Holiday Extras is committed to making sure people can relax and have a good time while taking that well-earned break. And it has the same attitude to making sure its staff enjoy themselves too.

The firm, which was our 23rd best small company to work for last year, supplies the add-ons that holidays entail such as airport parking, hotels and lounges plus foreign exchange and travel insurance. It recently branched out into the short break market, specialising in stays including theme park and theatre visits. All products are sold either via travel agents or directly to the public.

This niche business is the brainchild of the company’s entrepreneurial founder Gerry Pack, who established it in 1983 with the princely sum of £100. Today the Kent-based firm boasts pre-tax profits of £3.2m and operates from swish headquarters, set among acres of attractive greenery. Pack has handed over the running of the company to chief executive officer Steve Lawrence, who attributes the company’s success to the combination of a good idea with good people:

“Gerry has always been a people person and the business has always been a good idea. Once you’ve got the people side right the business just takes off,” he says.

Despite its commercial success and expansion the company has managed to retain the best bits of a family-run atmosphere with plenty of fun stuff, and staff morale is high. The “Festival of Love” — Holiday Extras’ very own mini-Glastonbury — was staged in its grounds during the summer, headlined by local bands rather than Coldplay but a great success nonetheless. The annual fireworks display is open to employees’ families and the whole team went to see a movie when the company booked a cinema. There are fortnightly barbecues organised during the summer and themed lunches have seen the canteen area transformed into an aeroplane, complete with company directors as trolley dollies.

It’s no surprise to learn that team spirit is a strong point; employees score the company highly for teams being fun to work with (an 86% positive score), for team-mates going out of their way to help them and for being confident in colleagues’ abilities (both 82%).

Employees also benefit from lots of prizes to recognise outstanding achievement and cash awards credit great ideas. A profit-share scheme boosts salaries and everybody is kept in touch with how the business is progressing via quarterly staff meetings and a regularly updated intranet.

Employee Karen Coates says: “I feel my job is secure. The management keeps us informed of everything.” Her colleagues agree; they feel they have the support of their manager (80%) and the 82% score for job security puts Holiday Extras in the top 10.

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