The firm also implemented a big shift by referencing flexible and part‑time working options within its job advertisements, to encourage greater engagement from groups traditionally under‑represented across its workforce.

Soft furnishings firm Bazaar Group holds Gold Investors in People accreditation and recently achieved B Corp certification. The latter was secured in recognition of the Cramlington-headquartered firm’s commitment to high social and environmental standards. Operating a sister base in Hamburg, the company is known for the icon® brand, which sells products including beanbags, footstools and pouffes, and its Eden Learning Spaces brand, which is known for child-friendly beanbags and cushions.

Law firm Clifford James redesigned its people systems across organisation design, skills, performance, succession and recruitment. The transformation achieved rare rigour for an SME without an HR function, delivering 100 per cent competency alignment; accelerated new starter performance; improved hiring quality; seven per cent revenue growth; and an eight per cent reduction in settlement time. Underpinned by empathy, honesty, integrity and professionalism, the firm has strengthened clarity, capability and culture.

Technology business One Utility Bill has grown its workforce from 75 in 2022 to more than 200. To combat the challenges often associated when evolving from a start-up to a mature business, it invested in designing simple and personable HR practices. Competency‑based recruitment, improved manager capability and clear organisational standards now support people and allow them to thrive, providing a scalable people structure that is supporting growth without sacrificing culture.

Housing, integrated housing, health and social care provider Home Group developed Leading with Purpose – a 12‑month programme for its senior management team. The venture was designed to build a shared understanding of leadership; actively demonstrate leadership capability; and create a values-driven leadership community. It combined face-to-face sessions with coaching, psychometrics and upskilling to drive individual goals. The programme is now being rolled out to the organisation’s next tier of leaders.

Housing association Karbon Homes owns and manages more than 32,000 properties across the North East and Yorkshire. Formed in 2017, it has three key aims: provide good quality homes; deliver excellent customer service; and shape strong and sustainable places for its communities. Those goals are underpinned by its people, with the housing association’s Aspire to Lead programme a central component of its commitment to developing both current and future leaders.

Pressure sensing product maker Senstronics has undergone an operational and cultural transformation. 2026 marks a significant period of growth as it prepares to increase output to between 300,000 and 500,000 per year, achieving output levels of three million by 2030. As it embarks on its ‘3 in 30’ project, it has invested heavily in leadership, establishing a framework in which people are equipped to drive accountability and deliver transparent expectations.

Privately-owned construction business Esh Group has long created opportunities for people to build careers. Apprentices make up more than seven per cent of its workforce and are embedded across all areas of the organisation. A member of ‘The 5% Club’, it delivers more than 3000 apprentice weeks every year across its construction projects. Through its ‘Growing Our Own’ culture, Esh nurtures talent, builds confidence and supports progression at every stage.

Since 2022, KAEFER has maintained a pledge to ensure at least five per cent of its workforce is employed in earn-and-learn roles, with 205 apprentices and trainees engaged across the business in 2025. The firm expanded its investment in 2026, through the launch of more than 90 additional earn-and-learn opportunities across a broad range of roles and trades. The moves have embedded talent development into the heart of workforce planning.

Pearson Engineering, and its daughter company Responsive Engineering, is strengthening its workforce through targeted investment in apprenticeships and skills development. It has significantly expanded its early careers programme, with its Welding Academy – which provides hands-on, in-house training in a critical industry area – a key part of the firm’s commitment. The structured, experience-led model supports both business performance and wider community outcomes, helping to grow the next generation of skilled engineers.

Executive and board search consultancy Castle Peak Group operates from bases in Newcastle, London and Hong Kong. It is committed to diversity, with its processes embodying the spirit of fairness, advocating for and shortlisting diverse executive and board talent based on skills and cultural fit. It believes every individual deserves equal opportunity for professional growth and career advancement, with its search process ensuring candidates are evaluated on strengths and potential.

Darlington Building Society previously launched a partnership with the North East Autism Society, which has led to gold accredited employer status, 100 per cent colleague autism awareness training, branch environment improvements, quieter hours and sensory support for members and staff. Additionally, the high street mutual’s commitment to diversity in leadership now sees women make up 50 per cent of its board and 55 per cent of its senior leadership team.

South Tyneside Council has embedded equality, diversity, inclusion and belonging into everyday practice. The authority’s processes include ten active staff networks, meaningful wellbeing conversations and a reverse mentoring scheme, where colleagues from staff networks form one-on-one relationships with senior leaders as mentees. The approach has driven a more inclusive culture, with 91 per cent of colleagues feeling confident to be their authentic selves, and 94 per cent feeling well supported.

Gateshead-headquartered managed IT, cybersecurity and modern workplace provider Aspire Technology Solutions employs more than 370 staff and works with 2000-plus customers. Its people team operates nationally as a strategic partner, supporting leaders to scale the organisation during rapid growth. Following significant investment and expansion, including new regional offices and acquisitions, the people team has focused on aligning culture, leadership capability and practices to ensure colleagues feel connected, valued and fulfilled.

Exploration and production company ConocoPhillips’ HR team is a trusted partner driving organisational redesign and development. It has built credibility, influencing critical decisions and strengthening leadership at every level. The result has been impactful: stronger leaders, simpler ways of working and measurable performance. By working side-by-side with the business, the HR team enables faster decisions and better outcomes, and is supporting an organisation built to succeed long into the future.

Newcastle International Airport’s people team has been transformed over the past 15 months, moving from a transactional function to a true partner. The creation of a people strategy with business leaders – backed by new systems – has enabled the team to support delivery of a business plan and safety, growth and exceptional customer experience priorities. The shift has increased the focus on employee voice, engagement, inclusion, wellbeing, recognition and talent management.