Inventive by name, inventive by nature. The company behind the Revolution vodka bars knows no limits when it comes to rewarding staff’s hard work. Recently, the person who sold the most privilege cards to customers was treated to two round-the-world flights, and the employee of the month in the Deansgate branch in Manchester had his rent paid for a month.

Inventive Leisure’s employees know that managers express their appreciation when they do a good job, and give a 75% positive score in our survey. They are made to feel fully involved in the company (80%, a top 20 score), which operates 54 city centre Revolution bars.

“From the start, we set out to make it a place where we’d be happy to work and proud to as well,” says Neil Macleod, sales and marketing director, who co-founded the firm in 1991 with chief executive officer Roy Ellis. Employees are proud to work for the firm and love the job, with 75% and 77% scores respectively.

Sean Curran, finance director at Inventive Leisure for 4Å years, recalls joining: “Even though I was from the hospitality sector, I hadn’t worked in a bar since I was 20. So I developed an induction programme with Roy.”

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This course gives new head office staff a taste of working on the front line, just as Curran once did — in the bar, the kitchen, mixing cocktails and clearing up into the early hours. “All my senior recruits go through that and really enjoy it,” says Curran.

Each bar is run as a small business, and managers are encouraged to develop their teams in whatever way they see fit. This year the annual conference will be in Las Vegas, where they and other department heads will be able to see what can be learnt from US establishments.

Managers ensure that hard work doesn’t go unnoticed.

“You work late, and often unsociable hours. The key to keeping staff in this industry is making them want to work. It’s about being a team,” explains marketing manager Sam Jones.

Employees say their teams are fun to work with, ranking the company third for this question with a 90% score.

Jones joined seven years ago as a part-time barman while he was studying, and worked his way up. Many other staff have done the same and people feel the training they are given is of great personal benefit (73%). New bar staff are shown the ropes by old hands and managers make sure they are well supported (77%). They give another 77% score for colleagues going out of their way to help each other and rank Inventive Leisure 15th when asked if there is a strong sense of family in their teams (78%).

Employees also say managers speak openly and honestly to them, a top 20 score of 81%.

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